In a further quest to protect its bottom line for the years to come, LSAC is now seeking to provide application-related services to graduate schools.
Showing posts with label admissions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label admissions. Show all posts
LSAC To Seek Cash From Grad Schools
In a further quest to protect its bottom line for the years to come, LSAC is now seeking to provide application-related services to graduate schools.
Choosing a Law School Personal Statement Topic
It's by the author of A Comprehensive Guide to the Law School Personal Statement, Margaret Klein, PhD, a personal statement editor.
Rutgers Law School Takes GMAT Scores
Why would they do such a thing? Well, amid declining applicant numbers, lower-tier law schools must work harder than ever to maintain their class sizes in order to keep tuition money coming in.
They apparently sent out this email to people who hadn't even expressed interest in law school. Given how intimidating the LSAT may seem at first, Rutgers Camden is looking to make it easier than ever to apply [emphasis added]:
The traditional law school program is a three-year program, which is extremely attractive to most graduate students given the difficult economy. The program is open to all students who have completed their undergraduate education with a 3.3 GPA or higher and scored in the 70th percentile or higher on any one core section of the GMAT.
You might ask, "But what about the LSAT requirement? That's not fair!"
No, it isn't. I haven't ever heard of a study on the correlation between GMAT scores and 1L grades. On the other hand, the LSAT is known to have a good correlation (0.58) with 1L grades.
The ABA's so-called "LSAT requirement" doesn't actually require law schools to use the LSAT in particular. It just requires them to use a "valid and reliable admission test." Low-tier law schools are free to interpret that however they like.
So, yeah, it's not fair that some get to take the GMAT instead of the LSAT, but, on the other hand, they have to go to Rutgers-Camden, rather than a law school actually worth attending.
In the past, I've heard of law schools accepting GMAT scores in lieu of LSAT scores, but only for joint JD/MBA programs. For example, Northwestern Law School:
Do I need to take the GMAT and LSAT?
Candidates are required to submit only the GMAT score; the LSAT is not required.
This makes a bit more sense, as such programs will typically require the applicant to have a stellar overall score on one of the two exams. And the applicant is definitely going to business school if accepted.
However, Rutgers' minimal standards here are only requiring 70% or higher on one of the GMAT's core sections for admission to law school alone, and the school's marketing this fact via email to solicit applications a mere 3 months before classes will start. (I searched the Rutgers-Camden website and found no mention of the fact that GMAT scores would be accepted in lieu of LSAT scores.)
Anyway, here's the Rutgers email reproduced in full. Be sure to check out the links below for some analysis of the numbers the dean tosses around.
Date: May 17, 2012 5:40:21 PM CDT
To: Subject: Rutgers School of Law - Camden
Dear __________,
In the ever-volatile job market, you may be considering graduate school. Consider this - Rutgers School of Law - Camden is giving high-achieving students, such as you, the opportunity to enroll in the Fall 2012 class. The traditional law school program is a three-year program, which is extremely attractive to most graduate students given the difficult economy. The program is open to all students who have completed their undergraduate education with a 3.3 GPA or higher and scored in the 70th percentile or higher on any one core section of the GMAT. If accepted at Rutgers law School at Camden, you will join other bright, talented students who are pursuing their legal education at our law school. To encourage you to participate in the program, the Law School is waiving the application fee, and if accepted, the $300 deposit fee. Joint JD/MBA degrees with the Graduate School of Business are also possible. Scholarship awards and in-state tuition are available.
The School is proud to carry on the tradition of excellence at Rutgers University, which is one of the oldest and largest public institutions of higher learning in the nation. As a direct result of the quality of legal education at Rutgers, of those employed nine months after graduation, 90% were employed in the legal field and 90% were in full time positions. Our average starting salary for a 2011 graduate who enters private practice is in excess of $74,000, with many top students accepting positions with firms paying in excess of $130,000. In a recent Forbes publication, Rutgers School of Law-Camden was ranked 18th nationally as one of the "Best Law Schools for Getting Rich". Rutgers is also ranked high in the nation at placing its students in prestigious federal and state clerkships.
I hope that you will consider this opportunity and join this class. Please apply on-line at our web site at http://camlaw.rutgers.edu. We are a direct student loan institution so financial aid is easily processed. We also have newly constructed on-campus law school apartments available, adjacent to the Law School and the Federal Courthouse, and guaranteed for our law students.
Sincerely,
Camille Andrews
Associate Dean of Enrollment
For further reading:
LST Calls for Dean’s Resignation and ABA Investigation [Law School Transparency]
Law School Sales Pitch Doubles Down On The Getting Rich Rationale For Law School [Above the Law]
Rutgers-Camden goes old school [Inside the Law School Scam]
LSAT Requirement May Be Eliminated [LSAT Blog]
Law Schools Stalk You on Facebook, Google to Find Dirt
While you might be looking up your law school admission deans on Facebook and Google, they're doing their own background research on you, too.
(See, LSAT scores and GPAs aren't all they care about.)
The 14 Worst Law Schools (Based on Employment Statistics)
The good folks at Constitutional Daily analyzed data from Law School Transparency and compiled a list of law schools with underemployment scores higher than their employment scores. (Visit Constitutional Daily for further details.)
Basically, these schools have more underemployed graduates than employed ones, according to LST's numbers.
That sounds pretty bad to me.
Here are the 14 schools ranked by the difference between their underemployment and employment scores (h/t TaxProf Blog):
India's Law School Bubble
In what other respect is India taking a page from the U.S.?
Law School Admission Deans on Applicant Numbers
A variety of news articles have also covered the decline, often interviewing law school admission deans.
In this blog post, I compile some choice quotes from law school admission deans (and others).
Columbia Law School Employment Troubles
The newest update includes two significant pieces of data:
-a detailed breakdown for Columbia's Class of 2011
-the number of school-funded jobs for the Classes of 2009, 2010, and 2011
The Post writes:
Law School Employment Numbers Database
It combines information from 4 different sources:
LSAT Requirement May Be Eliminated
In this post, I address 3 questions:
1. What is the LSAT requirement?
2. Why would the committee consider dropping it?
3. How would this affect law school admissions?
Guy Sues LSAC For Refusing Double-Time LSAT Accommodations
Unfortunately, he has learning disabilities that limit his ability to do well on the LSAT. He's also got ADHD, anxiety disorder, OCD, and mild depression. When he applied for LSAT accommodations, he was granted 50% extra time on the LSAT.
However, even with this extra time, he didn't do particularly well on the LSAT the two times he's taken it. Despite lots of studying, he scored only 150 on the December 2010 LSAT and 151 on the February 2012 LSAT.
Will Some Law Schools Close? | Video
LSAC Responds to LSAT Fee Hike Criticism
I've recently posted about how the LSAT fee increase will affect law schools. You may have also read Professor Brian Tamanaha's criticisms of the Law School Admission Council for raising the fee.
Well, LSAC recently issued a response to his criticisms. I've posted LSAC's response below (via TaxProf Blog).
After reading it, you may also be interested in reading Professor Tamanaha's comments on LSAC's response.
How Will Law Schools Be Affected By The LSAT Fee Increase?
I was puzzled by this reaction, given that it will lead to a further decline in demand for LSAC's services.
Of course, LSAC has a monopoly on the processing of law school applications and the administration of the LSAT, so it can raise its fees as it pleases. If you've decided that law school is for you, but don't qualify for a fee waiver, you'll manage to come up with the $160 LSAT registration fee, $155 Credential Assembly Service (CAS) fee, and $21 fee per CAS law school report.
Law School Applicant Numbers Continue Decline
LSAC's newest data indicates that the number of applicants to ABA law schools has declined 15%, and that the number of ABA applications is down 12.9% from the same time last cycle (through 4/13/12).
(LSAC states, "Last year at this time, we had 93% of the preliminary final applicant count.")
Based on this information, we can project that this cycle will have a total about 67,022 applicants.
Law School Class of 2010 ABA Employment Data Released
In an attempt to cut down on the shenanigans, the ABA has required law schools to report the number of graduates they employ nine months after graduation.
The ABA's 2011 Placement Survey was just released this week in spreadsheet format. It provides some interesting findings, as you can see in the graph to the top-right.
So, which law schools have more than 15% of their graduates in school-funded positions?
LSAT Test Registration Fee Increase: Why?
And, strangely enough, LSAC has acknowledged that the increase is in direct response to the recent drop in law school applicants and LSATs administered.
Law School Admission Cycle: Who Applies First?
I've always believed this to be the case, but not until recently did we have the information necessary to determine whether this is actually true.
Data from the Law School Admission Council indicates that high scorers tend to apply much earlier in the admission cycle than do low scorers.
How *Much* Easier to Gain Admission to Top-14 Law Schools?
This is due to the shrinking applicant pool and the fact that the largest percentage decrease within that applicant pool comes from applicants scoring in the 170-174 range.
The graph to the top-right displays the projected number of law school applicants by LSAT score for the admission cycle ending in 2012, compared to applicants in the previous cycle (specifically for those scoring 165+).
A graph at the end of this post shows the projected number of applicants whose highest LSAT scores are below 165.
Will Law Schools Have To Admit Almost Every Applicant?
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Will law schools soon have to admit almost everyone who applies?
As the number of law school applicants has sharply decreased over the past 10 years, law schools have been forced to admit an increasing percentage of applicants.
Here's the data from the Law School Admission Council demonstrating the increasing percentage of law school applicants admitted to at least one law school (shown in the graph to the top-right).
The second graph shows that the projected number of law school applicants for the 2011-2012 admission cycle (those applying to begin law school in 2012) is coming perilously close to the number of applicants admitted by law schools in previous years. (Projection for 2012 is based on this LSAC data.)
