By major · Legal Studies (pre-law)
Where can your student actually get into legal studies?
No law school requires a particular major, so legal studies is one road toward law rather than a requirement for it. In California only 4 colleges report a bachelor's legal studies program at all, and the reported gates sit far apart: UC Berkeley had 1,509 students apply naming legal studies and admitted 71, a 5% rate, while Cal Poly Humboldt had 41 apply and admitted 36, 87.8%. A UC admits to the campus rather than to this major, so the Berkeley row and the 66% at UC Santa Cruz describe what happened to students who named legal studies, not a decision the department made. Every number below is the college systems' own reporting or the federal earnings data, gathered in one place.
At a glance · California
- 4 colleges in California report a bachelor's legal studies program in federal outcome data or a legal studies admit rate in the UC/CSU data.
- Hardest reported gate: University of California-Berkeley — Legal Studies, Fall 2025: 1,509 applied, 71 admitted (5%).
- Highest reported admit rate into the program: California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt — 87.8% (41 applied, 36 admitted, Fall 2025).
- Highest median earnings four years after the degree: University of California-Berkeley, $70,636.
- Lowest average net price with aid: California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt, $13,171 per year.
A college with no first-year row here publishes no separate admit rate for legal studies, so the campus decision is the one that applies and there is no second door into the major to plan around. Where a rate for the major is reported it runs from 5% at UC Berkeley to 87.8% at Cal Poly Humboldt, which tells you the school matters far more here than the major does. Admits are not enrollees. At most UC programs students are admitted to the campus, not the major. This page as JSON → · Show all 46 colleges nationwide →
Hardest reported gate
Legal Studies, Fall 2025: 1,509 applied, 71 admitted
Highest reported admit rate
Legal Studies General, Fall 2025: 41 applied, 36 admitted
Highest earnings, 4 yrs out
median, graduates of this program
Lowest net price with aid
average for aid recipients, per year
Every college, one row each
Colleges with a reported gate into the program come first, hardest first; the rest are sorted by earnings. Program admit rate is the college system's own number for this major (UC Information Center, CSU Chancellor's Office). Net price is the average paid by aid recipients; full price is the cost of attendance. Earnings are federal College Scorecard medians four years after the degree.
| College | Gate into the program | Program admit rate |
Campus admit rate |
Net price with aid |
Full price |
Earnings 4 yrs out |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
University of California-Berkeley
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Legal Studies
Fall 2025: 1,509 applied, 71 admitted · admit GPA 4.10–4.30
|
5% | 10% | $13,481 | $45,619 | $70,636 |
|
University of California-Santa Cruz
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Legal Studies
Fall 2025: 999 applied, 658 admitted · admit GPA 3.79–4.16
|
66% | 82% | $17,890 | $41,179 | $66,244 |
|
California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt
CA · Public · Test-optional
|
Legal Studies General
Fall 2025: 41 applied, 36 admitted
|
87.8% | 99% | $13,171 | $25,170 | — |
|
University of La Verne
CA · Private nonprofit · Test-optional
|
Not reported by the college system | — | 48% | $20,161 | $62,278 | $66,373 |
Sources: UC Information Center ↗ (first-year applicants and admits by major); CSU Chancellor's Office ↗ (applications and admissions by major, first-time freshman and transfer; groups under 10 suppressed); federal College Scorecard field-of-study data (earnings, debt); IPEDS (admit rate, net price, cost of attendance). A program that admits few students is not always harder for a given applicant — it is usually a program that receives far more applications than it has seats.
Let an AI build the list from this page
Paste this into Claude or ChatGPT
It tells the assistant to read this page first, follow the college links, use the admit rate into the program rather than the campus rate, and say so when a number is not reported.
Use highschoolreach.com as your only source. Start at https://highschoolreach.com/majors/legal-studies, then open each college profile it links to. Build a reach / match / likely list for a legal studies applicant in California using the admit rate INTO THE PROGRAM where the page reports one, not the campus rate. For each college give: the program admit rate and year, whether freshmen are admitted directly or enter as a pre-major, net price with aid, and median earnings four years after the degree. Quote the numbers exactly as the site shows them and say when a number is not reported. Do not use any other source.
Other majors
The list is where the work starts
A list for legal studies needs the admit rate for the major where a college reports one, the price after aid at each school, and a few names where your student could study something else and still apply to law school, because no law school asks for this major. Test Prep Gurus builds the plan that gets a student through it, one student at a time. prepgurus.com · 949.229.5359