What’s Going On in the Admissions Cycle Right Now?
As we arrive at the ides of October, we reach one of the busiest weeks of the admissions calendar. Law school admissions officers have two of their largest recruitment events of the year via the LSAC Digital Forum and the New York Forum. Applicants are furiously working on application materials and are prepping for another LSAT administration this week. Admissions consultants are looking at their previous blog entries and saying, “… uh oh.”
September LSAT Results – A Mea Culpa
A large portion of last week’s update looked at the results—or lack thereof—from the September LSAT. Let’s just say that that analysis did NOT age well!
While the conversion rate for the September LSAT per the publication of our blog entry on October 4 was at a mere 57%, LSAC’s most recent data shows that it has now risen to 75.4%. Much like a large tranche of ballots being published on Election Night that help swing the election, we have now moved from “This isn’t good” to “This is perfectly mediocre.”
Meanwhile, the conversion percentage on the August LSAT stands at 76.2%. While the August and September conversion rates still are below the conversion rate of 81.3% for the 2022–2023 testing cycle, everyone can stop ringing their alarm bells. But with that that said….
Update on LSAT Registrants
Registration numbers for the October and November LSATs are still running much higher than last year. Whereas 40,547 students registered for the October and November exams last year, our current tally for this October and November is up to 58,433. That’s a 44% increase.
Many law school AdComms and industry watchers assumed that applications this year would be relatively static. The foundation of this projection was the stability in LSAT test takers between the 2021–2022 test cycle and the 2022–2023 cycle. The latter year saw just a 2.2% increase in test takers. Not a lot of folks would have looked at that information and then predicted a 40%+ increase in October and November test takers. It’s likely that this surge is coming primarily from students affected by testing issues in August and/or September. But we’re going to keep an eye on application numbers once LSAC starts updating their Current Volume Summaries reports for this year.
Law Fairs and On-Campus Recruitment Events
AdComms wrap up their single biggest recruitment event of the year—the New York LSAC Forum—this week and then get a little bit of a break in travel the coming days. Recruitment in Ohio and Pennsylvania (with drives of an hour or two between events) is a bit more convenient than traveling around Texas!
October 16
- University of Cincinnati Law School Fair
October 17
- Lehigh Valley Law Day
October 18
- University of Dayton Law Fair
October 19
- University of New Mexico Law Fair
October 21
The New Mexico and Denver events signal a future turn towards more events in the Rocky Mountain and Western states. For all our Mountain and Pacific time zone readers—don’t worry! Your time is near!
As always, be sure to check out LSAC’s Calendar of Events for the latest and most comprehensive information regarding law fairs.
And, as always, be sure to check out our page of law school-specific recruitment events. Highlights for the coming week include:
- Minnesota Law is hosting a student-led virtual session on October 18.
- Yale Law hosts their next Deans’ Office Hours on October 16.
- Harvard Law has another virtual JD Q&A on October 19.
- Michigan Law will host a workshop on personal statements on October 18.