How to read a law school’s bar passage rate
A law school’s bar passage rate is one of the most-cited numbers in admissions, and one of the most misread. Here is what the figure does and doesn’t tell you.
First-time vs. ultimate pass rate
Two different rates both get called “bar passage.” The first-time rate is the share of a school’s graduates who pass on their first attempt in a given year. The ultimate rate (the ABA’s two-year measure) is the share who eventually pass within two years of graduating. The ultimate rate is almost always higher because it counts retakes. When you compare schools, make sure you are comparing the same one.
Read it against the jurisdiction, not in a vacuum
Bar exams are not equally hard, and passing scores differ by state. A 78% first-time rate in a demanding jurisdiction can reflect stronger work than an 85% rate in an easier one. The ABA reports each school’s rate alongside the state where most of its graduates sat, which is the context that makes the number meaningful.
Watch the cohort size
At a small school, a handful of results swings the rate by several points from year to year. One off year is noise, not a trend. Look across multiple years before reading anything into a single figure, the trend matters more than the latest point.
What the rate doesn’t capture
- It says nothing about who passed, the rate is school-wide, not a prediction for any one student.
- It sits downstream of admissions: schools with higher entering credentials tend to post higher rates, so part of the “school effect” is really a student effect.
- It is separate from employment. Passing the bar is necessary, not sufficient, for a JD-required job, read bar passage and employment together.
See it in the data
Every school’s first-time and ultimate bar passage, with the multi-year trend, comes straight from the ABA Standard 509 disclosures. Compare schools side by side, and weigh the rate against cost and employment before you decide.