We've compiled publicly available data on the nation's best law schools to help you choose the schools that may be the best fit for you.

We've presented this list of the nation's top law schools using the following criteria:

1. Rank. This is the relative ranking assigned to the school by US News & World Report. US News determines these rankings by considering these factors:

• Placement success. This is the percentage of a law school's graduates who have long-term, full-time jobs requiring (or preferring) bar exam passage.
• First-Time Bar Pass Rate. The percentage of  Bar takers from the school who passed the exam on their first attempt.
• "Ultimate" Bar Pass Rate. The percentage of test takers from the school who passed the bar within two years of graduation.
• Peer Assessment. Ratings on a 1–5 scale given to each school by the deans and faculty of the nation's law schools.
• Legal Professionals Assessment. Ratings on a 1–5 scale given to each school by judges and lawyers across the country.
• Median LSAT and GRE scores. Combined median scores from both tests, after a conversion to a percentile scale.
• Median GPA. Undergraduate programs only (does not include post-graduate GPAs)
• Acceptance Rate. The percentage of applicants who were admitted to the law school.
• Student-Faculty Ratio. The ratio of students at the law school to total faculty members there.
• Library Resources. This is the ratio of full-time students to full-time librarian positions.

2. LSAT Scores. We've reported three scores for each school: the 25th% (the score which the bottom 25% of admitted students scored below); the median (the score that 50% of admitted students scored below) and the 75th% (the score that the top 25% of admitted students scored above).

3. GPA. Again, we've reported three numbers for each school, as with LSAT Scores: the 25th% (the GPA which the bottom 25% of admitted students fell below); the median (the middle GPA earned by admitted students) and the 75th% (the GPA earned by only  the top 25% of admitted students)

4. Acceptance Rate. The percentage of all applicants who were admitted to the law school.

We've used the following format for presenting this information: