University of Kansas School of Law Dean of Admissions Forum

[2014]

KU Law a great value.

please explain why.

thanks

I'm obviously not Dean Freedman but KU is like $16k a year for instate tuition which is substantially lower than basically any school I looked into at least.

[JayhawkLaw]

Hey, glad to see someone stumbled onto this thread.

So, why is KU Law a good value?

Pretty simple answer, we are one of top law schools in our region and we are affordable. We have low tuition ($16,500 in-state/$28,648 out-of-state) combined with a low cost of living here in Lawrence. Quality education at a low cost = A Good Value.

Steve

[Aeroneous]

Thank you for taking questions. I reside in the Midwest and have been considering KU for Law. Short of sifting through the many government offices in KS/MO and trying to figure out where each person graduated from, I haven't been able to find a great deal of information regarding KU's placement in government positions (County/City Attorney, ADA, Public Defender, etc.). I might be overlooking an obvious resource, but do you have any data which shows how well KU does within its region's public sector?

Also, how receptive is your office to allowing prospective students to sit in on classes? This would really help with my decision process.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[Birdnals]

http://placementsummary.abaquestionnair ... eport.aspx


This will give you the most recent employment including fed/state government employment.

[Aeroneous]

http://placementsummary.abaquestionnair ... eport.aspx


This will give you the most recent employment including fed/state government employment.

Thank you! As I said in my previous post, it was highly likely that I was just overlooking an obvious resource. I really appreciate the help.

[JayhawkLaw]

@ Aeroneus

Visit -Bad news, today was the last day of classes for the spring semester, so there are no classes to sit in right now. We invite all guests to sit in on classes during the fall and spring semesters. Admitted students are welcome to sit in on classes during the summer. We restrict visits in the summer because class sizes are small (20-25 students) and we'd like to reserve the opportunity for students who will be joining us in the fall. To schedule a visit, please view our website at http://www.law.ku.edu/prospective/visit/index.shtml.

Government Jobs - I am loving the new ABA placement statistics because it allows me to answer these questions easily. In 2010, we placed 23 students (20 LT/ 3 ST) in government positions out of a graduating class of 168. That's about 14% of the class. I downloaded the ABA spreadsheet and did the same calculation for all 200 ABA schools. KU Law ranked 53rd in the nation in terms of percentage of graduating students placed in government positions. I think that's a strong indication that our students do well in finding government positions.

We do well in federal positions too. This year (2011) seven of our students found full-time employment as attorneys with the federal government plus three federal judicial clerkships.

[JamMasterJ]

This post is just to confirm that Dean Freedman did, in fact, email us from his ku.edu address. So please, TLS, play nicely.

Darn. I was hoping this was an awesome troll.

But really, it's nice to have DoAs come on here like Pless did before he turned out to be.... well, Pless

[Aeroneous]

@ Aeroneus

Visit -Bad news, today was the last day of classes for the spring semester, so there are no classes to sit in right now. We invite all guests to sit in on classes during the fall and spring semesters. Admitted students are welcome to sit in on classes during the summer. We restrict visits in the summer because class sizes are small (20-25 students) and we'd like to reserve the opportunity for students who will be joining us in the fall. To schedule a visit, please view our website at http://www.law.ku.edu/prospective/visit/index.shtml.

Government Jobs - I am loving the new ABA placement statistics because it allows me to answer these questions easily. In 2010, we placed 23 students (20 LT/ 3 ST) in government positions out of a graduating class of 168. That's about 14% of the class. I downloaded the ABA spreadsheet and did the same calculation for all 200 ABA schools. KU Law ranked 53rd in the nation in terms of percentage of graduating students placed in government positions. I think that's a strong indication that our students do well in finding government positions.

We do well in federal positions too. This year (2011) seven of our students found full-time employment as attorneys with the federal government plus three federal judicial clerkships.

Thank you very much for getting back to me on my questions. I've been sifting through some of the ABA data and was actually somewhat surprised to see how well Washburn did in comparison to KU, considering the gap in rank. When it gets closer to the start of the Fall semester, I'll be sure to register for a visit. It's not too long of a drive though, so I might just sneak on the campus and take a self-guided tour.

Another question that some of my vellow vets/Active Duty applicants might have would be with regard to KU scholarship funding. With the low cost of tuition, those of us with a GI Bill will have no problems paying for tuition and fees. When it comes to KU's scholarships, are they designated for tuition and fees only or can they be used to offset living expenses? Some military board members have discovered that if scholarships are authorized for living expenses, the scholarship funding can be retained on top of the GI Bill. If not, the VA will simply pay out less money and receiving the scholarship will have no real benefit. I apologize if this seems trivial, but I know it's something us GI Bill folks really take into consideration.

[JayhawkLaw]

@ aeroneus - The University of Kansas is a strong supporter of our military veterans, and KU has a host of resources available for you. For a complete rundown of what KU has to offer veterans, I encourage you to contact the Office of Professional Military Graduate Education (http://www.opmge.ku.edu) which is designed to specifically aid military veterans seeking graduate degrees. In 2010, we were even named one of the top ten universities for veterans (http://www.news.ku.edu/2010/october/13/veterans.shtml).

To answer your question, KU Law scholarships can only be applied to tuition and fees. However, there may be other scholarships available through KU or through private sources that may apply to living expenses. The OPMGE is probably your best resource for that information.

[JayhawkLaw]

Oh, one more way we support folks who have served our nation. We provide fee waivers for veterans of the military, Peace Corps and Teach for America. If you fall into one of these categories, please contact our office at admitlaw@ku.edu and we'll send you a fee waiver.

[Aeroneous]

Outstanding. Thank you very much for all the help. I'll let some other people jump in and ask some questions.

[ineptimusprime]

Dean Freedman:

I've deposited at Kansas already, so I already know you're great. Question though:

How have the recent drops in LSAT administrations and the many reported drops in application numbers and quality affected Kansas? Did you guys receive fewer apps? more apps from less competitive applicants this year?

Have you had to compromise a little on your medians from last year in order to fill the class? Have you cut class size in order to maintain lsat/GPA numbers?

Do you think that this drop is the beginning of a downturn in the demand for legal education? Just an anomaly? Something else entirely?

Thanks!

[JayhawkLaw]

@ ineptimus

We've had a pretty interesting year so far. This year we have already received 927 applications, a 13% increase over last year's total of 819. And applications continue to come in. To put that rise in perspective, we are only one of 11 ABA accredited law schools nationwide to have seen application increases of 10% or more. That contrasts with the 86% of law schools who have seen declines in their applications.

Regarding quality, the quality has stayed steady and our applicant median LSAT and GPA scores are about equal to last year. The LSAT median remained the same at 155 with the GPA dipping slightly from 3.38 to 3.33. We're confident that our final numbers will stay relatively close to last year's. As to class size, last year we reduced our class size from 165 to 140 to reflect the changing job market. We plan on remaining at this size for the next several years at least.

Steve

[CanadianWolf]

Curious as to which other law schools experienced an increase in apps this cycle (you wrote that 11 law schools including Kansas saw an increase in applications this cycle). Can you post or PM the source or a list of the other law schools ? Thanks in advance !

P.S. Congratulations regarding your efforts at KU !

[ineptimusprime]

Curious as to which other law schools experienced an increase in apps this cycle (you wrote that 11 law schools including Kansas saw an increase in applications this cycle). Can you post or PM the source or a list of the other law schools ? Thanks in advance !

P.S. Congratulations regarding your efforts at KU !

I'm also curious about the other ten schools.

[JayhawkLaw]

LSAC releases this data to the law schools on the member's website behind a password protected wall. They don't list the schools, they just provide the chart below:

As of 4/13/12
Increase of 100% or more: 1
Increase of 50% to 99%: -
Increase of 40% to 49%: -
Increase of 30% to 39%: -
Increase of 20% to 29%: 1
Increase of 10% to 19%: 9
Increase of 1% to 9%: 16
No change: 2
Decrease of 1% to 9%: 40
Decrease of 10% to 19%: 74
Decrease of 20% to 29%: 42
Decrease of 30% or greater: 13

[ineptimusprime]

Don't go to this school. I am graduating top 10% here and am on law review and don't have a job yet. Plenty others of us don't have a job. It's a total waste of money and time.

Ouch. Care to elaborate? Do you think that your lack of a job is more a result of the economy or the school? If it's the school, please explain why.

[JayhawkLaw]

@ Joe 7 - if you are really a KU Law student, send me an e-mail proving it. I'll come back here and post that you are indeed a KU Law student. Otherwise, I think most people reading your post will assume you are a TLS troll.

[CanadianWolf]

Shouldn't the mods remove the off topic comment ? Seems like most posters would value direct contact with a law school dean. Why would any law school dean offer a Q&A thread if it could be used to make unverifiable remarks ?

[Corsair]

..

[JayhawkLaw]

Congratulations to this year's graduating class!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lCabGpn ... e=youtu.be

[Cerias]

Dean Freedman:

I wonder if you could speak a little bit about the amount of time that it normally takes an application to run its course before the committee renders a decision, as well as the frequency at which you update the Online Status Checker for prospective students. Currently, I have been "Under Review" since 5/14 and wonder if this a typical amount of time for an application to be in this phase of the process. As you may imagine, I am eagerly awaiting the committee's response. I am ever patient, and though I realize that you cannot speak specifically to my particular case, perhaps shedding some light on the timeline of the admissions process would prove beneficial both to me and others who read this forum. Thank you for your time and consideration.

[JayhawkLaw]

Cerias,

You ask a fair question. Our goal is to turn around applications as fast as possible, but this year an 18% increase in applications slowed us down a bit.

Right now we're putting the finishing touches on our class. At most, we expect to make five to ten more offers. If you'd like a fast response, just send me an e-mail and I'll have an answer for you within the week. That offer goes for anyone reading this who is still waiting for a decision.

Steve

[amanda727]

Dean Freedman,

I'm thinking about applying to KU law school for the 2013 school year. I have a 3.3 gpa and a 156 lsat score. My extra curricular activities, however, are wonderful. Do you recommend retaking the lsat or waiting or is this a good enough score for KU? I heard someone got in with a 151 and 3.2?

[CanadianWolf]

http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com may help answer your question.