Below is GULC's interesting and swift response to today's NYT article - was posted in another thread but I'm posting here for more visibility
Article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/31/educa ... ml?hp&_r=1&
Georgetown response:
Dear Students,
As you may have seen, there is an article in the New York Times today
that outlines the challenges facing legal education. If you have not
seen it, it can be found at the following link:
--LinkRemoved-- ... .html?_r=0
The market challenges described in the article are ones that have long
been apparent to me and to so many in this community. This year, we
embarked on a strategic planning process, and addressing these
concerns and changes is the central focus of that process. At the same
time, Georgetown Law has unique strengths as we respond to
unprecedented challenges.
Even as we think through our goals for the next five years, we have
moved immediately to strengthen our students’ opportunities and
educational experience. As the article points out, one of the primary
strategies that schools are adopting in response to the market changes
is to focus on experiential learning. Georgetown has long been the
leader in experiential education, and, even while we are thinking
through our plans for the future, we have moved to increase our
students’ opportunities in this area. Next year, we will launch a
transactional clinic, we have in the past three years expanded our
practicum offerings (seminars combined with field placements or
projects) from three to thirty-three, and we have grown our externship
program more than five-fold.
We have also worked to help students confront this difficult market.
We have made providing increased support for students and graduates a
priority in our allocation of limited resources. We have significantly
increased financial aid in an effort to make a Georgetown education
more accessible. Our support for summer employment – enabling students
to gain experience with public sector and non-profit employers - has
also increased significantly. This year, we will provide more than one
million dollars in support to enable students to pursue this
opportunity. Our Entry into Practice program provides financial
support for graduates so that they can work in the public sector as
they are looking for permanent employment, and we have made this
program available to all of our current graduates. Finally, our loan
forgiveness program has expanded as more and more students pursue
public sector employment.
At the same time, we have also focused on strengthening our career
planning efforts. We have launched new programs to help our students
think through their options and prepare to take advantage of their
opportunities, and we have restructured and expanded counseling. As a
result of both our efforts and improvements in the market, we are
seeing improvements in career opportunities. The New York Times
article reports employment numbers for the Class of 2011, which
appears to be the bottom of the market. Prospects for our Class of
2013 are much more promising. For example, when members of the Class
of 2011 were second-year students (the summer of 2010), 34 percent of
the class worked as summer associates. This past summer (the summer of
2012), 52 percent of the class of 2013 obtained positions as summer
associates. This shift – an improvement of more than 50 percent -
indicates that, even as we are in a time of challenges, our students’
job prospects are improving significantly.
Regarding admissions, I have spoken at length with Dean Andy
Cornblatt, who, as you can imagine, is monitoring the situation
closely. We are fortunate that we have instituted programs designed to
attract applicants and, more importantly, to help encourage our
admitted students to enroll. We now have a two-tiered interview
process in place – alumni and group interviews – which this year will
result in almost one-third of the applicant pool being interviewed.
Andy reports that applications to Georgetown this year will likely be
down approximately 12%, as opposed to 21% nationwide. He predicts,
however, that the median gpa and LSATs for the entering class in Fall
2013 should remain roughly the same as last year’s, and the new class
will also reflect the diversity that is so central to Georgetown’s
mission. Make no mistake, this is a challenging time for admissions,
but we are fortunate to have, in Andy and his staff, a terrific team,
unrivaled in the world of law school admissions.
As the strategic planning process continues, I look forward to
providing you more information. In a time of challenge, we are
fortunate to be members of a community of such strength and such
commitment to the well-being of our students.
Sincerely,
Bill Treanor
