Thanks to our fractured political landscape, thousands upon thousands of college graduates have been inspired to go to law school. Per recent LSAC data, applications have surged since last year, the highest year-over-year increase since 2002, with more than 76,000 applicants vying for admission to law school. According to a new Kaplan survey, we shouldn’t expect this “application boom” to slow down anytime soon.
Kaplan asked law school admissions officers whether they thought the current law school admissions cycle would be as competitive as that of last year’s, and a combined 90% said they expected the 2025-2026 application cycle to be at least as competitive as that of the year prior. Of that 90%, 13% said it would be “much more competitive,” 35% said it would be “somewhat more competitive,” and 42% said the level of competitiveness would remain “about the same.”
The nation’s political climate is thought to be the reason behind the rapid escalation in law school applications, with 49% saying it was a “major driver of the increase,” 38% saying that it “moderately drove the increase,” and 7% saying it was “the main factor” behind the increase. Only 5% said the U.S. political climate was a “slight factor or non-factor,” with 1% saying they “weren’t sure.” One of Kaplan’s survey respondents had this to say about the issue:
“The current political and economic climate has made law school increasingly attractive for a wide range of applicants. Legal issues, particularly in areas like constitutional law, civil rights, and the role of the courts, are at the forefront of national conversation, prompting many to see a law degree as a way to engage meaningfully with pressing societal questions.”
“At Kaplan, over the past year, we’ve seen a massive increase in the number of students preparing for the LSAT, a strong indication that the number of law school applicants will remain at historically high levels, making it imperative for prospective students to put together the strongest application possible. And given the intensity of today’s political climate, we believe politics will continue to exert a strong influence on applicant trends,” Krystin Major, director of LSAT programs at Kaplan, said in a statement.
“While we understand that passions are high, we remind prospective law students that the primary reason to pursue a J.D. should be to practice law—and not just for the next four years, but for the next 40. We encourage every potential applicant to be introspective and make that decision with purpose. A career in law can be both rewarding and fulfilling, but it requires thinking not only about the present moment, but about the long road ahead.”
Speaking of the “long road ahead,” one admissions officer told Kaplan that the 2025-2026 application cycle’s “increased competitiveness is a double-edged sword as it should increase the talent level for the legal community at the expense of excluding many candidates who would have been excellent contributors to the field.”
Another survey respondent seemed concerned about the optics if law schools decide to admit larger class sizes due to the wealth of applicants, saying, “I think the profession suffers if law schools get greedy and bring in significantly larger classes than the market can feasibly support down the road, as we saw in 2009-2011, but that may not have recurred to the same degree this past year.”
Whatever the case may be, elections have consequences and our political system has attracted many worthy applicants to the legal field. We’ll soon be able to see just how many future lawyers were inspired to apply to law school when LSAC releases its latest data.
Kaplan Survey: Another Fierce Law School Admissions Cycle Looms Large, Driven by Politics [Kaplan]
Staci Zaretsky is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.
The post U.S. Politics Drives Law School ‘Application Boom’ appeared first on Above the Law.
Thanks to our fractured political landscape, thousands upon thousands of college graduates have been inspired to go to law school. Per recent LSAC data, applications have surged since last year, the highest year-over-year increase since 2002, with more than 76,000 applicants vying for admission to law school. According to a new Kaplan survey, we shouldn’t expect this “application boom” to slow down anytime soon.
Kaplan asked law school admissions officers whether they thought the current law school admissions cycle would be as competitive as that of last year’s, and a combined 90% said they expected the 2025-2026 application cycle to be at least as competitive as that of the year prior. Of that 90%, 13% said it would be “much more competitive,” 35% said it would be “somewhat more competitive,” and 42% said the level of competitiveness would remain “about the same.”
The nation’s political climate is thought to be the reason behind the rapid escalation in law school applications, with 49% saying it was a “major driver of the increase,” 38% saying that it “moderately drove the increase,” and 7% saying it was “the main factor” behind the increase. Only 5% said the U.S. political climate was a “slight factor or non-factor,” with 1% saying they “weren’t sure.” One of Kaplan’s survey respondents had this to say about the issue:
“The current political and economic climate has made law school increasingly attractive for a wide range of applicants. Legal issues, particularly in areas like constitutional law, civil rights, and the role of the courts, are at the forefront of national conversation, prompting many to see a law degree as a way to engage meaningfully with pressing societal questions.”
“At Kaplan, over the past year, we’ve seen a massive increase in the number of students preparing for the LSAT, a strong indication that the number of law school applicants will remain at historically high levels, making it imperative for prospective students to put together the strongest application possible. And given the intensity of today’s political climate, we believe politics will continue to exert a strong influence on applicant trends,” Krystin Major, director of LSAT programs at Kaplan, said in a statement.
“While we understand that passions are high, we remind prospective law students that the primary reason to pursue a J.D. should be to practice law—and not just for the next four years, but for the next 40. We encourage every potential applicant to be introspective and make that decision with purpose. A career in law can be both rewarding and fulfilling, but it requires thinking not only about the present moment, but about the long road ahead.”
Speaking of the “long road ahead,” one admissions officer told Kaplan that the 2025-2026 application cycle’s “increased competitiveness is a double-edged sword as it should increase the talent level for the legal community at the expense of excluding many candidates who would have been excellent contributors to the field.”
Another survey respondent seemed concerned about the optics if law schools decide to admit larger class sizes due to the wealth of applicants, saying, “I think the profession suffers if law schools get greedy and bring in significantly larger classes than the market can feasibly support down the road, as we saw in 2009-2011, but that may not have recurred to the same degree this past year.”
Whatever the case may be, elections have consequences and our political system has attracted many worthy applicants to the legal field. We’ll soon be able to see just how many future lawyers were inspired to apply to law school when LSAC releases its latest data.
Kaplan Survey: Another Fierce Law School Admissions Cycle Looms Large, Driven by Politics [Kaplan]
Staci Zaretsky is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.
