Summary: With a shortage of applications to Minnesota Law School, the school has been forced to cut back their admission numbers.
Law schools across the nation are holding graduation ceremonies but one law school’s celebration is bittersweet. The administration at the University of Minnesota Law School was busy deciding how to respond to the growing disinterest in legal careers, especially from their school.
In 2006, there were 88,700 applications to law schools across the nation. As of last month there were only 51,000. With the plummet in law school applications, some schools were bound to get hit harder than others. Schools in the Great Lakes region are some of those schools despite the fact that Minnesota is a highly ranked school.
With a lack of money coming in from applications and enrollment, Minnesota has been forced to find a way to balance their money. They decided to shrink their numbers instead of lowering standards to allow more students acceptance or raising tuition to make up for the deficit. To make up for the loss of tuition, Minnesota used more public subsidies and university money. They have also reduced staff slightly.
Read How the Law School Enrollment Crisis Affects Harvard to learn more.
Even though the school did not compromise its standards, they dropped two places this year to be tied with Emory University and Notre Dame at No. 22. It is still a mystery as to why Minnesota has seen a sharper decline in applicants than other top 20 law schools. The sheer number of accredited law schools in the area may be a factor.
Why do you think the University of Minnesota Law School is suffering more than the other top 20 law schools? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
To learn more about the law school enrollment crisis read Law School Enrollment Continues to Shrink.
Photo: blogs.mprnews.org
