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San Diego, California

California Western School of Law

Accreditation
ABA approved since 1962
Institution type
Private
J.D. formats
Full-time and Part-time J.D.
Add to my applications
Median LSAT
155
Fall 2025 entering class
Median GPA
3.50
Fall 2025 entering class
Resident tuition
$64,720
Full-time, 2025-2026
First-year class
242
Enrolled fall 2025
Bar-required jobs
74.1%
Class of 2025, full-time long-term
First-time bar passage
71.4%
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 (opens in a new tab)
School pass rate
49.3%
Weighted jurisdiction rate
69.4%
Difference
-20.17 pts
First-time takers
205
101 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
JurisdictionTakersPassersSchool %Jurisdiction %Difference
California1959749.7%69.1%-19.37
5 Remaining Jurisdictions10440%76.4%-36.43

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 (opens in a new tab)
Ultimate pass rate
81.2%
Within two years of graduation
Graduates
194
Takers
191
Passers
155

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 classSchoolJurisdictions
202571.4%82.5%
202462.9%77.5%
202348.4%72.5%
202253.5%72%
202164.2%76.9%
202065.3%77.8%
201949.3%69.4%
201851.8%60.9%
201759.7%66.4%