What (does everyone say) is a good LSAT score?

Getting a 180 is one hell of an emotional victory, even for those of us with the most even-keeled, relaxed perspectives on the whole test-taking fracas. That alone—proving to yourself that you can do it—is reason enough to try your hardest for a perfect score.

On the other hand, if you're going to have to schedule the test several times, show up for tutoring regularly, stay awake long enough to do practice tests, and eventually complete however many law school applications, it's reasonable to want to the know the lowest score that can secure your future and return you—battered, bruised, and relieved—to your present.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), only 119 of 60,000 LSAT takers in 2022 scored a 180. Considering Harvard Law School's 2024 entering class was ~560 students, if they want to collect enough tuition to keep the lights on, they'll have to consider people with less-than-Herculean scores. And that's just one top school.

To that end, I collected some top Google search results referencing the ideal score range for people hoping to get into a "top-ranking" law school. Here's what I found:

Now, there are several reasons why this assessment might be relatively consistent across so many sites. They may, in part, simply be parroting each other's responses in the world's most boring game of telephone, but they are also referencing—implicitly or explicitly—the starkly quantitative reality of law school admissions.

LSAT scores matter. GPA matters. The schools say so, college counselors say so, and the raw data says so. Ever so often, your personal character and life journey matter just as much, but you simply can't rely on being more interesting than the rest of the diverse and vibrant thinkers dreaming of a big fat envelope from Yale or Cornell. 

So, maybe saying you should aim for the 170s—or that shining, sparkling one-eight-zero—seems obvious, but it should also feel empowering. You really have only one goal: to get through the initial yay-nay round on the back of your LSAT score and hope your greater personal narrative whisks you past the finish line.