Glossary · Exhibit 509

Every term, defined

Plain-English definitions for the data on every school page. Hover the dotted terms in the app for the short version; this is the full reference.

Admissions & selectivity

LSAT: Law School Admission Test score (120–180). Schools report the 25th, 50th (median) and 75th percentile of their entering class.
uGPA: Undergraduate grade-point average of entering students, not law-school GPA.
25th / 50th / 75th percentile: The score at which 25% / 50% / 75% of the class falls below. The 50th is the median; the 25th–75th span is the "middle 50%" band.
Middle-50% band: The range from the 25th to the 75th percentile, where the middle half of admitted students sit. Our band charts shade this over time.
Acceptance rate: Offers of admission ÷ applications. Lower = more selective.
Offers: Number of applicants offered admission (not all enroll).
1L: First-year law student. "1L class size" is the entering cohort.
GRE takers: Entrants admitted with a GRE score instead of (or in addition to) the LSAT.
1L attrition: Share of first-years who left (academic or other) before year two.
Safety / Target / Reach: Relative to your LSAT & uGPA: Safety = at/above the school's 75th percentile; Target = inside its middle-50% band; Reach = below its 25th percentile on at least one metric.

First-time bar passage: Share of a class's first-time bar-exam takers who passed (ABA 509, most recent reported grads).
2-year ultimate: Share of graduates who passed within two years of graduating, a separate, higher figure that counts later attempts.
State average: Average first-time pass rate for all takers in the school's primary jurisdiction.
vs state: The school's first-time pass rate minus its state average. Positive = beats its state.
Jurisdiction: The state/bar exam most of the school's graduates sit for.

FTLT: Full-Time, Long-Term: a job lasting ≥1 year at ≥35 hrs/week, measured ~10 months after graduation.
Bar-required (JD-required): Jobs that legally require bar passage, the core "lawyer" outcome.
JD-advantage: Jobs where a law degree helps but bar admission isn't required (compliance, consulting, etc.).
MegaLaw (500+): Firms with 500+ attorneys, AmLaw/Vault range; the highest entry salaries.
BigLaw (251–500): Large firms, 251–500 attorneys, regional powerhouses + smaller national firms.
Midsize / Small / Solo: Firm-size bands: Mid 101–250, Small 2–100, and Solo (one attorney).
Government / Public interest: Public-sector and nonprofit/legal-aid roles.
Clerkship / Federal clerkship: A judge's clerk; federal clerkships (esp. appellate/SCOTUS) are highly competitive prestige roles.
Still seeking: Graduates still looking for work at the reporting date.
Bimodal salary distribution: New-lawyer salaries form two humps (NALP): most first jobs pay ~$70–90K, with a separate spike near ~$225K at large firms, and few salaries in between. A single "average" is misleading; anchor to the median and your realistic job type.

Sticker tuition: Published tuition before any scholarship. We show resident and non-resident where they differ.
Net tuition: Sticker tuition minus the median grant, real out-of-pocket before living costs.
Cost of attendance (COA): Tuition + fees + estimated living costs for the academic year.
Living cost: School-reported 9-month living estimate (housing + other).
Median grant: The middle scholarship award among students who receive one.
Scholarship distribution: How aid is spread: % with no grant, less than half tuition, half to full, full, or more than full (stipend).
Conditional scholarship: A merit award that requires keeping a GPA threshold to retain in years 2–3. "Loss rate" = % who lost it after year one.
Grad PLUS: Federal Direct Graduate PLUS loan (~8–9% fixed) that can cover the gap up to full cost of attendance. (Capped under 2026 OBBBA rules.)
3-yr net total: Net annual tuition × 3, a quick debt yardstick vs. starting salary.

$ per FTLT outcome: 3-year net cost ÷ the probability of a full-time, long-term JD job, cost per "good outcome".
$ per BigLaw seat / bar passer: Same idea against the odds of a BigLaw job, or of passing the bar.
Breakeven: Rough years to repay 3-yr debt at a given salary; the loan calculator lets you set the borrowed amount, monthly payment and rate.
4-year projection: The dashed line + shaded cone past the last reported year, a model fit to the school's own history (logistic for rates, CAGR for money, linear otherwise). A scenario "if the trend holds," not a forecast of fact.
Trajectory: The direction a metric is moving over the history since 2011, often more telling than any single year.
RPP (price parity): BEA Regional Price Parity: how far a dollar goes in a state vs the U.S. average (100 = average, 110 = 10% pricier).
FMR: HUD Fair-Market Rent (Small Area), the benchmark rent for that area.
BLS OEWS: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey; our attorney mean/median and 10th–90th percentiles come from it.
COL-adjusted: A dollar figure divided by the state's price parity, so cost and pay are comparable across states.