Admissions to the Bar by Examination and by Transferred UBE Score, 2016–2020

NOTE: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most jurisdictions made modifications to their July 2020 bar exam administrations, some of which have implications for the admissions statistics in the chart below. Please note the following. (See “COVID-19: Implications for 2020 Statistics” for details.)

• The number of 2020 admissions by transferred UBE score also includes those admitted by score transfer agreements among certain UBE jurisdictions that administered NCBE’s remote testing option on October 5–6 instead of or in addition to the July or alternative-date 2020 UBE.

• Five jurisdictions adopted emergency diploma privilege/examination waiver rules allowing certain qualified candidates to be eligible for admission to the bar in that jurisdiction without taking the bar examination. These jurisdictions and their number of diploma privilege/examination waiver admissions in 2020 are as follows: District of Columbia (0, applications not accepted until 2021), Louisiana (409), Oregon (240), Utah (130), and Washington (498).

• Thirty-one jurisdictions expanded or adopted temporary supervised practice rules to allow qualified candidates to engage in the limited practice of law under the supervision of a licensed attorney until they were able to take the bar exam.

• Some jurisdictions experienced delays in 2020 admissions (such as delayed swearing-in ceremonies or delayed applicant submission of paperwork) such that certain admission requirements were not fulfilled until early 2021. As these delays were solely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these admissions are still included in this chart as 2020 admissions.

Jurisdiction:

Type of Admission:

ID	Jurisdiction	Type of Admission	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
1	Alabama	Admission by Examination	381	407	383	405	341
2	Alaska	Admission by Examination	64	53	42	44	61
3	Arizona	Admission by Examination	479	440	479	440	393
4	Arkansas	Admission by Examination	209	220	165	197	203
5	California	Admission by Examination	5,496	5,873	4,975	5,187	6,706
6	Colorado	Admission by Examination	787	767	687	686	657
7	Connecticut	Admission by Examination	353	360	263	254	212
8	Delaware	Admission by Examination	123	139	116	103	31
9	District of Columbia	Admission by Examination	466	972	901	1,634	2,044
10	Florida	Admission by Examination	2,888	2,745	2,517	2,732	2,475
11	Georgia	Admission by Examination	1,016	1,133	935	1,089	1,140
12	Hawaii	Admission by Examination	146	193	160	176	151
13	Idaho	Admission by Examination	160	151	152	127	141
14	Illinois	Admission by Examination	1,987	1,932	1,752	1,710	2,157
15	Indiana	Admission by Examination	467	491	436	413	547
16	Iowa	Admission by Examination	176	203	185	194	161
17	Kansas	Admission by Examination	155	130	95	125	75
18	Kentucky	Admission by Examination	122	185	—	321	314
19	Louisiana	Admission by Examination	618	558	535	477	147
20	Maine	Admission by Examination	131	102	152	76	60
21	Maryland	Admission by Examination	1,231	1,025	873	638	732
22	Massachusetts	Admission by Examination	1,542	1,240	1,113	1,209	1,126
23	Michigan	Admission by Examination	805	674	678	596	676
24	Minnesota	Admission by Examination	601	568	539	546	537
25	Mississippi	Admission by Examination	198	137	129	167	119
26	Missouri	Admission by Examination	755	730	632	684	615
27	Montana	Admission by Examination	80	110	93	99	86
28	Nebraska	Admission by Examination	169	158	138	145	164
29	Nevada	Admission by Examination	276	288	279	314	278
30	New Hampshire *	Admission by Examination	142	162	88	87	83
31	New Jersey	Admission by Examination	562	954	750	372	371
32	New Mexico	Admission by Examination	164	222	195	216	232
33	New York	Admission by Examination	7,885	8,181	8,199	7,601	7,208
34	North Carolina	Admission by Examination	917	878	555	852	747
35	North Dakota	Admission by Examination	53	60	45	76	53
36	Ohio	Admission by Examination	940	895	802	847	854
37	Oklahoma	Admission by Examination	302	335	269	320	291
38	Oregon	Admission by Examination	417	460	629	383	243
39	Pennsylvania	Admission by Examination	1,455	1,261	1,168	1,239	691
40	Rhode Island	Admission by Examination	130	104	58	70	32
41	South Carolina	Admission by Examination	422	427	405	434	395
42	South Dakota	Admission by Examination	53	65	61	77	51
43	Tennessee	Admission by Examination	612	591	507	631	826
44	Texas	Admission by Examination	2,849	2,677	2,485	2,608	1,892
45	Utah	Admission by Examination	317	305	274	257	90
46	Vermont	Admission by Examination	64	54	66	49	60
47	Virginia	Admission by Examination	1,008	816	720	646	668
48	Washington	Admission by Examination	829	743	629	597	1,593
49	West Virginia	Admission by Examination	160	152	136	146	146
50	Wisconsin †	Admission by Examination	126	148	126	118	130
51	Wyoming	Admission by Examination	59	54	57	50	61
52	Guam	Admission by Examination	11	11	2	4	6
53	N. Mariana Islands	Admission by Examination	7	6	6	2	7
54	Palau	Admission by Examination	0	1	2	2	—
55	Puerto Rico	Admission by Examination	375	370	306	354	213
56	Virgin Islands	Admission by Examination	26	13	6	13	7
57	Total for All Jurisdictions	Admission by Examination	41,766	41,929	37,950	38,839	39,364
58	Alabama	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	17	28	50	79	115
59	Alaska	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	21	21	48	34	43
60	Arizona	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	53	42	80	73	58
61	Arkansas	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	—	29
62	California	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	—	—
63	Colorado	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	78	70	99	110	130
64	Connecticut	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	0	57	81	155	108
65	Delaware	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	—	—
66	District of Columbia	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	6	165	431	447	625
67	Florida	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	—	—
68	Georgia	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	—	—
69	Hawaii	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	—	—
70	Idaho	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	38	55	47	48	35
71	Illinois	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	145	277
72	Indiana	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	—	—
73	Iowa	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	38	50	67	67	62
74	Kansas	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	136	96	101	108	140
75	Kentucky	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	—	—
76	Louisiana	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	—	—
77	Maine	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	7	19	22	17
78	Maryland	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	6	260
79	Massachusetts	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	85	213	245
80	Michigan	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	—	—
81	Minnesota	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	88	111	146	158	183
82	Mississippi	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	—	—
83	Missouri	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	50	77	116	104	176
84	Montana	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	25	41	51	35	51
85	Nebraska	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	20	30	25	39	35
86	Nevada	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	—	—
87	New Hampshire *	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	9	12	22	52	54
88	New Jersey	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	90	496	483	323	422
89	New Mexico	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	56	73	80	111	96
90	New York	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	11	172	283	391	556
91	North Carolina	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	4	144	210
92	North Dakota	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	42	32	33	37	32
93	Ohio	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	—	29
94	Oklahoma	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	—	—
95	Oregon	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	14	48	42
96	Pennsylvania	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	—	—
97	Rhode Island	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	18	62
98	South Carolina	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	20	56	79	106
99	South Dakota	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	—	—
100	Tennessee	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	69	45
101	Texas	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	—	484
102	Utah	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	52	43	42	52	55
103	Vermont	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	7	8	26	24	18
104	Virginia	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	—	—
105	Washington	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	94	116	140	167	197
106	West Virginia	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	1	11	12	18
107	Wisconsin †	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	—	—
108	Wyoming	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	51	35	60	60	46
109	Guam	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	—	—
110	Northern Mariana Islands	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	—	17
111	Palau	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	—	—
112	Puerto Rico	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	—	—
113	Virgin Islands	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	—	—	—	4	4
114	Total for All Jurisdictions	Admission by Transferred UBE Score	982	1,858	2,700	3,434	5,017

*Individuals admitted in New Hampshire via the University of New Hampshire’s Daniel Webster Scholar (DWS) Honors Program are not included in this chart. The number of individuals admitted in New Hampshire via the DWS Program in 2016–2020 are as follows: 24 in 2016, 17 in 2017, 20 in 2018, 18 in 2019, and 21 in 2020. (The DWS Honors Program, a two-year performance-based program to which students are accepted prior to their second year of law school, allows successful students to be admitted to the New Hampshire Bar without taking the traditional bar examination.)†Individuals admitted in Wisconsin via diploma privilege are not included in this chart. The number of individuals admitted in Wisconsin via diploma privilege in 2016–2020 are as follows: 351 in 2016, 347 in 2017, 351 in 2018, 327 in 2019, and 299 in 2020. (Wisconsin’s diploma privilege rule allows graduates of its in-state ABA-accredited law schools eligibility for admission without taking the traditional bar examination.)