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Projected 2027-28 U.S. News Law School Rankings: Ultimate Bar Passage Rate

June 14, 2026

Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education

In the current 2026-27 U.S. News Law School Rankings 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.

Like the previous two outcome measures, the ultimate bar passage rate indicator was calculated as a two-year, nonweighted average.

With that in mind, the ultimate bar passage ranking indicator measures the average percentage of each law school’s 2021 and 2022 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 2027-28 U.S. News ranking of the average ultimate bar passage for the classes of 2022 and 2023. For comparison, the current 2026-27 U.S. News ranking of the average ultimate bar passage for the classes 2021 and 2022 are also included.

Rank	School	2027-2028 Ultimate Bar Passage	2026-2027 Ultimate Bar Passage	2026-2027 Ultimate Bar Ranking
1	Virginia	100.00%	99.53%	3
2	Wisconsin	99.78%	99.58%	2
3	Marquette	99.73%	100.00%	1
4	BYU	99.57%	99.07%	8
5	Chicago	99.52%	99.53%	3
6	Yale	99.51%	99.03%	9
7	Stanford	99.45%	98.86%	11
8	Columbia	99.15%	97.84%	20
9	Duke	99.11%	99.11%	7
10	Harvard	99.03%	99.49%	5
11	Michigan	99.03%	97.96%	19
12	Baylor	98.95%	98.06%	18
13	Notre Dame	98.60%	97.56%	23
14	NYU	98.55%	99.03%	9
15	Georgia	98.29%	99.22%	6
15	Northwestern	98.29%	98.67%	13
17	Penn	98.21%	98.43%	14
18	Wm. & Mary	97.89%	98.13%	17
19	Illinois	97.86%	95.76%	40
20	Kansas	97.85%	98.41%	15
21	Texas	97.70%	97.28%	26
22	UC-Berkeley	97.61%	98.83%	12
23	Wake Forest	97.58%	97.70%	22
24	Utah	97.43%	96.30%	34
25	BC	97.41%	97.12%	28
26	Texas A&M	97.38%	96.79%	32
27	USC	97.32%	96.80%	31
28	Alabama	97.29%	94.96%	51
29	Minnesota	97.15%	98.16%	16
30	Vanderbilt	96.98%	97.21%	27
31	Oklahoma	96.95%	96.10%	36
32	W & L	96.95%	95.30%	46
33	Cornell	96.78%	94.76%	53
34	UCLA	96.57%	96.70%	33
35	Texas Tech	96.56%	95.39%	45
36	U. Washington	96.54%	97.72%	21
37	Washington U.	96.40%	95.63%	43
38	G. Wash.	96.32%	95.79%	39
39	Boston U.	96.15%	97.09%	29
40	Montana	96.12%	97.32%	24
41	Fordham	96.12%	97.31%	25
42	Belmont	96.08%	94.35%	57
43	N. Carolina	95.95%	94.48%	56
44	Drake	95.82%	92.61%	76
45	Emory	95.75%	95.43%	44
46	Temple	95.72%	93.54%	66
47	Chapman	95.57%	89.62%	110
47	Ohio State	95.57%	95.76%	40
49	SMU	95.55%	95.01%	50
50	Northeastern	95.40%	95.09%	49

Rank	School	2027-2028 Ultimate Bar Passage	2026-2027 Ultimate Bar Passage	2026-2027 Ultimate Bar Ranking
51	LSU	95.33%	92.66%	75
52	G. Mason	95.30%	95.94%	38
52	Missouri-Col.	95.30%	93.69%	65
54	Florida Int’l	95.22%	93.84%	63
55	Campbell	95.20%	94.87%	52
56	Penn State	94.80%	96.94%	30
57	Samford	94.69%	94.16%	59
58	Georgetown	94.61%	95.66%	42
59	St. John’s	94.55%	96.10%	37
60	Florida State	94.53%	94.63%	55
61	Ind. Maurer	94.52%	96.28%	35
62	Arizona State	94.49%	95.16%	48
63	UC-Irvine	94.43%	93.93%	62
64	Richmond	94.40%	93.98%	61
65	San Diego	94.23%	91.85%	84
66	Duquesne	94.20%	93.26%	67
67	Univ. Arizona	94.20%	88.97%	117
68	South Texas	94.08%	91.87%	83
69	Ark-Fayett.	94.04%	92.59%	77
70	Pittsburgh	94.00%	93.03%	69
71	Florida	93.90%	92.70%	73
72	Villanova	93.87%	93.84%	63
73	Loyola-Chic.	93.82%	90.79%	97
74	Pepperdine	93.71%	91.18%	91
75	Georgia State	93.71%	94.05%	60
76	Loyola-L.A.	93.65%	95.22%	47
77	Nebraska	93.47%	94.69%	54
77	Regent	93.47%	94.30%	58
79	Cincinnati	93.36%	91.96%	82
80	UC-Davis	93.27%	92.59%	77
81	Houston	93.23%	93.08%	68
82	Chicago-Kent	93.18%	91.57%	88
83	Colorado	93.16%	92.79%	70
84	UC Law SF	92.91%	91.81%	85
85	Seton Hall	92.74%	91.09%	95
86	Capital	92.72%	91.21%	90
87	Dayton	92.70%	83.04%	156
88	Denver	92.60%	90.55%	99
89	Cardozo	92.48%	91.25%	89
90	Mercer	92.41%	92.79%	70
91	Catholic	92.10%	88.38%	123
92	St Thom MN	92.03%	90.23%	105
93	Brooklyn	92.01%	91.67%	87
94	Akron	91.99%	90.24%	104
95	St. Louis	91.91%	91.71%	86
96	Oregon	91.87%	92.00%	81
97	Maine	91.79%	84.03%	149
97	Tulane	91.79%	90.22%	106
99	North Texas	91.78%	89.95%	107
100	South Dakota	91.77%	87.82%	127
101	Drexel	91.67%	90.34%	101
102	Iowa	91.51%	91.17%	92
103	New England	91.48%	89.54%	111
104	Gonzaga	91.29%	92.02%	80
105	Cleveland St.	91.24%	92.26%	79
106	J. Marshall GA	91.23%	89.20%	114
106	Tennessee	91.23%	90.74%	98
108	Miami	91.05%	91.14%	93
109	Elon	91.02%	82.08%	167
110	Hofstra	90.60%	87.22%	132
111	Howard	90.54%	82.51%	164
112	Appalachian	90.48%	86.89%	135
113	Liberty	90.37%	92.70%	72
114	Connecticut	90.32%	90.27%	103
115	Seattle	90.18%	89.66%	108
116	Southwestern	90.15%	88.71%	118
117	Albany	89.92%	89.44%	112
118	Wyoming	89.75%	87.56%	129
119	UNH	89.75%	90.50%	100
120	S. Carolina	89.71%	87.43%	130
121	Suffolk	89.56%	87.32%	131
122	St. Mary’s	89.55%	89.19%	115
123	NYLS	89.48%	88.49%	121
124	Louisville	89.46%	88.47%	122
125	Case Western	89.23%	88.63%	120
126	UNLV	89.23%	86.86%	136
127	Missouri-KC	89.23%	90.33%	102
128	Stetson	88.88%	87.68%	128
129	Toledo	88.81%	83.62%	151
129	Wayne State	88.81%	90.94%	96
131	American	88.57%	89.19%	115
132	Faulkner	88.50%	88.70%	119
133	Syracuse	88.38%	86.41%	140
134	SUNY-Buffalo	88.33%	86.80%	138
135	San Francisco	87.93%	83.21%	153
136	Maryland	87.91%	89.21%	113
137	N. Kentucky	87.90%	88.10%	126
138	Pacific	87.85%	84.26%	147
139	Kentucky	87.41%	91.14%	94
140	Lewis & Clark	87.31%	88.12%	124
141	New Mexico	87.28%	92.68%	74
142	Charleston	87.21%	80.83%	172
143	St Thom FL	87.14%	81.68%	168
144	Washburn	87.11%	87.06%	134
145	West Virginia	87.06%	87.06%	133
146	DePaul	86.93%	82.73%	161
147	Ark-LR	86.85%	88.11%	125
148	CUNY	86.76%	89.64%	109
149	Memphis	86.75%	84.85%	143
150	Tulsa	86.65%	83.51%	152
151	Mississippi	86.27%	84.94%	142
152	Ind. McKinney	85.79%	84.81%	144
153	Santa Clara	85.53%	84.59%	146
154	Rutgers	85.35%	82.61%	163
155	North Dakota	85.15%	86.12%	141
156	W. New Eng.	84.97%	81.07%	171
157	Hawaii	84.87%	84.79%	145
158	Widener (DE)	84.82%	81.10%	170
159	Nova	84.68%	80.66%	174
160	Miss. College	84.05%	79.07%	178
161	Mitch. \| Ham.	84.04%	81.36%	169
162	Ave Maria	83.81%	83.18%	154
163	OKC	83.54%	83.01%	158
164	Mich. State	83.34%	82.85%	160
165	Quinnipiac	83.16%	80.64%	175
166	Texas South.	83.07%	76.89%	185
167	N. Illinois	82.78%	86.81%	137
168	Willamette	82.56%	82.29%	165
169	Lincoln Mem.	82.40%	82.25%	166
170	Creighton	82.07%	83.01%	157
171	S. Illinois	81.86%	77.42%	184
172	UMass	81.52%	82.91%	159
173	Loyola-NO	81.37%	86.54%	139
174	Ohio Northern	81.09%	83.13%	155
175	Baltimore	80.89%	80.80%	173
176	NC Central	80.89%	84.06%	148
177	Touro	80.40%	77.55%	183
178	Pace	80.29%	82.68%	162
179	Puerto Rico	79.48%	78.89%	179
180	Cal-Western	79.39%	78.13%	180
181	Idaho	79.32%	79.35%	176
182	Illinois-Chic.	78.19%	79.15%	177
183	Vermont	77.87%	75.74%	187
184	Detroit Mercy	77.37%	83.70%	150
185	Roger Wms.	77.21%	77.87%	182
186	Barry	75.97%	76.70%	186
187	Widener (PA)	75.94%	77.91%	181
188	Western State	75.00%	68.14%	190
189	D.C.	74.24%	66.07%	192
190	Pont. Catholic	72.68%	62.68%	193
191	Inter-Amer.	71.69%	67.51%	191
192	Florida A&M	71.40%	73.35%	189
193	Southern	67.71%	74.05%	188
194	Cooley	62.97%	56.67%	194

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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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