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Preview Of The 2026-27 U.S. News Law School Rankings: Ultimate Bar Passage

March 8, 2026

Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education

In the current 2025-26 methodology, ultimate bar passage counts 7% in the overall ranking:

Ultimate bar passage rate (7%): While passing the bar on the first try is optimal, passing eventually is critical. Underscoring this is the ABA’s accreditation standard that at least 75% of a law school’s test-taking graduates must pass a bar exam within two years of earning a diploma. …

[T]he ultimate bar passage rate indicator was newly calculated as a two-year, non-weighted average.

With that in mind, the ultimate bar passage ranking factor measures the average percentage of each law school’s 2020 and 2021 graduates who sat for a bar exam and passed it within two years of graduation, including alternative pathway graduates.

Both the first-time bar passage and ultimate bar passage indicators were used to determine if a particular law school is offering students a rigorous program of legal education. The first-time bar passage indicator was assigned greater weight because of the greater granularity of its data and its wider variance of outcomes.

Below is the projected 2026-27 U.S. News ranking of the average ultimate bar passage for the classes of 2021 and 2022. For comparison, the current 2025-26 U.S. News ranking of the average ultimate bar passage for the classes 2020 and 2021 are also included.

Rank	School	2026-2027 Ultimate Bar Passage	2025-2026 Ultimate Bar Passage	2025-2026 Ultimate Bar Ranking
1	Marquette	100.00%	99.11%	11
2	Wisconsin	99.58%	99.47%	3
3	Chicago	99.53%	99.76%	1
3	Virginia	99.53%	99.21%	9
5	Harvard	99.49%	99.33%	6
6	Georgia	99.22%	99.17%	10
7	Duke	99.11%	99.35%	5
8	BYU	99.07%	99.51%	2
9	NYU	99.03%	99.25%	7
9	Yale	99.03%	99.00%	12
11	Stanford	98.86%	99.41%	4
12	UC-Berkeley	98.83%	99.23%	8
13	Northwestern	98.67%	98.00%	21
14	Penn	98.43%	98.78%	14
15	Kansas	98.41%	97.96%	22
16	Minnesota	98.16%	98.79%	13
17	Wm. & Mary	98.13%	97.69%	27
18	Baylor	98.06%	97.68%	28
19	Michigan	97.96%	98.21%	19
20	Columbia	97.84%	96.45%	39
21	U. Washington	97.72%	97.96%	23
22	Wake Forest	97.70%	97.03%	32
23	Notre Dame	97.56%	95.77%	49
24	Montana	97.32%	97.10%	31
25	Fordham	97.31%	97.78%	25
26	Texas	97.28%	98.57%	16
27	Vanderbilt	97.21%	97.79%	24
28	BC	97.12%	97.64%	29
29	Boston U.	97.09%	98.41%	17
30	Penn State	96.94%	95.65%	52
31	USC	96.80%	98.11%	20
32	Texas A&M	96.79%	98.69%	15
33	UCLA	96.70%	97.71%	26
34	Utah	96.30%	98.26%	18
35	Ind. Maurer	96.28%	96.59%	37
36	Oklahoma	96.10%	96.08%	44
37	St. John’s	96.10%	96.67%	35
38	G. Mason	95.94%	97.47%	30
39	G. Wash.	95.79%	96.11%	43
40	Illinois	95.76%	94.42%	68
40	Ohio State	95.76%	96.72%	34
42	Georgetown	95.66%	96.37%	40
43	Washington U.	95.63%	96.34%	41
44	Emory	95.43%	95.04%	64
45	Texas Tech	95.39%	95.68%	50
46	Alabama	95.33%	96.86%	33
47	W & L	95.30%	94.77%	66
48	Loyola-L.A.	95.22%	96.55%	38
49	Arizona State	95.16%	93.94%	74
50	Northeastern	95.09%	95.16%	63

Rank	School	2026-2027 Ultimate Bar Passage	2025-2026 Ultimate Bar Passage	2025-2026 Ultimate Bar Ranking
51	SMU	95.01%	95.47%	58
52	Campbell	94.87%	95.57%	54
53	Cornell	94.76%	95.82%	48
54	Nebraska	94.69%	95.94%	46
55	Florida State	94.63%	94.04%	71
56	North Carolina	94.48%	95.61%	53
57	Belmont	94.35%	95.30%	61
58	Regent	94.30%	96.26%	42
59	Samford	94.16%	95.50%	57
60	Georgia State	94.05%	92.02%	92
61	Richmond	93.98%	95.37%	60
62	UC-Irvine	93.93%	95.37%	59
63	Florida Int’l	93.84%	95.88%	47
63	Villanova	93.84%	94.79%	65
65	Missouri-Col.	93.69%	94.18%	69
66	Temple	93.54%	92.76%	84
67	Duquesne	93.26%	91.01%	105
68	Houston	93.08%	89.85%	116
69	Pittsburgh	93.03%	94.15%	70
70	Colorado	92.79%	95.17%	62
70	Mercer	92.79%	91.60%	98
72	Liberty	92.70%	96.62%	36
73	Florida	92.70%	94.02%	72
74	New Mexico	92.68%	94.66%	67
75	LSU	92.66%	95.66%	51
76	Drake	92.61%	91.58%	99
77	Ark-Fayett.	92.59%	93.22%	79
77	UC-Davis	92.59%	91.66%	96
79	Cleveland St.	92.26%	89.78%	117
80	Gonzaga	92.02%	93.23%	78
81	Oregon	92.00%	95.55%	56
82	Cincinnati	91.96%	93.46%	76
83	South Texas	91.87%	89.37%	121
84	San Diego	91.85%	92.29%	91
85	UCSF	91.81%	92.81%	82
86	St. Louis	91.71%	95.96%	45
87	Brooklyn	91.67%	90.10%	114
88	Chicago-Kent	91.57%	89.65%	118
89	Cardozo	91.25%	93.43%	77
90	Capital	91.21%	91.76%	94
91	Pepperdine	91.18%	91.01%	106
92	Iowa	91.17%	92.37%	90
93	Kentucky	91.14%	91.68%	95
94	Seton Hall	91.09%	89.04%	126
95	Wayne State	90.94%	93.78%	75
96	Tennessee	90.74%	92.90%	81
97	Denver	90.55%	90.21%	113
98	UNH	90.50%	93.96%	73
99	Drexel	90.34%	91.13%	103
100	Missouri-KC	90.33%	92.59%	85
101	Connecticut	90.27%	92.45%	87
102	Akron	90.24%	85.15%	158
103	St Thom MN	90.23%	89.16%	124
104	Tulane	90.22%	88.97%	127
105	North Texas	89.95%	85.80%	155
106	Seattle	89.66%	92.50%	86
107	CUNY	89.64%	87.39%	143
108	Chapman	89.62%	87.83%	137
109	New England	89.54%	88.52%	132
110	Albany	89.44%	91.44%	100
111	Maryland	89.21%	91.06%	104
112	J. Marshall GA	89.20%	82.22%	172
113	American	89.19%	91.14%	102
113	St. Mary’s	89.19%	89.34%	122
115	Miami	89.14%	88.69%	130
116	Univ. Arizona	88.97%	84.13%	163
117	Southwestern	88.71%	92.42%	89
118	Faulkner	88.70%	89.55%	119
119	NYLS	88.49%	88.72%	129
120	Louisville	88.47%	92.92%	80
121	Catholic	88.38%	90.61%	110
122	Lewis & Clark	88.12%	92.80%	83
123	Ark-LR	88.11%	89.87%	115
124	N. Kentucky	88.10%	90.36%	112
125	South Dakota	87.82%	85.06%	159
126	Stetson	87.68%	88.39%	134
127	Wyoming	87.56%	91.62%	97
128	S. Carolina	87.43%	91.29%	101
129	Suffolk	87.32%	88.14%	136
130	Hofstra	87.22%	85.26%	157
131	West Virginia	87.06%	89.16%	123
132	Washburn	87.06%	89.39%	120
133	Appalachian	86.89%	77.87%	183
134	UNLV	86.86%	86.90%	150
135	N. Illinois	86.81%	91.85%	93
136	SUNY-Buffalo	86.80%	89.11%	125
137	Loyola-NO	86.54%	90.76%	107
138	Syracuse	86.41%	90.67%	109
139	Loyola-Chic.	86.37%	87.44%	142
140	North Dakota	86.12%	92.44%	88
141	Mississippi	84.94%	86.48%	152
142	Memphis	84.85%	88.48%	133
143	Ind. McKinney	84.81%	88.17%	135
144	Hawaii	84.79%	87.27%	144
145	Santa Clara	84.59%	87.48%	140
146	Pacific	84.26%	87.23%	145
147	NC Central	84.06%	88.82%	128
148	Maine	84.03%	87.54%	138
149	Detroit Mercy	83.70%	88.58%	131
150	Toledo	83.62%	86.63%	151
151	Tulsa	83.51%	87.46%	141
152	USF	83.21%	85.53%	156
153	Ave Maria	83.18%	84.79%	160
154	Ohio Northern	83.13%	82.48%	170
155	Dayton	83.04%	87.52%	139
156	Creighton	83.01%	90.40%	111
157	OKC	83.01%	87.10%	147
158	UMass	82.91%	82.85%	169
159	Mich. State	82.85%	87.07%	148
160	DePaul	82.73%	83.03%	167
161	Pace	82.68%	87.13%	146
162	Case Western	82.67%	86.41%	153
163	Rutgers	82.61%	84.73%	161
164	Howard	82.51%	79.94%	178
165	Willamette	82.29%	90.71%	108
166	Lincoln Mem.	82.25%	82.94%	168
167	Elon	82.08%	81.92%	174
168	St Thom FL	81.68%	78.24%	181
169	Mitch. \| Ham.	81.36%	81.62%	175
170	Widener (DE)	81.10%	83.17%	165
171	W. New Eng.	81.07%	79.52%	180
172	Charleston	80.83%	77.62%	184
173	Baltimore	80.80%	84.14%	162
174	Nova	80.66%	80.53%	177
175	Quinnipiac	80.64%	87.04%	149
176	Idaho	79.35%	86.01%	154
177	Illinois-Chic.	79.15%	82.27%	171
178	Miss. College	79.07%	79.63%	179
179	Puerto Rico	78.89%	75.80%	189
180	Cal-Western	78.13%	83.07%	166
181	Widener (PA)	77.91%	84.07%	164
182	Roger Wms.	77.87%	82.18%	173
183	Touro	77.55%	78.09%	182
184	S. Illinois	77.42%	75.64%	190
185	Texas South.	76.89%	76.45%	187
186	Barry	76.70%	77.27%	186
187	Vermont	75.74%	76.44%	188
188	Southern	74.05%	80.93%	176
189	Florida A&M	73.35%	77.46%	185
190	Western State	68.14%	72.72%	191
191	Inter-Amer.	67.51%	63.98%	194
192	D.C.	66.07%	68.87%	192
193	Pont. Catholic	62.68%	67.98%	193
194	Cooley	56.67%	58.44%	195

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About the Author

Paul Caron was named Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean of Pepperdine University School of Law on June 1, 2017. Dean Caron joined the Pepperdine faculty in 2013 after serving as the Dorothy and Leonard Straus Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law in the spring semesters of 2010 through 2013. He served as Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development at Pepperdine in 2015-2017. Before coming to Pepperdine, he was Associate Dean of Faculty and Charles Hartsock Professor of Law at the University of Cincinnati College of Law.

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