This episode was recorded on February 12, 2020.
We are just over 60% of the way toward this application cycle’s final applicant count. So how do volumes fare compared to this time last year? And what about test takers — how many took the January LSAT, and how many have registered for February and March? We invite you to uncover the answers to these questions and more as LSAC’s Susan Krinsky guides you through the latest data and shares information on the upcoming test cycle and new and improved reports that are available to member schools.
Have questions about this or a future podcast? Submit them to podcast@LSAC.org.
Listen to Podcast #16
Transcript
Hi. This is Susan Krinsky at LSAC with the February edition of “Keeping Up to Data.”
As of February 12, we are just over 60% of the way toward the final applicant count, judging from last year. Applicants to ABA law schools are up 0.7% as compared to last year, and applications to ABA law schools are up 1.5% as compared to a year ago. One hundred fourteen law schools are experiencing volume increases, 80 are experiencing volume decreases, and 7 are showing no change as compared to last year.
Looking to Canada, applications to Canadian schools are up 7.4%, while applicants to Canadian schools are up 2.4%.
January LSAT scores were released on February 6 to approximately 17,000 test takers. Including the January test, we have now administered just under 114,000 tests during the current testing year. For the upcoming February 22 test, the first one being held on a Saturday since our September administration, we have just under 13,000 registrants, of whom 46.7% are first-time test takers. The registration deadline for the March 30 test was earlier this week, and we currently have 11,512 registrants for that test. The final LSAT administration of the current testing year will take place on April 25, and the registration deadline for that test is March 10.
The next test cycle will begin in June and conclude in April, and we have scheduled eight test administrations — six on Saturdays and two on Mondays. The Monday tests will take place in June and July.
I’m pleased to tell you about some new and/or improved reports available to member schools. We’ve updated the Top 240 Feeder Schools Report, which now shows median LSAT (rather than mean LSAT) for three years, and in addition to the number of applicants, includes the number of admitted applicants from each feeder school and the number of law school matriculants from each feeder school. We have also improved the report of LSAT Takers by Race/Ethnicity and Sex by adding filters that will enable you to drill down to obtain more granular information. And the US National Decision Profiles have now been published. You can find all of these reports by logging in to LSAC.org as a member school, heading to Data Library, and searching there by key word.
Remember, also, that if you need more information about the status of your applicants’ completion of LSAT Writing (if they initially applied prior to having completed it), there is a report in ACES2 which will show you the status, including the date that an applicant completed LSAT Writing. Also in ACES2 are the Acceptance Overlap Reports for the just-past admission cycle.
That’s all for this month’s podcast. As always, we’d love to hear from you with questions or suggestions. Just write to us at podcast@LSAC.org. Thanks for listening. Until next time, this is Susan Krinsky at LSAC.