Interest in law school is up, LSAC tallies show
More people are interested in attending law school, with the number of aspiring lawyers taking the Law School Admission Test up by 11.6% over last year and the number of applicants to law schools up 5.7% (Image from Shutterstock)
More people are interested in attending law school, with the number of aspiring lawyers taking the Law School Admission Test up by 11.6% over last year and the number of applicants to law schools up 5.7%
The latest tally from the Law School Admission Council for the 2023-2024 LSAT test administration shows 155,070 tests were taken by 107,260 individuals, up from 96,098 test-takers a year earlier. In addition, 64,908 people had applied to law school as of Aug. 26, up from 61,434 last year, according to the LSAC figures, which are updated daily.
Of the people taking the LSAT in 2024, 70% were first time test-takers, an increase of about 12.5% from the previous year, says Susan L. Krinsky, the LSAC’s interim president. “It suggests more people are interested in going to law school,” she says.
Historically, election years often produce an influx of interest in law school.
“That could be part of it,” Krinsky says. “There’s just a lot happening in the world that that people may want to get involved in as lawyers or as legally educated people.” She cited recent controversial U.S. Supreme Court rulings and concerns about election certifications as possible motivations.
Because demand was high in June, an additional day was added to that month’s LSAT administration, which was the final time that the “logic games” section appeared on the test. Starting with the August administration, test-takers face a second scored logical reasoning section.
The trend toward more test-takers is continuing. Preliminary numbers for the August administration of the test show a 30% increase in test-takers over the same month in 2023, according to the LSAC.
In addition, the number of applications hit 427,908 this year, 2.6% more than last year, when 417,242 applications were made.
The percentage of women applying to law schools continues to increase at a faster pace than men, further widening the gap between them. Women account for 37,023 applicants, up 6.6% from last year, compared with 25,935 men, up 4.5% from a year earlier.
The number of gender diverse candidates rose slightly, up 0.4% from last year, to 768 applicants. “It’s a small base, and so even a slight increase means more individuals,” Krinsky adds.
People of color now account for 47.9% of applicants or applications, up from 47% last year and 44% four years ago, Krinsky says. All racial groups experienced an increase, according to the LSAC tally. That includes a jump of 14.5% for Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islands applicants to 386; a 9.6% jump for Hispanic/Latino applicants to 10,545; and an 7.5% increase for Black or African American applicants to 9,715.
The uptick comes after a late start of the enrollment year 2024. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College in June 2023 striking down race-based admissions delayed the application season at many law schools.
“We have all been thinking since the U.S. Supreme Court decision that applicants of color were going to be discouraged from even applying,” Krinsky says. “That appears not to have happened.”
