I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween, filled with costumes, goblins, candy and ghouls! Now that we're winding back down from our otherworldly revelry, I thought I bring some interesting stats back to your attention.
Now that we have all the info for the October 2013 LSAT, some interesting news has been appearing. According to the most recent stats from LSAC, the number of LSATs administered this past October was down almost 11% from last year.
This year 33,673 test takers sat for the October LSAT. That is a huge drop compared to the whopping 37,780 who took it last October. Not only is the number of LSAT takers dropping, but law-school applicants are down 12.3% and law school applications are down 17.9% compared to merely a year ago. The total number of LSAT takers from June and October this year is down 38% from four years ago, and the total for October alone is down 45% from 2009.
Now, what does all of this mean? It means that the law-school bubble has yet to cease deflating. We've discussed this before. It's all good news for you LSAT prep friends of mine. Why? Well, ultimately, these figures mean that this fall there will be fewer applicants applying to each law school, but the same amount of seats open. So not only are you being compared to less people, but there are also essentially more seats available for you.
Not only does this increase your chance of getting into top tier schools, but it also means that financial aid is well within your reach. To entice students into coming to their schools, many law schools have been sweetening the pot by offering more money and more scholarships. Take for example your very own LSAT Guru. When I applied to law school, applications were soaring in. Though I had a decent GPA and an excellent LSAT score of 175, I was offered very little money from any top tier law schools. Sure, I got many acceptances, but I wanted financial aid!
Now you can have your cake and eat it too. This is the time to really get into that December grind, because a high LSAT score means so much more due to these recent figures. Not only can a high LSAT score get you a slew of top tier acceptances, but, now more than ever, it is your ticket to more financial aid. Think about it. Law schools are losing a lot of money by losing so many applicants. They don't want to lose an applicant with a high LSAT score.
In addition to a higher chance of getting in to better schools, and getting more financial aid, you can even benefit from the drop in law school applications by getting more specified attention during law school. Many law schools have responded to this drop by decreasing their class size. This means a better ratio of professors to students. Smaller classes means more specified attention to your questions and needs from your professor.
So, my point in telling you all of this is to help you interpret some great stats. Don't go all "chicken little" on me next time you see these stats thrown around. Law school applications dropping does not mean that your LSAT prep sky is falling. To the contrary, it's news that should bring a wide grin to your face. So continue on with that staunch LSAT prep of yours, and look forward to all the awesome perks you can awaiting you due to dropping LSAT takers.
Happy Studying!
