Bloomberg.com has a fast and furious video in which they detail the “Seven things you don’t know about getting into law school”.
Citing data from the ABA and LSAC, the video begins by proclaiming that the lower number of applicants to law school is making it easier to get into law school. Cited as one of these seven things, we are told that the number of law school applications has dropped 12% – a statistic that has been examined here and in the news at length, but what may be less known is that applications to low-ranked schools has been on the upswing. For example, Florida International Law School and Texas Tech, both ranked as number 105, are experiencing an increase in applications of at least 17%.
The average rate of acceptance at law schools is up significantly! According to the statistics cited, the average school made offers to 47% of applicants, as compared to 40% last year; some schools, notably the School of Law in Vermont, had an offer rate as high as 83%. However, the top ranked schools still have very low acceptance rates: number one ranked law school, Yale University, offers admission to only 8% of those applying; Stanford University’s offer rate is to 10% of those students filing applications.
The decline in the overall number of applications has resulted in a decline in the size of the incoming first year class. As an overall average, the size of a 1L class beginning in September 2012 was 9% smaller than the previous year. Interestingly however, some schools reported an increase in the size of last fall’s entering class. At the University of California – Irvine Law School, the 1L class was 34% larger than the previous year; North California Central had a 53% increase in their first year class. The differences in the size of the first year class become significant when comparing the size of the 1L class in the top 25 law schools as compared to the second 25%; the top schools are growing the sizes of their entering classes, while the second group of law schools is looking at a smaller entering class. Interestingly, the schools in the second group, ranked 26-50 are actually sending offers to a greater number of students but, nonetheless, the size of their entering class is shrinking.
While Yale Law School has maintained its rigorous requirements – a median GPA of 3.9 and a median LSAT score of 173, this trend has not been reflected in most schools. Across the United States, the median GPA and LSAT score to get into law school has dropped about .5%
Click here to see the full video.
