LSAC’s 2024 Knowledge Report: 2023-2024 Test Takers

LSAC’s mission is to advance law and justice by promoting access, equity, and fairness in law school admission and supporting the learning journey from prelaw through practice. LSAC collaborates with member law schools, DEI professionals, prelaw advisors, and many other mission-aligned groups and individuals in this effort.

To achieve our shared goals, we need to have a clear collective understanding of the prospective law student journey, specifically: 

1. When prospective law students first think about law school 
2. What motivates them or what may prevent them from pursuing legal education
3. How they anticipate they will be viewed and valued in law school 

LSAC offers a Post-LSAT Questionnaire (PLQ) to all individuals who take the LSAT. Using data collected through PLQ responses, LSAC researchers gain important insights into what prospective applicants are thinking, feeling, and doing as they embark on the law school admission journey. 

This report focuses on individuals who took the LSAT between August 2023 and April 2024, the first cohort of test takers to engage with the law school admission process after the June 2023 Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard decision, in which the  U.S. Supreme Court ruled that institutions of higher education can no longer consider an applicant’s racial or ethnic status in admission decisions — with the caveat that they may consider an applicant’s experiences, perspectives, and interests that may be expressly tied to their individual racial identity. 

As law schools and other institutions continue to review and adjust their policies and procedures in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling, this report has several important insights to help recruit and support future law students along the prelaw through practice journey. These insights include:

• When prospective applicants first began thinking of attending law school. Most test takers initially considered going to law school before attending college, in many cases well before college. Indeed, Black or African American test takers reported the highest rate of first thinking of going to law school as early as elementary school. 
• Motivations for attending law school. What motivates individuals to pursue legal education, and are there differences across groups? For example, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Hispanic or Latina/é/o/x, and Middle Eastern or North African/Arab test takers reported advocating for social justice and uplifting their communities among their top reasons to go to law school at rates higher than their peers.
• Reasons prospective applicants might/would decide not to go to law school. Taken as a whole, test takers reported these top reasons: (1) not getting accepted to their first-choice law school, (2) cost of attending or expected debt, and (3) not receiving financial aid. The research identified important variations among different groups. First-generation college respondents and LSAC fee waiver recipients were more concerned about cost and not receiving financial aid while continuing-generation college respondents and those who did not use an LSAC fee waiver were more concerned about not getting into their top choice law school.
• How prospective applicants view “belonging” in law school. Across all groups, most test takers feel strongly that they, and people like them, belong in law school. On the question of whether they and people like them will be valued in law school, however, the research identifies significant differences. Black or African American, Native American or Alaska Native, Hispanic or Latina/é/o/x, Middle Eastern or North African/Arab, first-generation college graduates, and LSAC fee waiver recipients reported at the highest rates that they or people like them will not be valued in law school and that they will be underestimated. 

As a community exploring new ways to support and recruit the next generation of legal leaders that better reflects the U.S. population, this research provides important insights on how to better support aspiring law applicants and promote their aspirations.

This research will be of particular interest to prelaw advisors, pathway programs, and law schools. To learn more about the insights and the practical use of this data, download the full report. 

If you have any questions about this project and future work informed by LSAC data, please contact LSAC Research at StrategicResearch@LSAC.org.