Top Law Schools

I read something in Time last week about the decline of the legal profession and that there are less prospective students taking the LSAT nowadays. Does that make it easier at all for prospective law students to get into law school? For instance, will a school that typically accepts no less than a 160 start looking at and considering applicants with a 158?

I think you are thinking too much about it. I doubt the quality of applicants changes that much, unless we are talking about lower tiered schools here.

Probably yes. Fewer people meeting a school's standards means they either need to change their standards or shrink their class size.

There's a discussion of it here: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6&t=170835

FantasticMrFox wrote:I think you are thinking too much about it. I doubt the quality of applicants changes that much, unless we are talking about lower tiered schools here.

Read before typing. The exact opposite appears to be the case.

Applications from those who scored 170-174 are down 20.3%, and applications to Yale are down 16.5%. It looks like the better potential applicants are actually turning away at a higher rate.

No.

If anything, it might be that schools will be more forgiving in terms of GPA in order to maintain a LSAT median they want but not really regarding the LSAT.

bdm261 wrote:I read something in Time last week about the decline of the legal profession and that there are less fewer prospective students taking the LSAT nowadays. Does that make it easier at all for prospective law students to get into law school? For instance, will a school that typically accepts no less than a 160 start looking at and considering applicants with a 158?

You may want to work on your writing before attending law school.

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Maybe but I wouldn't count on it if I were you.

Lincoln wrote:

bdm261 wrote:I read something in Time last week about the decline of the legal profession and that there are less fewer prospective students taking the LSAT nowadays. Does that make it easier at all for prospective law students to get into law school? For instance, will a school that typically accepts no less than a 160 start looking at and considering applicants with a 158?

You may want to work on your writing before attending law school.

You may want to work on your bitchiness before entering the real world.

FantasticMrFox wrote:I think you are thinking too much about it. I doubt the quality of applicants changes that much, unless we are talking about lower tiered schools here.

Depends how big the decline is. If it's a 50% decline in applications, schools MUST be more lenient.

Lincoln wrote:

bdm261 wrote:I read something in Time last week about the decline of the legal profession and that there are less fewer prospective students taking the LSAT nowadays. Does that make it easier at all for prospective law students to get into law school? For instance, will a school that typically accepts no less than a 160 start looking at and considering applicants with a 158?

You may want to work on your writing before attending law school.

You may want to consider that people like this are the people who go to law school.

it dilutes the value of the degree even more. Now employers are going to start hearing that the smart kids are not choosing law school and they will make hiring decision accordingly. Gives them an excuse to make fewer hires if the conventional wisdom and media reporting is that the kids going to law school are the ones who couldn't figure out anything else to do.

nkp007 wrote:

FantasticMrFox wrote:I think you are thinking too much about it. I doubt the quality of applicants changes that much, unless we are talking about lower tiered schools here.

Depends how big the decline is. If it's a 50% decline in applications, schools MUST be more lenient.

Yeah, and guess which level of schools are facing that kind of decline...

splitbrain wrote:

nkp007 wrote:

FantasticMrFox wrote:I think you are thinking too much about it. I doubt the quality of applicants changes that much, unless we are talking about lower tiered schools here.

Depends how big the decline is. If it's a 50% decline in applications, schools MUST be more lenient.

Yeah, and guess which level of schools are facing that kind of decline...

T14 feels the squeeze the most. Apps are down most for people with 170-174 scores (i.e. the people most likely to pay sticker or close at a T14). Yale had a 15+% drop in apps this year.

Nelson wrote:

splitbrain wrote:

nkp007 wrote:

FantasticMrFox wrote:I think you are thinking too much about it. I doubt the quality of applicants changes that much, unless we are talking about lower tiered schools here.

Depends how big the decline is. If it's a 50% decline in applications, schools MUST be more lenient.

Yeah, and guess which level of schools are facing that kind of decline...

T14 feels the squeeze the most. Apps are down most for people with 170-174 scores (i.e. the people most likely to pay sticker or close at a T14). Yale had a 15+% drop in apps this year.

ETA: Yeah wow I was under the assumption that the top schools wouldn't really be affected by the drops or would see an increase. How depressing...

Now I really want to know which schools saw an increase, besides UCI.

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Schools in the Top 100 will cut there class sizes because they do not want to drop in the rankings. The rest may be more concerned with revenue.

splitsplat wrote:If anything, it might be that schools will be more forgiving in terms of GPA in order to maintain a LSAT median they want but not really regarding the LSAT.

Doubt it.

Adm.Doppleganger wrote:

MrAnon wrote:it dilutes the value of the degree even more. Now employers are going to start hearing that the smart kids are not choosing law school and they will make hiring decision accordingly. Gives them an excuse to make fewer hires if the conventional wisdom and media reporting is that the kids going to law school are the ones who couldn't figure out anything else to do.

yes. i'm sure law firms will hear the news and decide... not to hire law school grads?

Good thing they made that decision for us 4 years ago.