State Guide · 5 ABA Schools · 509 data 2025
Tennessee law school requirements
Tennessee has 5 ABA-approved law schools, with LSAT medians from 153 to 170. Together they took 11,047 completed applications, made 2,525 offers and filled 707 first-year seats in 2025. Every number on this page comes from those schools' own ABA Standard 509 reports.
ABA schools
5
2 public, 3 private
LSAT median range
153 to 170
across the state
First-year seats
707
from 11,047 applications
Tuition range
$24,354 to $76,440
full time, non-resident
The 5 ABA-approved Tennessee law schools
| School | Type | LSAT | GPA | Accept | 1L | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanderbilt UniversityNashville | Private | 170 | 3.91 | 13.3% | 172 | $76,440 |
| University of Tennessee WinstonKnoxville | Public | 164 | 3.89 | 24.8% | 140 | $35,140 |
| Belmont UniversityNashville | Private | 161 | 3.84 | 37.6% | 136 | $55,500 |
| Cecil C. HumphreysMemphis | Public | 155 | 3.53 | 41.1% | 96 | $24,354 |
| Lincoln Memorial University DuncanKnoxville | Private | 153 | 3.44 | 52.2% | 163 | $1,490/cr |
What the state data shows
Vanderbilt University reports the highest LSAT median in the state at 170, with a 3.91 GPA median and a 13.3% acceptance rate on 6,124 applications. The spread of 17 LSAT points between the top and bottom of the state means a single score can be a stretch at one Tennessee school and comfortably above median at another. The national median of school medians is 159, so Tennessee's strongest reported median sits 11 points above it.
2 of the 5 schools charge residents less than non-residents, so residency status is worth checking before you apply. The lowest published resident tuition belongs to University of Tennessee Winston at $16,696 a year, where the median full-time grant is $10,550. Across the state, published non-resident tuition runs from $24,354 to $76,440, a gap of $52,086 a year before fees, living costs or scholarship.
3 of the 5 schools reporting bar outcomes beat the weighted average pass rate in the jurisdictions where their graduates sat. Belmont University reports the state's highest first-time pass rate at 95.00% from 120 first-time takers, against a 77.95% jurisdiction average. Bar admission is granted state by state, so the jurisdiction you intend to practise in matters as much as the school.
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Data: ABA Standard 509 Information Report (2025), published for consumer disclosure, retrieved from the ABA Required Disclosures portal on 2026-09-01, with bar passage figures from the same portal's Bar Passage Outcomes report for the class of 2024. Restated in our own structure; no ABA document or file is reproduced here.