Summary: According to a Kaplan study, law school admissions officers are expecting a bump in applications this year.
Kaplan Test Prep asked admissions officers at 120 law schools their predictions for 2015. According to the survey, a majority of law school admissions officers expect an increase in law school applications this year. This follows a decline in applications and enrollment the past few years.
Eighty-eight percent of the admissions officers surveyed are confident that their law school will have an increase in the number of applications during the 2015-2016 cycle. Last year only 46 percent predicted the numbers would go up. The 2014 entering class was the smallest in 40 years.
The Law School Admission Council, which is the organization that writes the LSAT, agrees with the admissions officers’ predictions. The past three administrations of the LSAT – December 2014, February 2015, and June 2015 – showed an increase in LSAT-takers. The last time numbers like this were seen was before the Great Recession in 2009-2010.
The survey also found that only 35 percent of law schools cut their total number of seats for first-year students in 2015, compared to last year when 54 percent had to cut the number of seats. “Something feels different about this application cycle to law school admissions officers,” says Jeff Thomas, director of pre-law programs at Kaplan Test Prep.
Stephen Brown, assistant dean of enrollment at Fordham University School of Law, adds, “We are hearing from students who have put off applying to law school for a few years, so applicants are a bit older and seem to have fully investigated the pros and cons of law school and legal careers.”
The increase in applications may come too late for some schools though. After facing a slump in student enrollment, some schools have been struggling financially. Of those surveyed, 87 percent predict that at least one law school will close its doors over the next few years because of financial insolvency.
Source: Kaplan
Photo: The Daily Texan