Passing the Bar exam, the last step to becoming a lawyer, is not easy. Of the 7,515 people who took the California State Bar Exam last July, only 3,780--50.3%--passed. Of the 4,913 people taking the exam for the first time, 3,212--65.4%--passed. (The overall pass percentage traditionally is lower than for first-timers because the group of applicants includes people who repeatedly fail the exam.) Among the statistics compiled by the State Bar of California are comparative pass-fail rates for graduates of the state's various law schools. The statistics below are based on the July exam, with schools ranked by the highest percentage of first-timers that passed. Schools listed in bold are in Orange County. Rankings of correspondence schools are not included.
Passing The Bar Exam
First Timers School No. Taking Exam % Pass ACCREDITED, ABA-APPROVED SCHOOLS Hastings, UC San Francisco 397 87.2% Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley 222 86.0% Stanford University 79 84.8% UCLA 246 79.7% UC Davis 174 79.3% USC 170 76.5% Loyola University, Los Angeles 314 71.7% U. of the Pacific (McGeorge), Sacramento 283 71.4% University of San Diego 194 67.5% University of San Francisco 159 65.4% Southwestern University, Los Angeles 176 64.8% University of Santa Clara 213 63.8% Pepperdine University, Malibu 132 62.1% California Western, San Diego 46 54.3% Golden Gate Univ., San Francisco 97 52.6% Whittier University 66 39.4% ACCREDITED, NON ABA-APPROVED SCHOOLS San Joaquin College, Fresno 28 57.1% Humphrey's College, Stockton 19 52.6% Glendale University 12 50.0% San Francisco Law School 28 50.0% Western State Univ., San Diego 55 47.3% San Fernando Valley College, Sepulveda 23 43.5% National University, San Diego 14 42.9% Lincoln University, Sacramento 33 39.4% Western State Univ., Fullerton 149 36.2% Empire College, Santa Rosa 26 34.6% Monterey College 26 34.6% John F. Kennedy Univ., Walnut Creek 20 30.0% La Verne University 10 30.0% Santa Barbara College of Law 8 25.0% University of West Los Angeles 44 25.0% Ventura College 5 0.0% UNACCREDITED SCHOOLS California Northern Univ., Chico 7 71.4% Simon Greenleaf, Anaheim 3 66.7% Citrus Belt, Riverside 15 40.0% Lincoln University, San Francisco 6 33.3% Lincoln University, San Jose 12 33.3% Univ. of Northern California, Sacramento 26 26.9% American College, Anaheim 6 0.0% Central California College of Law, Fresno 6 0.0% Pacific Coast University, Los Angeles 1 0.0% Peninsula University, Mountain View 7 0.0% Peoples College, Los Angeles 2 0.0% Western Sierra, San Diego 1 0.0% Armstrong University, Berkeley -- -- Cabrillo Pacific, San Diego -- -- California College of Law, Los Angeles -- -- California College of Law, West Covina -- -- Charles Dederich, Badger -- -- Golden West University, West Los Angeles -- -- Irvine University -- -- Mid-Valley College, Van Nuys -- -- Newport University (Van Norman), Newport Beach -- -- South Bay University, Harbor City -- -- Valley University, North Hollywood -- --
