Part-time Admission Changes Forum

[TIKITEMBO]

Can someone please link to information regarding the changes required by the ABA that schools report their part-time admission number as well? For the life of me I can not seem to find good information on this. I've got some idea, but I'm trying to get the full picture of how much this affects/has affected/will affect part-time admission numbers.

Thanks.

[LockBox]

This is anecdotal, but at a recent law fair I asked several admissions officers if there is any boost for applicants applying part time and the answer was no, there isn't. I've searched and started threads here but was also unable to find relevant info regarding part time admissions vs full time.

[tennisking88]

This is also anecdotal, but I'm pretty sure there is a boost if you already work in the area of the school.

[Bildungsroman]

Can someone please link to information regarding the changes required by the ABA that schools report their part-time admission number as well? For the life of me I can not seem to find good information on this. I've got some idea, but I'm trying to get the full picture of how much this affects/has affected/will affect part-time admission numbers.

Thanks.

This change happened a while ago. Any impact it will have on how PT students are treated has already been realized, and a discussion of the changes it created is mainly academic. Last cycle's numbers adequately show how PT students are treated, so just search LSN for PT applicants.

[TommyK]

Can someone please link to information regarding the changes required by the ABA that schools report their part-time admission number as well? For the life of me I can not seem to find good information on this. I've got some idea, but I'm trying to get the full picture of how much this affects/has affected/will affect part-time admission numbers.

Thanks.

IIRC, the ABA rules haven't changed. They always had to report them. The USNWR, an entity with far more power than the ABA, changed the way they determine the medians. In 2008, they used to have PT medians and FT medians seperate. (link: http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/c ... ng-formula)

Whereas, in 2011, they include both (link: http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/c ... l-rankings)

[TIKITEMBO]

Thanks for the replies everyone,

IIRC, the ABA rules haven't changed. They always had to report them. The USNWR, an entity with far more power than the ABA, changed the way they determine the medians. In 2008, they used to have PT medians and FT medians seperate. (link: --LinkRemoved-- ... ng-formula)

Hm, so is this supposed to mean that the numbers for medians and 25th-75th percentile for students admitted to part-time won't be changing anytime soon and the numbers for part-time are still lower overall?

2011 ranking for part-time programs and corresponding LSAT numbers here:

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandr ... w-rankings

[TommyK]

Hm, so is this supposed to mean that the numbers for medians and 25th-75th percentile for students admitted to part-time won't be changing anytime soon and the numbers for part-time are still lower overall?

Personally, I think it was a great change. Some schools used to push their less numerically qualified students into the PT programs when they were interested in FT programs as a way to keep their medians artificially high. It created an artifical higher demand for the PT programs for FT students and seems unfair to the PT student who is employed fulltime.

I know at some schools the disparity in PT/FT scores has already been dramatically reduced as the institution is incentivized to evaluate the PT students at the same level of scrutiny as the FT students.

As an aside, I wouldn't put too much value in the PT rankings.

[TIKITEMBO]

I totally agree that it would help people who are looking to work (myself being one of them ) I'd just love to know the numbers are still lower for those PT programs, but some may well have changed them. It appears they're still somewhat lower at the schools on the 2011 list. I'm just hoping they stay that way for another cycle...

[TommyK]

I totally agree that it would help people who are looking to work (myself being one of them ) I'd just love to know the numbers are still lower for those PT programs, but some may well have changed them. It appears they're still somewhat lower at the schools on the 2011 list. I'm just hoping they stay that way for another cycle...

This cycle could be very interesting as medians go. Law school apps are down 14%, after being down 11% last year. Should mean a decreased pool of highly qualified candidates.