{"id":107604,"date":"2025-02-04T01:03:27","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T09:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/02\/04\/law-schools-applications-are-up-which-means-that-students-need-to-be-admitted-responsibly\/"},"modified":"2025-02-04T01:03:27","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T09:03:27","slug":"law-schools-applications-are-up-which-means-that-students-need-to-be-admitted-responsibly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/02\/04\/law-schools-applications-are-up-which-means-that-students-need-to-be-admitted-responsibly\/","title":{"rendered":"Law Schools Applications Are Up, Which Means That Students Need To Be Admitted Responsibly"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In a year that\u2019s been full of surprises, what may be the biggest surprise of all is the sudden interest people now have in going to law school. Law school applicants aren\u2019t just up, they\u2019re way<\/em> up. According to LSAC, thus far, there\u2019s been a 23.7 percent increase in law school applicants nationally (i.e., ~9,000 more applicants), and all those applicants have been busy, accounting for a 28% increase in filed applications nationwide (i.e., ~70,000 more applications). In fact, in some states, law schools are being \u201cflooded\u201d with applicants \u2014 with some schools seeing a 50% increase in applicants.<\/p>\n

Take, for example, Pennsylvania, the state where the U.S. Constitution was signed by the Framers. As noted by the Legal Intelligencer, the eight law schools in the Keystone State have seen a 25% increase in applications compared to last year. Whaddaya know, it\u2019s like people suddenly have an interest in law and justice during a time when the rule of law seems like it may be in grave jeopardy.<\/p>\n

So, which Pennsylvania law schools are seeing a noted increase in applicants? The Legal Intelligencer<\/a> has the details:<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Three law schools in the state are reporting increases in applications of at least 50%: Drexel University\u2019s Kline School of Law, the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and Temple University\u2019s Beasley School of Law. Two schools reported application growth between 40% to 49%, including Duquesne University\u2019s Kline School of Law; one school reported growth between 20% and 29% year over year, and an additional two reported increases between 10% and 19%.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Only one school reported a net decrease in applications of 50% or more, a dip that can potentially be attributed to the consolidation at Penn State Dickinson Law. A Penn State representative declined to comment on the school\u2019s enrollment numbers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Dean Daniel Filler of Drexel University Kline School of Law is seeing a lot of similarities in this application cycle to Trump\u2019s first go-round in the White House. \u201cIt\u2019s similar to eight or nine years ago, the law really feels important right now within society,\u201d he said. \u201cIn moments when the law feels really steady, it\u2019s unclear how much influence the rule of law has in the life of a 20-year-old. With these dramatic shifts [right now], for students and young adults, the law really frames the nature of their freedoms and their choices. A world like that sends more people to law school because they want to have a voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s nice to \u201chave a voice\u201d when it seems like democracy may be at stake, but what could be at stake for these would-be lawyers\u2019 careers? Matthew Saleh, senior associate dean for enrollment management and financial aid at Rutgers Law School has some thoughts on that.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\u201cMy concern is going to be if what happened in 2021 rears its ugly face again,\u201d Saleh said. \u201c2021 had a huge uptick in application volume. If schools are still admitting in a similar fashion as they did last year and admitting more students \u2026 If schools are not being as responsive as what\u2019s happening in the market right now, they might over-enroll classes, like in 2021, where you saw huge upticks in enrollment. My big fear is the schools enroll larger classes, but the legal market isn\u2019t going to increase the number of jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the job market isn\u2019t going to grow to compensate for the larger number of graduates in 2028, what are schools going to do to respond to that need?\u201d Saleh asked. \u201cWill schools start steering those students into different jobs?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Over-enrollment should be a huge concern, especially during a time when there\u2019s a government hiring freeze with an end date yet to be determined. How will the market respond to a glut of lawyers? Does anyone remember the \u201clost generation\u201d of lawyers who graduated in 2010, and went on to have some of the worst employment outcomes on record? We definitely don\u2019t want another repeat of that, but it sure is nice to see how many people have an eye on the law when it desperately needs a helping hand.<\/p>\n

Best of luck this law school application cycle, because this could get pretty competitive!<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania Law Schools Are Seeing Double-Digit Boosts in 2025 Applications<\/a> [Legal Intelligencer]<\/p>\n

\n
\"Staci
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Staci Zaretsky<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email<\/a> her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Threads<\/a>,\u00a0or connect with her on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The post Law Schools Applications Are Up, Which Means That Students Need To Be Admitted Responsibly<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a year that\u2019s been full of surprises, what may be the biggest surprise of all is the sudden interest people now have in going to law school. Law school applicants aren\u2019t just up, they\u2019re way<\/em> up. According to LSAC, thus far, there\u2019s been a 23.7 percent increase in law school applicants nationally (i.e., ~9,000 more applicants), and all those applicants have been busy, accounting for a 28% increase in filed applications nationwide (i.e., ~70,000 more applications). In fact, in some states, law schools are being \u201cflooded\u201d with applicants \u2014 with some schools seeing a 50% increase in applicants.<\/p>\n

Take, for example, Pennsylvania, the state where the U.S. Constitution was signed by the Framers. As noted by the Legal Intelligencer, the eight law schools in the Keystone State have seen a 25% increase in applications compared to last year. Whaddaya know, it\u2019s like people suddenly have an interest in law and justice during a time when the rule of law seems like it may be in grave jeopardy.<\/p>\n

So, which Pennsylvania law schools are seeing a noted increase in applicants? The Legal Intelligencer<\/a> has the details:<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Three law schools in the state are reporting increases in applications of at least 50%: Drexel University\u2019s Kline School of Law, the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and Temple University\u2019s Beasley School of Law. Two schools reported application growth between 40% to 49%, including Duquesne University\u2019s Kline School of Law; one school reported growth between 20% and 29% year over year, and an additional two reported increases between 10% and 19%.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Only one school reported a net decrease in applications of 50% or more, a dip that can potentially be attributed to the consolidation at Penn State Dickinson Law. A Penn State representative declined to comment on the school\u2019s enrollment numbers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Dean Daniel Filler of Drexel University Kline School of Law is seeing a lot of similarities in this application cycle to Trump\u2019s first go-round in the White House. \u201cIt\u2019s similar to eight or nine years ago, the law really feels important right now within society,\u201d he said. \u201cIn moments when the law feels really steady, it\u2019s unclear how much influence the rule of law has in the life of a 20-year-old. With these dramatic shifts [right now], for students and young adults, the law really frames the nature of their freedoms and their choices. A world like that sends more people to law school because they want to have a voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s nice to \u201chave a voice\u201d when it seems like democracy may be at stake, but what could be at stake for these would-be lawyers\u2019 careers? Matthew Saleh, senior associate dean for enrollment management and financial aid at Rutgers Law School has some thoughts on that.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\u201cMy concern is going to be if what happened in 2021 rears its ugly face again,\u201d Saleh said. \u201c2021 had a huge uptick in application volume. If schools are still admitting in a similar fashion as they did last year and admitting more students \u2026 If schools are not being as responsive as what\u2019s happening in the market right now, they might over-enroll classes, like in 2021, where you saw huge upticks in enrollment. My big fear is the schools enroll larger classes, but the legal market isn\u2019t going to increase the number of jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the job market isn\u2019t going to grow to compensate for the larger number of graduates in 2028, what are schools going to do to respond to that need?\u201d Saleh asked. \u201cWill schools start steering those students into different jobs?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Over-enrollment should be a huge concern, especially during a time when there\u2019s a government hiring freeze with an end date yet to be determined. How will the market respond to a glut of lawyers? Does anyone remember the \u201clost generation\u201d of lawyers who graduated in 2010, and went on to have some of the worst employment outcomes on record? We definitely don\u2019t want another repeat of that, but it sure is nice to see how many people have an eye on the law when it desperately needs a helping hand.<\/p>\n

Best of luck this law school application cycle, because this could get pretty competitive!<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania Law Schools Are Seeing Double-Digit Boosts in 2025 Applications<\/a> [Legal Intelligencer]<\/p>\n

\n
\"Staci
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Staci Zaretsky<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email<\/a> her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Threads<\/a>,\u00a0or connect with her on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a year that\u2019s been full of surprises, what may be the biggest surprise of all is the sudden interest people now have in going to law school. Law school applicants aren\u2019t just up, they\u2019re way up. According to LSAC, thus far, there\u2019s been a 23.7 percent increase in law school applicants nationally (i.e., ~9,000 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":107588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Staci-Zaretsky-j0mZxk.jpeg?fit=150%2C100&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}