Law School Admissions Go Down as Economy Goes Up

Last year Karen DeMeola, assistant dean of admissions at UConn School of Law, predicted that law school applications would go down this year as the economy picked up. Sure enough, law schools across the nation are beginning to report smaller numbers this year. This continues the trend reported in the National Law Journal last year, based on reports from 19 of the nations top law schools. James Smoot, dean of the University of Memphis School of Law, reported last month that admissions at his school are down 6.6 percent from last year. Smoot notes that graduate and professional programs have more applications when the economy is down because further education becomes more attractive to undergraduates than entering the workforce.

This is good news if you’re planning on applying for law school. In general, it should increase your chances of getting into the school you want. The past few years have seen incredibly high numbers of applicants at law schools all over the country. I’ve long noted that law school seems like a Plan B for a lot of people who don’t know what they want to do with their lives; hopefully that trend will decrease as well as more employment opportunities open up for undergraduate degree holders.