As law schools nationwide continue to decrease in size and popularity, a declining number of Dartmouth students are choosing law as a career path.
A report published by Kaplan Test Prep showed that 54 percent of law schools cut the size of their incoming classes this year, and 51 percent cut their classes last year. Only 33,673 individuals took the Law School Admission Test in October, compared with the 37,780 test-takers who took the test in October 2012, an 11 percent decrease. These numbers also indicate a 45 percent drop from the test-taking peak in 2009, when 60,746 people took the exam, according to new figures released by the Law School Admission Council.
Lesley Kingsley, pre-law advisor for the Center for Professional Development, formerly Career Services, said there has been a continual decrease in the number of applicants in recent years.
Only 172 students applied to law school during last year’s application cycle, while the 2008-2009 application cycle saw a total of 244 applicants, marking a decrease of approximately 29.5 percent in the span of three years.
Kingsley said many Dartmouth students still have a strong interest in law, and that an increasing number of alumni are applying to law school after gaining work experience.
Nationwide, applications to law school are down 17.9 percent since 2012, according to The Wall Street Journal. “There are multiple reasons behind this, but one prominent [reason] is surely due to the legal market and the scarcity of employment opportunities in the legal sector,” Kingsley said.
Kingsley said she was unable to provide Dartmouth-specific LSAT statistics due to confidentiality agreements.
Tina Meng ’14 plans to take the LSAT immediately after she graduates and will take a gap year before deciding whether to attend law school.
“There is a lot of talk about the legal industry being saturated and jobs being difficult to find,” she said. “I think I recognize the challenges and reality of the industry.”
Andrew Longhi ’14 plans to attend law school because he is interested in law and policy.
“It’s very different from other careers where you might be able to get away with just having a master’s,” Longhi said.
He suggested that interest in law school stems from a law degree’s ability to allow students to explore interests in business and nonprofits.
“It’s not necessarily restricted to a certain type of job,” he said. “You have to think about what that degree can do for you.”
Kingsley agreed that a law degree is very versatile, with options ranging from international human rights law to public interest law to educational policy law.
Longhi, editor-in-chief of the Dartmouth Law Journal, pointed to high levels of undergraduate participation within the publication as evidence of current Dartmouth student interest in legal issues.
