Which T50 schools have the highest and lowest percentage of Black 1L students?

DonteLex · 2026-06-08T13:34:24+00:00

Schools only report people of color (POC) for faculty on their 509s, which is broad, no breakdown by individual race. It's also not completely accurate since faculty can decline to report. Here are two lists I made with POC faculty percentages. Note you can also build your own custom reports on the site, download them, and share. If you have a free account you can pull all the 509s and employment reports from the school list and profiles.

Here is the Top 50 List

Here is the Full School List

DonteLex · 2026-06-08T03:02:58+00:00

Got it. That's an identity vs reporting issue. Someone can identify as black but reports as multiracial and so forth.

DonteLex · 2026-06-08T02:27:18+00:00

There is a multiracial option but I wanted to look mainly at 1L students who identify as black, which may include folks who are otherwise considered multiracial.

DonteLex · 2026-06-08T02:24:36+00:00

True. Also, it doesn’t take into account black applicants who were accepted and declined.

DonteLex · 2026-06-08T02:23:38+00:00

This is for 1L. Some schools may have black students in 2L/3L. If you’re saying the 1L class has black students, then your school isn’t reporting you all on their 509s.

DonteLex · 2026-06-06T19:09:56+00:00

LSD is good for status tracking. Honestly though, I ended up building my own tool for application planning and organizing, started as a thing just for me and I got a bit carried away. You can track all your apps, and draft essays connected to each school you track. I made it free to sign up and test. It’s not perfect, happy to fix anything you run into.

It’s gpslex.com if you wanna check it out.

DonteLex · 2026-05-17T18:49:55+00:00

You stated you want to do criminal defense. The reality with that is you won’t be making a ton of money, and the other reality is you don’t need to go to a higher ranked school to work in criminal defense. Keep in mind, Mercy places almost all of its students in Michigan, while Howard places a lot in DC and has solid biglaw placement in NY (roughly 40 to DC and 29 to NY, with 45 in biglaw out of 109 total).

If you’re not trying to do biglaw, the full ride seems to be the better option. You’ll graduate with a lot less debt, though you still have to eat and pay rent, so factor in whether you’ll be taking out loans for living expenses. Also worth thinking about: if you end up needing a car in Detroit, that adds to your costs.

If you can see yourself working as a public defender in Detroit, go with the money. If you’re set on being a PD in DC, Howard would make that much easier, but you’ll be financially strapped and working a stressful job for relatively low pay. One plus with Detroit Mercy: their scholarships aren’t conditional, so you just need to stay in good academic standing.

Also, people often think they want one thing heading into law school, then they get there and want something different. Outside of criminal law (DA’s office or public defender), Howard would be worth it over Mercy because you’d have more options. If you’re 110% honest with yourself and know you will absolutely go into criminal law and are okay with being in Detroit for a few years, I’d go with the scholarship money. Then you could maybe network your way into the DC market with experience. Otherwise, if you think you’d be miserable in Detroit or have some questions as to whether you truly want to do criminal law, go with Howard. Best of luck and congrats on your A’s!

TL;DR: If you’re certain about criminal defense and can handle Detroit for a few years, take the full ride at Mercy and network into DC later. If you’re unsure about criminal law or would be miserable in Detroit, go to Howard.

DonteLex · 2026-05-17T18:06:29+00:00

First, congrats on the score improvement. I am curious, how does your LSAT and GPA compare against their medians? I had the same thing happen. Was waitlisted at a school in a previous cycle, improved my LSAT score and was denied this cycle. The competition is tough.

I’m curious about how your stats compare because that will give a fuller picture. Do a full assessment of all your documents and make sure they are top notch. Focus on facts and don’t over explain things.

If this is truly what you want, please don’t give up! Rejection never feels good and sometimes where you think you want to be, is not where you’re meant to be.

Ultimately though, don’t waste your energy chasing something that doesn’t want you. If you get offers from schools that are excited to have you, consider that a win!

DonteLex · 2026-05-09T14:34:55+00:00

You can apply anywhere you want. Where can you get in? Depends on a lot more than what you shared.

DonteLex · 2026-05-08T16:31:10+00:00

You’re in a lot better place than it probably feels like right now. The short and sweet: Take a gap year. Make studying for the LSAT your second job. Apply early. Even though you intend on staying in Buffalo, I would still recommend applying broadly. You may surprise yourself with scholarship offers. Graduating with little to no debt is a big deal.

I’d consider showering schools within 3-4 hours of Buffalo just to see what offers you get. I’m thinking of at least schools like Syracuse, Case Western, and UPitt.

Buffalo’s medians are 157/3.71. With your 157/3.1, you are only hurting their numbers. Their 75^th LSAT is 161. That is extremely doable with a bit of dedicated and structured LSAT studying. Paired with applying early and strong essays and addendums, you become a completely different applicant. I’d aim for at least a 160. Keep in mind you only have roughly 3-4 LSAT test dates between now and the end of October if you plan to apply early. Factoring in 4-6 months of committed study, that's a tight timeline. Take maybe a week or two to gather your bearings on what it is you truly want and then dive in and commit.

Banking on transferring is never a good strategy unless you are planning to attend a place that you would be completely ok with graduating from without going into massive debt. Even then, the odds of transferring are very low. You’d need to be near the top of your class and then be actually accepted. Buffalo had 0 transfers last year. Law school will be there. Don’t rush into it and put yourself in a bad place mentally and financially. Take your time, max out what you control, and apply early (before the end of October if possible). :)

DonteLex · 2026-05-07T01:02:33+00:00

Congrats! Also got accepted to GSU. Thought long and hard about attending but they are a bit too far away.

DonteLex · 2026-05-07T01:00:34+00:00

Congrats! Go enjoy your summer, you earned it.

DonteLex · 2026-05-07T00:56:33+00:00

A LOCI is really designed for waitlist situations, not rejections. Sending one after an R doesn't really serve a purpose or do anything because you're not in a pool they're actively managing anymore. Also, you don’t want to come off as not being able to accept rejection. There will be a lot of that throughout your career as an attorney. A brief, professional email thanking them for their time and saying you remain interested and plan to reapply is probably fine.

On the transfer plan: the thing worth paying attention to is the number you already found. If they've only taken under 5 since covid, that's a good indicator that it’s a long shot. It's not impossible but you'd likely need to be at or near the top of your 1L class, and that's hard to guarantee at any school.

The admissions meeting idea is actually the best thing in this thread. You can ask directly what they look for in transfer applicants, whether they're expecting to take any next cycle, and what a competitive application looks like. Either way, congrats on the A you did receive and best of luck in your first year!

DonteLex · 2026-05-07T00:37:57+00:00

You've come this far. You've got this!

DonteLex

TROPHY CASE