Washington, District of Columbia

American University Washington College of Law

Accreditation: ABA approved since 1940
Institution type: Private
J.D. formats: Full-time and Part-time and Distance education J.D.
Website: Official website (opens in a new tab)

Median LSAT: 162; Fall 2025 entering class
Median GPA: 3.63; Fall 2025 entering class
Resident tuition: $66,990; Full-time, 2025-2026
First-year class: 405; Enrolled fall 2025
Bar-required jobs: 69.4%; Class of 2025, full-time long-term
First-time bar passage: 86.6%; 2025 graduates

Latest verified values from ABA required disclosures. Each dataset describes a different class, as labelled. The job share is PreLaw Advisor’s arithmetic (full-time, long-term bar-passage-required positions ÷ total graduates), not an ABA-published figure.

First-time bar passage — 2019 graduates

Source

Organization: American Bar Association, Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar
Document: ABA Bar Passage compilation — first-time takers (2020 report)
Covers: Report year 2020
Retrieved: Sep 23, 2026
Status: Verified · Sep 23, 2026

Open official source

School pass rate

75.5%

Weighted jurisdiction rate

75.4%

Difference

+0.03 pts

First-time takers

391

295 passed

The weighted jurisdiction rate is the average first-time pass rate in the jurisdictions where this school’s graduates tested, weighted by the number of takers. It gives context for the school’s own rate.

First-time results by jurisdiction
Jurisdiction	Takers	Passers	School %	Jurisdiction %	Difference
District of Columbia	174	136	78.2%	72.1%	+6.08
Maryland	55	37	67.3%	77.7%	-10.46
New York	49	41	83.7%	84.1%	-0.45
16 Remaining Jurisdictions	38	31	81.6%	75.8%	+5.78
Virginia	27	18	66.7%	77.9%	-11.19
California	17	7	41.2%	69.1%	-27.93
Florida	11	10	90.9%	70.2%	+20.67
Massachusetts	10	9	90%	82.1%	+7.95
Pennsylvania	10	6	60%	79.7%	-19.66

Ultimate bar passage — 2017 graduates

Source

Organization: American Bar Association, Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar
Document: ABA Bar Passage compilation — two-year ultimate (2020 report)
Covers: Report year 2020
Retrieved: Sep 23, 2026
Status: Verified · Sep 23, 2026

Open official source

Ultimate pass rate

79.8%

Within two years of graduation

Graduates

384

Takers

371

Passers

296

Ultimate passage counts graduates who passed any bar exam within two years of graduating. It is a different measure from first-time passage and covers an earlier graduating class.

First-time passage history

First-time pass rate by graduating class
Graduating class	School	Jurisdictions
2025	86.6%	84.3%
2024	81.3%	82%
2023	74.9%	80%
2022	73%	78%
2021	79.9%	78.6%
2020	81.9%	77.5%
2019	75.5%	75.4%
2018	62.4%	71%
2017	62.8%	74.9%