Keeping Up to Data: October 2024

Welcome to the Keeping Up to Data^SM podcast, a space in which we discuss, analyze, and contextualize trends and perspectives in the current law school admission cycle by taking a deeper dive into the most up-to-date data and making sense of the complicated world of legal education.

SUSAN: Welcome back to Keeping Up to Data. I’m Susan Krinksy, interim president and CEO at LSAC^®, with my first update on the 2025 application cycle and an interview with Gisele Joachim, LSAC’s vice president for law school engagement, who will talk with us about the LSAC forums season.

But first, some numbers. Here we are, at the start of a new admission season. Each year, by the middle of October, we at LSAC begin publishing volume data for the current law school admission cycle. We publish this data on an interactive page of our website, where we provide information on the overall number of applicants and applications. That data can be filtered and analyzed by geographic region, by race/ethnicity, by gender, by LSAT^® score band, by first-generation college status, and other criteria as well. The site is updated daily, and it’s a great resource for schools, prelaw advisors, prospective law students, and others who are interested in understanding trends in law school admissions and how the current cycle is shaping up.

This year, we launched the interactive website for the 2025 admission cycle on October 15. An easy way to find it is to go to the Data Library on LSAC.org. The first thing on the list should be “Current Volume Summaries.” What you will probably see, if you look at the site today, is a substantial increase in applicants and applications as compared to last year at this time. But as you look at this year’s data, in particular the comparison with the prior year, please remember that last year’s admission cycle started slower than usual, in large part, because a number of schools opened their applications later than usual, likely in order to review and update their admission processes and materials in response to the July 2023 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on college admissions.

Last year’s slow start means that year-to-year comparisons at this early stage may overstate the growth in applicants. Last year’s cycle recovered pretty quickly once all schools had opened their applications, so we would expect to see more representative year-over-year data in a month or so. I can tell you that, even a week ago, the increases we’re seeing now were even larger. It’s likely that they will moderate further as we get further into the cycle. Still, given what we’re seeing on other fronts, which I’ll talk about in a moment, I think the applicant numbers will be up this year, though perhaps not as much as they are right now.

One of those other fronts is test takers. Test takers for the 2024 August, September, and October LSAT administrations were up 13% compared to the same three tests last year. And while we’re still a couple of weeks away from the November LSAT, registrations are currently up about 30% compared to this time prior to the November 2023 exam.

Another metric that we watch closely is the number of first-time LSAT test takers, people just starting the admission process who weren’t already in the system. Looking at the 2024 August and September tests, the number of first-time test takers is up 25% compared to the same two tests last year. That’s an increase of nearly 5,000 first-time test takers.

Beyond the increase in the number of test takers, we’re also seeing a significant increase in registrations and attendance at our Law School Forums. The LSAC Law School Forums are, as you may know, events hosted by LSAC to connect thousands of potential applicants directly with representatives from member law schools. We hold about a dozen of these forums each year, with in-person forums in major metropolitan areas across the country, as well as several digital forums. We’re halfway through the forums for this admission cycle, and overall attendance is up about 23% compared to this time last year, but more on that in a few minutes.

Another indicator that we follow closely is the number of potential applicants who create Credential Assembly Service accounts, also known as CAS accounts. The Credential Assembly Service, in effect, compiles a portfolio for each applicant, with transcripts, transcript analysis, letters of recommendation, LSAT scores, and the LSAT Argumentative Writing sample. Most, if not all, law schools require their applicants to use the Credential Assembly Service in order to streamline the application and admission process. While it’s still early in the cycle, and I know I’ve used that phrase quite a few times already, we have seen a 25% year-over-year increase in the number of CAS accounts created between July 1 and September 30 of this year.

Now, back to the applicant and application volumes again. At this point in the cycle, we typically have only about 15% of the total number of applicants, and about 10% of the total number of applications. With the cautions in mind, here are the current numbers for the 2025 cycle.

As of October 16, 10,617 individuals have submitted at least one application for fall 2025 admission. The five-year comparison shows 2025 much higher than 2021, 2023, and 2024, and slightly higher than 2022, which you may recall started with high numbers of early applicants who had opted out of the overheated 2021 cycle. Currently, applicant volume is about 26% higher than it was on this same date a year ago. Given the slow start last year, I won’t be surprised to see this percentage increase come down as we move further into the admission cycle.

Looking at applications, we see the same trend. As of October 16, prospective students have submitted a total of 52,496 applications for fall 2025 admission. Again, this is higher than 2021, 2023, and 2024, but lower than 2022. The early application volume is 38% above last year. Again, I would expect that percentage increase to come down over time.

Given LSAC’s mission to advance law and justice by promoting access, equity, and fairness in law school admission, we pay close attention to the diversity of the applicant pool and work hard to encourage all potential applicants to consider a career in law. Currently, at this early stage of the cycle, applicants of color are up 33% year over year, an encouraging trend. Also currently, applicants identifying as women are up 23% year over year. Those identifying as men are up 25%. And gender-diverse applicants are up 19%. Applicants who are the first generation in their family to complete college are up 21% compared to this time last year. Once again, it’s still early in the 2025 application cycle. But even if things slow down, it looks like we are seeing an increase in the number of individuals interested in pursuing legal education, and that is a good thing.

Naturally, we will continue to monitor these and other trends in the testing and admission cycle, and provide regular updates.

Now, as promised, I’m delighted to welcome back to Keeping Up to Data Gisele Joachim, LSAC’s vice president for law school engagement. Gisele last spoke with us in June, to give us an overview of LSAC’s Law School Forums just before the first one of the current cycle. I asked her to come back, now that we’re about halfway through the forums schedule, to give us an update on how things are going.

Hi, Gisele. It’s great to have you back.

GISELE: Hi, Susan. I’m so glad to be here. We’re here talking about one of my absolute favorite topics, LSAC forums.

SUSAN: We are about halfway through the Law School Forums season. What are we seeing so far in terms of attendance by prospective law students?

GISELE: We are seeing very busy forums. We’re about halfway through, as you said, and we’re up about 23% in attendance over last year. And in fact, we have many more of our forums coming with high registration. Our New York forum, registration is up 43%. Things have been very busy.

We are seeing, for the forums that are out a few weeks in Boston and Houston, that we will probably be looking at near double their registration, as well, from 2022, which is the last time we ran those two forums.

I will note that our digital forum registration, which are in October, November, and February, all of those registrations are up as well.

SUSAN: Excellent. Why do you think we’re seeing an increase in attendance?

GISELE: Well, there is a lot going on, as you’ve already spoken about with the data, that does suggest an actual increase in applicants. Of course, at this early point in the cycle, we don’t really know how much of an increase that will be, how much is maybe just early enthusiasm versus sustained increase over the course of the cycle.

But I will say that forum attendance, there’s something that’s different about it than what we’re seeing in the other volume numbers. It does seem to indicate a change in the attitude toward in-person events — maybe something we’ve all been waiting for in these post-COVID years.

One of our colleagues sent me something called the Annual Mindset List, which is an annual compilation of experiences that shape the worldview of entering college students. As we look back to the Mindset List of fall 2021, which is the point where some significant number of our 2025 entering law students would have entered college, we’re reminded that this was a group of students that experienced the pandemic fully on campus to differing extents, depending on where in the country or where in the world they might have been going to school. But there were virtual classes, and their everyday lives on campuses were impacted by this worldwide event. It would seem that their experience is fueling a desire to have real-life interactions, which of course the forums fit really nicely into.

The other thing that I read in this Mindset List that I found so interesting is that this cohort of students also has a smartphone possession rate at nearly 100%. That’s nearly worldwide. Their desire for IRL, which is in-real-life opportunities, seem to really be valued. That said, we are also seeing the increase I mentioned in registration at the digital forums, so there is certainly plenty of evidence pointing to a robust and competitive application cycle.

SUSAN: Those are really interesting data points. What are you hearing from participating schools, not just in response to the increase in attendance, but also with respect to the engagement of attendees?

GISELE: Yeah. Schools really are quite happy, if not exhausted, after all the forums when I speak to them. I’ve also heard from our colleagues that the participation at other, non-LSAC recruitment, fairs, and other activities that are happening around the country at this time of year have also been very robust.

I did grab a couple of quotes from our colleagues to see about their experiences. They are, by and large, just so pleased with the diversity and the number of applicants that they’re seeing. Here’s one of the quotes: “First, the obvious. We’re busier than we’ve been in years, potentially the last 10 years,” which actually aligns with what our data tells us, that it’s been about 10 years since we’ve seen forums with this many people. “We are also experiencing very engaged applicants asking good questions, and incredibly diverse attendees across all measures.” That’s all really good news.

I also want to take a minute to remind our colleagues that they can always see real-time registration numbers for the forums at LSAC.org, under their administrator logon page, under “Forums.” This is a good place to track anticipated attendance and determine if additional materials might be needed at the recruitment table. We have heard from some of our colleagues that they’ve been a little caught off-guard by the numbers and running out of materials. The resources are there for them to be able to monitor that.

SUSAN: Excellent. Do you have a sense of who, by which I mean prospective applicants, who goes to in-person forums and who goes to virtual forums?

GISELE: Well, it is the candidates you would expect. Those that are planning to apply in the upcoming cycle and the next are generally the folks we see at forums. Generally, the in-person forum attendees arrive from what I would describe as commutable distances to the various cities. That can depend on the city. Some people will commute longer to some cities than to others, so I don’t want to put a mileage on it. Although there are also those who come from farther, sometimes significantly so, getting hotel rooms and that sort of thing, to go to the in-person forums. And there are those that come in groups, predominantly from college campuses, sometimes arranged either by a prelaw advisor or prelaw clubs, coordinated together.

The digital forums tend to draw more of the candidates who do not have an in-person city nearby. But also, individuals who can’t attend an in-person forum for other reasons, whether that’s work schedules, or other difficulties in getting to an in-person location. A good number of candidates really attend both. Some attend more than one. Some go up to three. Which is unusual, but does happen.

It does seem clear, from our perspective, that there is sufficient demand, from both schools and candidates, to continue running both types of forums, as they both do draw different populations.

SUSAN: That makes a lot of sense. Now, how about schools? How many schools would attend the various forums?

GISELE: School attendance has really been great. This is my quiz to you, Susan. It’s a stumper today. Which in-person city do you think had the largest number of schools participate this year?

SUSAN: Well, I feel like this is a trick question, but I’m going to go with my gut and say New York.

GISELE: It was a trick question, because you would think it would be New York. In the past, that has been true. LA has normally been up there as well. This year, the largest number of schools participated in the Chicago forum. It was 159 schools.

That said, the average number of schools that participate is right around 152. Really, we get a lot of schools at the forums participating. The number of schools that participate in the digital forums tends to be a little bit lower, more around 130 or so. But that’s still a lot of schools and a lot of students who are being serviced at both kinds.

SUSAN: Do you have a sense of how schools make their decisions about which forums to attend? And, in particular, whether or not to attend a virtual forum?

GISELE: I think with the in-person forums, it’s things like geography, staffing, travel costs. All of those things can come into play.

We did hear, I think anecdotally, a few more schools opting out of the digital forum this year. But, again, just a handful. A school might decide not to attend a digital forum just because then the quantity of students that they’re then interacting with goes beyond where they need to be, or if they find those interactions to be not as successful as the in-person forums. Because there’s so little cost to them, it’s just the cost of the registration. Obviously there’s no travel cost, and the staffing costs are minimal as well.

SUSAN: You mentioned a little while ago that there are other recruitment events besides LSAC forums. What makes an LSAC forum different from these other recruitment events?

GISELE: I think foremost, the sheer size of the forums sets them apart. Both the number of schools and the number of forum participants is unmatched at any other event that I’m aware of.

Additionally, in terms of information provided to the attendees, between the school booths, the workshops, and our ever-evolving Resource Center, I believe the experience is really unmatched, and I’ve been to a lot of these events over my professional career. The LSAC forum Resource Center includes, in most places, prelaw advising volunteers, financial aid volunteers, LawHub® information, access to candidate services support, DEI resources, the opportunity to have conversations with practicing attorneys, and the opportunity to learn about LSAC-licensed test prep vendors. Bringing all of those resources together in one place is really valuable to the students.

And I think, equally important, the LSAC forums have become an important networking and gathering place for our admission professional colleagues. With our cohort approach to student attendees, we’ve created unified meal breaks, which most professionals really appreciate, not only to catch their breath, especially this year, but also to catch up with their colleagues and their friends, and be relaxed.

LSAC is proud to consistently offer attendees the most comprehensive and robust experience of any similar event, all anchored by the depth of knowledge not only from our wider admission community, but also drawing on the deep knowledge of the LSAC professionals.

SUSAN: Thanks so much. This, as always, was a very informative session. I appreciate your being here, especially at this very busy time of year for you.

GISELE: Thanks so much, Susan.

SUSAN: I want to thank Gisele Joachim again for a very interesting conversation. To our listeners, thank you for joining us at Keeping Up to Data. We look forward to you joining our next episode, when we expect to be able to talk more about the 2025 application cycle. Until next time, stay well.

Thank you for joining us. Keeping Up to Data^SM is a production of LSAC. If you want to learn more about the current law school admission cycle and the latest trends and news, visit us at LSAC.org.

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