Law Schools in New York: LSAT, GPA, Cost, and Jobs (2025)

New York's 15 ABA-accredited law schools form a deep, stratified market, and treating it as one tier is a mistake. Columbia, Cornell, and NYU sit at the top, medians of 173, 173, and 172, acceptance rates under 19%, national T14 schools competing for the same applicant pool as Harvard and Yale. Fordham, Cardozo, and St. John's form a strong second tier, medians from 164 to 168. Below that, a wide middle band, Brooklyn, Albany, Syracuse, Buffalo, Hofstra, and NYLS, clusters between 157 and 161. CUNY, Pace, and Touro sit at the bottom of the LSAT range, from 153 to 155, though CUNY's 28.6% acceptance rate is tighter than several schools ranked above it on LSAT alone. The cost spread is one of the widest in the country. Columbia charges $85,368 a year, the most expensive school on the list, while CUNY charges $25,640, less than a third of that. Discount rates vary just as much: Cardozo discounts 98.3% of its class, one of the highest rates anywhere, while CUNY discounts only 16.7%, meaning most CUNY students are already paying a honestly low sticker price rather than relying on grants to get there. Cornell posted the strongest outcomes in the state, 98.0% full-time, long-term placement for its 2024 class, narrowly ahead of Columbia's 97.9% and NYU's 97.7%. Even outside the T14, placement holds up well: Fordham hit 94.3%, and most of the mid-tier schools cleared 90%. CUNY, at 75.6%, posted the weakest number in the state, a real tradeoff for its low price. Is New York worth applying to if you're not planning to stay? For the top 6 or so schools, the placement rates and national reputation make the case easily. Further down the list, the decision gets more personal: CUNY's price is unbeatable but its placement rate is the lowest in the state, while a school like Buffalo offers a strong 94.4% placement rate at a fraction of what the Manhattan schools charge. Match your target debt load to your target outcome before picking a name off this list.