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I've heard that this year is extra competitive does anyone know if that's true?

It's too soon to tell since it's merely October and people aren't getting accepted or rejected yet.
People are probably just saying that based in 19.8% increase in June LSAT takers and assuming there will be a big rise in applicants because of it.

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I find Trump Bump funny since there's a 4 year delay on becoming an actual lawyer.

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Can't wait to critique some Trump Bump draft PSes.

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What does Trump Bump mean? Do I want to know?

Platopus wrote: We're talking about an increase in a couple hundred 170+'s, assuming this extra pool of additional applicants' scores adhere to the bell curve.

Why assume that?

Let's try not to get too elitist here. A lot of positive change occurs across the legal spectrum. The Florida grad working for the Florida Supreme Court is gonna have as big of an impact "on change" as a Harvard grad grinding away at big law. I for one think it is refreshing that some people are being drawn to law in a way they weren't before. I think to learn and practice law with the intention of public reform shows a sense of citizenship and purpose. I fail to see why this warrants snide condemnation.

Chaimthegreat wrote:Let's try not to get too elitist here. A lot of positive change occurs across the legal spectrum. The Florida grad working for the Florida Supreme Court is gonna have as big of an impact "on change" as a Harvard grad grinding away at big law. I for one think it is refreshing that some people are being drawn to law in a way they weren't before. I think to learn and practice law with the intention of public reform shows a sense of citizenship and purpose. I fail to see why this warrants snide condemnation.

Wholeheartedly agree. I'm at a T14 but a lot of the people I respect most in the legal profession (including a number of conventionally successful attorneys) went to TTT schools. In fact, going to the most elite school possible essentially guarantees one will be too indebted to focus much on anything other than the financial bottom line for years. And as Chaim points out, state courts are bastions of impactful non-preftigious work (for judges, clerks, and practitioners alike). Ditto re: elective office.

For the people asking what the Trump Bump refers to: it's the theory that anti-Trump sentiment is motivating people to learn the law in order to become activist lawyers or something along those lines.

Chaimthegreat wrote:Let's try not to get too elitist here. A lot of positive change occurs across the legal spectrum. The Florida grad working for the Florida Supreme Court is gonna have as big of an impact "on change" as a Harvard grad grinding away at big law. I for one think it is refreshing that some people are being drawn to law in a way they weren't before. I think to learn and practice law with the intention of public reform shows a sense of citizenship and purpose. I fail to see why this warrants snide condemnation.

I think the criticism is leveled at people who are sad about their first election and don't actually understand what lawyers do rushing to law school for a degree that they won't get until after (Cthulu willing) this idiot is out of office. There's nothing wrong with being interested in reform, but the kind of short-term interest generated by "OMG I gotta stop Trump's policies!" isn't going to be very sustainable.

This thread is getting off topic. I'm not familiar with the rules around here but probably best to keep it to my original question about whether this year is more competitive.

Thanks for the explanation about the Bump.

Jay2021 wrote:This thread is getting off topic. I'm not familiar with the rules around here but probably best to keep it to my original question about whether this year is more competitive.

Thanks for the explanation about the Bump.

Your question was answered by the first commentor on this post. It's October. It is much too early to tell. If you're genuinely worried about the nature of your competition, study more for the LSAT and craft the most flawless application you can instead of proposing meaningless hypotheticals.

Jay2021 wrote:This thread is getting off topic. I'm not familiar with the rules around here but probably best to keep it to my original question about whether this year is more competitive.

Thanks for the explanation about the Bump.

No. One. Knows.

And there's nothing you can do to impact it. So stop asking vague questions and start working on your apps.

Jay2021 wrote:

Platopus wrote: We're talking about an increase in a couple hundred 170+'s, assuming this extra pool of additional applicants' scores adhere to the bell curve.

Why assume that?

Normally about 2500 people people score 170 or higher, and abut 1000 people score 173 or higher. (2.5% and 1% out of 100,000, respectively). If the total number of people taking the LSAT increases by ~20%, and LSAC keeps making good tests, then those numbers should also each increase by about 20%, assuming there isn't something categorically unusual about the "new" applications joining the pool. It's not obvious how this might change any given applicant's chances at any given school because it's only a moderate change to one of many different factors.

Chaimthegreat wrote:Let's try not to get too elitist here. A lot of positive change occurs across the legal spectrum.

Agreed. Lots of positive change is possible in public defense or in certain types of "shitlaw". The mistakes many of the Trump Bump people are making - failing to realize how difficult and thankless the legal profession is, and taking on way too much debt - are hardly unique to their cohort.

cavalier1138 wrote:

Jay2021 wrote:This thread is getting off topic. I'm not familiar with the rules around here but probably best to keep it to my original question about whether this year is more competitive.

Thanks for the explanation about the Bump.

No. One. Knows.

And there's nothing you can do to impact it. So stop asking vague questions and start working on your apps.

Agree with this too, OP.

Even if that information existed yet, it shouldn't substantially affect any given person's application strategy. (Maybe add one more low-ranked school to your list as a safety? You should be applying to a few anyway because you'll get a fee waiver and having ammo for scholarship negotiation is essential.)

Even with the 20% increase in June LSAT takers, it’s still much lower than the peak about 7 years ago (or whenever it was, I don’t remember) and there were more repeats this year. We don’t even know how many of these people will actually apply this cycle.