Law School Admission Cycle: Who Applies First?

An LSAT Blog reader recently asked whether law school applicants with relatively higher LSAT scores apply earlier in the admission cycle than others.

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.

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Logic and Games

* An open letter to a 4th-tier law school with the radical suggestion that it teach lawyering. [Lawyerist]

* How to succeed in law school without even trying (too much). [Above the Law]

* The prosecutor in the George Zimmerman case is known for being tough. She won an election even after being fired. [ABA Journal]

* Eyewitness mistakes can lead to tragic errors in court (by Jonah Lehrer). [WSJ]

* Fresh off the campaign trail, Rick Santorum just bought his 3-year-old daughter a lifetime NRA membership. [Jezebel]

Lawyer Diaries: Women's Rights Writer

Lawyer Diaries is a new semi-regular feature on LSAT Blog where current and former lawyers will share their experiences.

The first is from Kate McGuinness, a lawyer with a long and varied legal career who is now a full-time writer. Please thank her for sharing her story in the comments!

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How *Much* Easier to Gain Admission to Top-14 Law Schools?

I've talked a lot recently about the fact that law schools will have to lower their admission standards and reduce class sizes.

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.

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Logic and Games

* George Zimmerman is in custody and has been charged with second-degree murder. [CNN]

* A lawyer who's been waiting 30+ years to get off the waitlist from UChicago Law finally withdraws his application. (Don't worry, he ended up going to UMichigan in the meantime.) [Above the Law]

* Please don't practice law without a license. Just don't. [ABA Journal]

* A new ordinance in Seattle defends the right to breast-feed in public. Still no extra time to breast-feed at the LSAT, though. [WSJ Law Blog]

* FBI statistics indicate that 72 police officers were killed in 2011: a 25% rise from previous year and 75% rise from 2008. Determining the reason for the increase is tricky - full of correlation-causation issues. [NYTimes]

* A visual representation of the 15,000 temperature records that were broken in March. [io9]

Will Law Schools Have To Admit Almost Every Applicant?

For updates, see my series of posts on recent trends in law school admissions.

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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.)

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Will Law Schools' Scramble for Applicants / Rankings Turn Even Uglier?

For updates, see my series of posts on recent trends in law school admissions.

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To what new lows will law schools have to sink in order to attract top-scoring applicants?

While the Law School Admission Council's newest numbers indicate that law school applicant numbers are in steep decline, they also indicate that the declines are not equal across the board.

In particular, we're seeing a huge drop-off in top LSAT scorers applying this cycle. The decline in the number of law school applicants has come disproportionately from the top end of the spectrum.

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7 Sage LSAT Tips To Improve Your Score

Throughout history, we've looked to old wise men, known as sages, for advice and guidance in times of need.

Since the LSAT didn't exist in olden times, there's a serious lack of guidance from the sages with regard to LSAT preparation.

However, we have something even better: LSAT diaries from top LSAT scorers.

In the blog post, I've compiled tips from 7 sage LSAT masters who wrote about their experiences in LSAT Diaries.

7 Sage LSAT Tips from LSAT Diaries:

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Law School Diaries: Getting A Summer Job

In this week's Law School Diaries column, law student "Elle Woods" gets a summer job.

(Read more Law School Diaries.)

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Logic and Games

* My recent post about the steep decline in law school applicants was picked up by a few legal news sites. Some good discussions about the potential impact on tuition (or lack thereof). [Above the Law; WSJ Law Blog; ABA Journal]

* The ABA Journal picked up my post discussing why pre-law students are losing interest in political careers. [ABA Journal]

* An article in defense of superstition argues that being illogical can actually bring some benefits. Sadly for some, that's not the case when it comes to the LSAT. [NYTimes]

* Apparently, college makes people care less about racism. [Gawker]

* An awesome new machine allows paraplegics to avoid using wheelchairs. [YouTube]

* Bad spring allergies? Consider using a neti pot. I just started, and the verdict so far is "weird, but effective." [The Hairpin; Wikipedia]

Law School Applicant Numbers / Applications in Steep Decline

For updates, see my series of posts on recent trends in law school admissions.

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The Law School Admission Council's latest numbers indicate that law school applicants and applications for this past cycle have dropped precipitously compared to the previous cycle.

Applicant numbers are down 15.6%, and applications submitted are down 13.6%, according to data submitted through 3/30/12.

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