With the calendar turning to October, law school admissions officers are still out on the road attending law fairs and organizing recruitment events. Like a runner used to doing long-distance races, they’re at the point of the journey where they’re hitting the balance of “feeling good” and “I can’t believe this isn’t closer to being over.”
But while they’re continuing to plan logistics for future trips (“Which hotel is closest to the fair?”), handle current logistics (“Um, which hotel did I book for this trip…?”), and wrap up the details on the last trip (“Where’s that hotel receipt?!”), we as a law admissions community are about to get some further information about the initial state of the 2024–2025 admissions cycle.
So while our admissions friends continue to try and remember what town they’re supposed to be in today, let’s take a look at the headlines around the world of law admissions.
LSAT Numbers
We mentioned in last week’s blog that this week would be a key check-in on the September, October, and November LSATs because of the odd confluence of the first’s score release, the second’s test date, and the third’s registration deadline. Per LSAC’s LSAT Registrants and Test Taker Volumes report, we have a lot to unpack here:
Regarding the September LSAT, the key figures are:
- Final test-taking numbers were up 6.7% over the September 2023 exam, and
- The percentage of first-time test takers increased from 53.7% to 55.2%.
The fact that the increased test-taking numbers were driven largely by LSAT rookies seems to give more fuel to our long-standing prediction that app numbers are going to go up a bit this year.
Meanwhile, we finally find ourselves on the precipice of the October LSAT. The high-water mark for October registrations was 34,341. That “melt” of 35% of registrations between the registration deadline and test day is fairly normal … yet we’re still almost certainly looking at a 7-10% increase in test takers versus the October 2023 exam.
And we conclude by asking the age-old question—what could be said about the November LSAT that one couldn’t say about the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai eruption?
The October 2024 exam had 34,341 registrations right after the registration deadline, before melting down to its current total of 25,441. That was a melt of 35%.
The August 2024 exam had 29,317 registrations right after its deadline. It eventually melted down to 22,448 test takers—a melt rate of 23.4%.
The June 2024 exam had 36,028 registrations right after its deadline. 24,154 folks eventually took the exam—a melt rate of 33%.
This leads us to conservatively estimate that somewhere around 27,000 or 28,000 people will take the November LSAT. That would represent a 15% increase in test takers over the November 2023 exam, which was—at that point—the highest number of takers for any LSAT in over two years.
So while we’ve long been predicting an increased number of applications this year, we have a better sense of exactly when that tidal wave will hit—sometime after the November LSAT scores are released on November 26th. As that’s the day before Thanksgiving, we wish applicants the best as they balance their tryptophan-induced naps with their need to finish their personal statement!
Recruitment Events
But let’s worry about November in November! For today, let’s worry about where you can meet admissions officers at various law fairs!
- Thursday, October 3rd is a quiet day with just the University of Louisville Law School Fair.
- Friday the 4th has the Northern Kentucky University Law Fair, the Northern Iowa Grad and Professional School Fair, and the Claremont Colleges Law School Fair.
- LSAC hosts the LA Forum on Saturday the 5th.
- On Monday the 7th, admissions officers will be traveling to the Sacramento State Law Fair, University of Southern California Law Fair, University of Minnesota Law Fair, and UCLA Law Forum.
- Everyone is taking a break on Tuesday, October 8.
- But then on October 9th, they’ll be at the Greater Pittsburgh Law Fair, University of Michigan Law Fair, and UC Berkeley Grad and Law Fair.
- Thursday the 10th sees the UC San Diego Grad/Professional Fair, University of Detroit Mercy Law Day, and Bucknell University Law Fair happening.
- And the week ends a smidge early due to Yom Kippur on Friday the 11th.
7Sage Events
We’re continuing our series of weekly live classes on different components of the application process. Our session this Wednesday will be a general overview of Financial Aid. We’ll have a session about Scholarship Negotiations next week. Registration is free but required. You can check out our past sessions via our Class Library—just enter “Admissions” into the search bar.
You can also check out our admissions podcast on Amazon, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you stream your podcasts. Our latest episode covers a few admissions headlines and also features a conversation with a current Duke Law 2L to get the vibes at the Durham campus (spoiler alert: it involves puppies and miniature horses).