With the release of the February LSAT scores last week, prospective law students are no doubt finalizing and submitting their law school applications. The LSAC website has released some interesting statistics on the numbers of applications. (LSAC is the organization that administers the LSAT).
Looking at applications to American law schools, as of the beginning of March, 44,630 applicants submitted 310,113 applications for admission for fall 2013. The number of applicants is done almost 20% from 2012, and applications are down 23.1% from last year. At this time last year, LSAC had 86% of the preliminary final applicant count. When looking at applications for Canadian schools, the percentage drop is not quite so high. Fall applications were submitted by 7,022 applicants who sent in 27,601 applications. For Canadian schools, this represents a 4.95 decrease in applicants, but interestingly, applications are up 1.3% as compared to last year. At this point last year, LSAC had about 95% of the preliminary application count.
Overall trends for the past three years for applications to Canadian law schools show that the number of applicants remained steady in 2011 and 2012. For law schools in the United States, overall the numbers dropped in 2012 as compared to 201.
As discussed previously, law schools in the United States are looking at these trends towards lower applications seriously and considering alternative in legal education, employment and tuition.
To see the full report on application trends, click here: http://www.lsac.org/lsacresources/data/three-year-volume.asp
