KU Law Bar Prep Program drives one of the nation's highest bar passage rates
One Day One KU fuels KU Law's Bar Prep Program, helping graduates prepare for the bar exam without financial stress.
"I just knew," Savard said. "KU prepared me, and I knew it. And lo and behold, here I am in my office."
Savard's newfound confidence in test-taking was a result of KU Law's Bar Prep Program. The program offers all KU Law students a free bar review course, as well as a Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination prep course, after graduation. This allows students to prepare for the bar without adding financial stress.
"I could take [the bar exam] and focus and not have to worry about the financial strain."
— Cameron Savard, KU Law student
"It was an immense relief," Savard said. "I could take this thing and focus and not have to worry about the financial strain."
Bar review courses can cost between $1,000 and $4,000, according to the National Jurist. The bar exam itself costs $700 in Kansas, according to the Kansas Judicial Branch, but can cost more depending on the state.
For recent law graduates, having an accessible and free way to prepare for the bar exam is crucial. KU Law tuition is $26,000 and $33,000 for resident and nonresident students, respectively. About 71% of law students graduate with debt, and the average student debt for law graduates is almost $120,000, according to the Education Data Initiative.
The Bar Prep Program is one of the reasons that KU Law has the 11th-highest passing rate in the country. In 2025, KU Law's first-time bar passage rate in Kansas was 95%, nearly eight percentage points above the state average for first-time examinees. In Missouri, KU Law students posted a 97% first-time bar passage rate, compared with an 86.5% rate for all first-time takers in that state.
The Bar Prep Program is in partnership with the Themis Bar Review course, taken over the summer after graduation – or in January and February for winter graduates. The program includes practice questions and exams, guidance and more. Savard said that another reason behind the high passing rate is the faculty at the School of Law.
"The professors at KU Law are top-notch," Savard said. "There are these professors that went to Harvard . . . and they're coming to share with us and teach us." Savard said that his professors told him as he studied for the bar that what he had learned in law school would eventually be on the exam.
"It was awesome, having what was taught to me show up on the exam," Savard said.
"I wrote to one of my trial professors that a question about a civil trial came up on my written essay, and it was like, 'That was KU, right there, they prepared me for that.'"
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