TL;DR: In the 2025 Bar Examinations, the Supreme Court named Ateneo de Manila the top performer among law schools with more than 100 examinees at 96.52%, followed by UP at 94.63% and UST-Manila at 87.16%. Nationally, 5,594 of 11,420 examinees passed, a 48.98% passing rate — far above the 20-30% figure most law school guides still quote.
The Number Most Guides Still Get Wrong
Almost every list of Philippine law schools opens with the same line: the bar exam passes only 20% to 30% of takers. That was true of the pre-pandemic cycles. It is not true now.
| Bar cycle | Passers | Passing rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5,594 of 11,420 | 48.98% |
| 2024 | 3,962 | 37.84% |
| 2023 | 3,812 | 36.77% |
The 2025 Bar was written on 7, 10 and 14 September 2025 in regional testing centres, and Associate Justice Amy C. Lazaro-Javier, who chaired it, announced the results on 7 January 2026. The Court approved a passing grade of 75, having lowered it by one point to 74 the previous cycle. Oath-taking was held on 6 February 2026 at the Philippine Arena.
Two structural changes explain much of the shift. The examination now covers six subject clusters over three days rather than eight subjects over four Sundays, and it is written on computers at regional venues rather than only in Manila. If a guide still describes four Sundays in Manila, it was written before 2023 and has not been updated.
What the Supreme Court Actually Publishes
This matters for how you read any law school ranking. The Court does not publish a single league table. It publishes top performers in four brackets, grouped by how many examinees a school fielded, because a school with nine takers and a school with four hundred are not comparable. It also publishes a separate set for first-time takers.
So a school can be excellent and simply not appear, either because it placed sixth in its bracket or because it sits in a bracket you were not looking at. Absence from the list below is not evidence of a bad school. It is only evidence that the school did not place in the published top five of its bracket for this one cycle.
More than 100 examinees
| Rank | School | Passing rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ateneo de Manila University | 96.52% |
| 2 | University of the Philippines | 94.63% |
| 3 | University of Santo Tomas-Manila | 87.16% |
| 4 | Dr. V. Orestes Romualdez Educational Foundation | 64.88% |
| 5 | Far Eastern University | 59.22% |
51 to 100 examinees
| Rank | School | Passing rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ateneo de Davao University | 100.00% |
| 2 | Polytechnic University of the Philippines | 89.89% |
| 3 | Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila | 83.56% |
| 4 | Saint Louis University | 83.33% |
| 5 | De La Salle University-Manila | 82.89% |
11 to 50 examinees
| Rank | School | Passing rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Visayas State University | 100.00% |
| 2 | San Beda University | 97.78% |
| 3 | University of Makati | 95.65% |
| 4 | Notre Dame of Marbel University | 91.67% |
| 5 | University of Southeastern Philippines | 89.29% |
1 to 10 examinees
North Eastern Mindanao State University and Polytechnic College of La Union both passed every examinee they fielded, followed by Saint Columban College at 75.00% and Fernandez College of Arts and Technology at 66.67%. Percentages in this bracket move enormously on a single result, so read them as what they are: a handful of people.
First-time takers
The Court publishes a second set of brackets covering only examinees sitting the Bar for the first time. This is the figure that most closely answers "how do this school's own new graduates do?"
| Bracket | Top performers |
|---|---|
| More than 100 | Ateneo de Manila 98.11%, UP 96.83%, UST-Manila 96.30%, Dr. V. Orestes Romualdez Educational Foundation 80.19%, San Beda College-Alabang 69.91% |
| 51 to 100 | Ateneo de Davao 100.00%, DLSU-Manila 94.34%, PUP 94.20%, PLM 85.00%, University of San Jose-Recoletos 68.48% |
| 11 to 50 | University of Makati, Bulacan State University, San Beda University, Palawan State University School of Law and West Visayas State University all at 100.00%; Saint Louis University 97.14% |
| 1 to 10 | Notre Dame of Marbel University, St. Thomas More School of Law and Business, North Eastern Mindanao State University and Ateneo de Naga University all at 100.00% |
Notice how differently the two sets read. San Beda ranks second in its overall bracket and first-equal among first-time takers; DLSU-Manila climbs from fifth to second in the 51-to-100 bracket once repeat takers are excluded.
Reading the Brackets Without Fooling Yourself
A perfect score in a small bracket is not the same achievement as a high score in a large one. Ateneo de Davao passing every examinee in the 51-to-100 bracket is a genuinely remarkable result; a school passing four of four in the smallest bracket is a different kind of fact. The bracket system exists precisely so you do not confuse the two.
A single cycle is a single cycle. Bar performance moves. The right question is whether a school places consistently across several years, not whether it placed this year. The Court's releases going back several cycles are all on its website, and comparing three or four of them tells you far more than one.
Overall rate and first-time rate answer different questions. The overall figure includes repeat takers. The first-time figure tells you how the school's own fresh graduates did. If you are choosing where to enrol, the first-time figure is closer to the question you are asking.
Nothing here measures teaching. A school that admits selectively will post a high passing rate partly because of who it admitted. That is worth knowing when you are deciding whether a lower-ranked school will actually serve you badly, or merely serves a wider intake.
The Schools People Ask About Most
These profiles describe what each school is and where it sits. Where the school appears in the Court's 2025 release, the figure is given above. Where it does not, we say so rather than estimating a number.
University of the Philippines College of Law
UP College of Law in Quezon City placed second in the largest bracket at 94.63%, and 96.83% among first-time takers. The 2025 Bar topnotcher, with an overall rating of 92.70%, was a UP graduate. As a state university, UP charges the lowest tuition of any comparable programme, and admission runs through its own aptitude examination rather than a national test.
Ateneo de Manila University — Ateneo Law School
Ateneo Law School at Rockwell in Makati was the top performer in the largest bracket in 2025 at 96.52%, and led first-time takers at 98.11%. It is a private Jesuit programme and among the most selective in the country.
University of Santo Tomas — Faculty of Civil Law
UST on España in Manila placed third at 87.16% overall and 96.30% among first-time takers. It is one of the oldest law faculties in the country and its graduates were heavily represented among the highest-rated examinees in 2025.
San Beda University — College of Law
San Beda in Mendiola, Manila placed second in the 11-to-50 bracket at 97.78%. Note what that bracket means: San Beda fielded a comparatively small number of examinees in this cycle, so its figure is not directly comparable with Ateneo's or UP's.
Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila — College of Law
PLM in Intramuros placed third in the 51-to-100 bracket at 83.56%. It is a city-funded university, which is why its fees are far below private Manila programmes, and it prioritises Manila residents in admission.
Far Eastern University — Institute of Law
FEU Institute of Law on Morayta placed fifth in the largest bracket at 59.22%, which tells you something useful: it fields a large cohort. A big intake and a mid-range percentage is a different proposition from a small intake and a high one.
Schools that did not place in 2025
Arellano University, Manuel L. Quezon University, Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan in Cagayan de Oro, Silliman University in Dumaguete and the University of San Carlos in Cebu City all run long-established law programmes, and none of them appeared in the published top five of any bracket for the 2025 Bar. We previously carried passing-rate ranges for these schools. They were not traceable to any Supreme Court release and have been removed rather than restated more vaguely.
If one of these schools is on your list, ask its admissions office directly for its performance in the last three cycles. Law schools track this closely and can usually tell you.
What Law School Actually Costs
We cannot give you a table, and you should be suspicious of anyone who does.
Philippine law schools, unlike most undergraduate programmes, generally do not publish a Juris Doctor schedule of fees on their own websites. The per-semester ranges that appear in law school listicles, including the ones this page carried until this update, are not traceable to any school document. They have been removed.
What you can do instead:
- Ask the law school registrar for the current schedule of fees in writing. Ask specifically whether the programme bills per unit or per semester — the two produce very different totals and are often quoted interchangeably.
- Ask what is outside tuition. Bar review, books and materials are separate and substantial.
- Ask about the state universities first if cost is the constraint. UP, PLM, PUP, West Visayas State University and the University of Makati all place in the Court's brackets and all charge public-institution rates.
- Ask whether the fee is fixed for the whole programme. Four years is long enough for an annual increase to change your total materially.
How to Choose, Beyond the Percentage
Match the bracket to your intake plans. If you want a large cohort and a wide alumni network, a school in the top bracket is a different environment from one in the 11-to-50 bracket, regardless of which posts the higher percentage.
Weigh geography honestly. Legal practice is local. A school with a deep alumni bench in the region where you intend to practise gives you something a nationally ranked school elsewhere does not. That is a real reason Ateneo de Davao, USeP, WVSU and SLU matter in their regions.
Check the schedule before anything else if you work. Evening sections are the single most consequential practical difference between programmes for working students, and they change from year to year.
Ask what happens to students who struggle. Retention practice varies widely between law schools and is rarely published. Ask what proportion of an entering class reaches fourth year.
Read the Court's own releases. The Supreme Court publishes each cycle's statistics itself. Anything filtered through a list, this one included, is a summary of that.
Sources
- Supreme Court of the Philippines — Press Briefer, 7 January 2026 (2025 Bar Examinations results announcement)
- Supreme Court of the Philippines — 5,594 Pass 2025 Bar Exams; UP Graduate Ranks First (official press release PDF)
- Philstar — LIST: Top-performing law schools in 2025 Bar exams (reproducing the Supreme Court's four bracket tables)
- GMA News — SC: 5,594 passed the 2025 Bar exams
- The Summit Express — Top Law Schools, 2025 Philippine Bar Exam Results (reproducing the Supreme Court's overall and first-time-taker brackets)
- Supreme Court of the Philippines — 3,962 New Lawyers; UP Graduate Tops the 2024 Bar Exams
- GMA News — 3,962 pass the 2024 Bar exams (source of the 2023 and 2024 comparison figures)
- Supreme Court of the Philippines — Bar Bulletin No. 1 on Modality, Schedule, Coverage and Syllabi (PDF)
- Philippine News Agency — SC scraps with finality PhilSAT requirement for law students
- SchoolFinderPH — Best Nursing Schools in the Philippines
- SchoolFinderPH — Best Medical Schools in the Philippines
Disclaimer: bar performance figures are the Supreme Court's own for the 2025 cycle and describe that cycle only. Admission requirements, fees and class schedules are set by each law school and change between years. Confirm anything you are deciding on with the school itself.
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