This year's application class

[melissamw]

Exactly what I was thinking!

this could equal lots of deferrals/waitlists, but maybe some sweet love down the line

oh i can hope

[Matokah]

awesome!  so my 4% chance at yale might really be 4.1%? 

penn said that their EA apps are up 72% this year.  that's freakish.  i want to know what's up with that.

a slight dip in apps was to be expected this year, since i remember seeing that june LSATers were down 0.4% or so, and i think oct's had dipped a bit too.  might not help, but it won't hurt!  better than it was a few years ago...

Pookie: I wonder if EA apps might be up at schools in general because everyone was expecting the worst and wanted to get their apps in as early as possible so they'd know their options sooner.  Wasn't last year pretty rough for law school applicants (something like a huge amount of applicants, many of which got dings at schools that should've been in their target range?).  Just a random guess.  Lower numbers can only mean good things for those of us who applied to a bunch of reaches and targets.  Here's hoping.

[Javert]

Pookie-- Most likely, it's an artifact of people submitting their apps earlier. LSAC has determined that applicants are applying earlier every year: http://www.lsacnet.org/lsac/data/National-Applicant-Trends.pdf

My other speculation would be that perhaps Penn was a bit looser with the waivers this year (I got one, although I didn't apply; Penn doesn't have much in my field, despite being a great school), thus making it a much more popular target for the June crowd. In fact, the more I think about it, the more increased waivers seems to be the answer. Even if this year's applicant pool is up, it's certainly not up by 72%.

And the LSATs administered can be found here (no December volume yet; I suspect it'll be reported a couple of days after the test cancelling deadline has passed):

http://lsac.org/LSAC.asp?url=lsac/tests-administered.asp

Bottom line: We're down 2.7% from the June/October of last year. That's significiant. I suspect December will bring it down a bit more. However, LSATs were down 0.3% last year, but volume went up about 2%. Based on available data, I suspect we'll end up seeing a dip of maybe 1-2% this year. It might make getting lucky a bit easier (especially if you're in an already in a URM; you've become even rarer), but it's probably not enough to have a huge impact on broad admissions trends. On the plus side, it's better than an increase.

[The absolute worst part? LSAC does have a monthly volume summary. They know how many people have applied; they just won't tell us. The law schools know, though.]

[imtheantelope]

It is unclear to me whether forkids meant that on a general basis or for Brooklyn Law in particular.. I am assuming she meant across the board because it is so early in the application process, but what made everyone assume she meant in general?  I hope this is particularly true for Brooklyn as that is now my #1

[Javert]

Kev-- I'm right there with you....

Antelope: From the OP:

On a campus visit last week at Brooklyn Law the Dean of Admissions told me that the number of applicants is lower than expected this year.  Not huge, but significantly lower.  I figure that means that the schools may be a little more leinant in admits this year, who knows.

Schools is nonsensical unless the OP meant the entire applicant pool. An overall decrease matches the bulk of the data we have as well...

[imtheantelope]

yea, I didnt notice the plural javert..  anybody want to hypothesize on why there are less applicants?

[brooklynman]

yea, I didnt notice the plural javert..  anybody want to hypothesize on why there are less applicants?

The economy is improving. There was an article somewhere, for example, of the increase in recruitment activity at UMich. This is the main reason. I think applications were stagnant for most of the 90's.

[TDPookie1]

re penn's increase: 72% is a CRAZY amount.  i agree that it's probably from the waivers, probably combined with people applying earlier, and maybe people are still applying to more schools than before.  so while number of applicants may be going down, volume of applications is the same or greater.  in their rejection letters, they said they're expecting about 7000 applications this year (compared with their self-reported 5190 last year).  we'll see about the accuracy of their estimate later.

[EmoryDude]

Well, Penn's ranking should go up this year with the sort of crazy rejection numbers they'll post this time out.

Is there any place the schools announce their application volume?

[forkids]

Sorry I didn't respond more quickly-couldn't find the thread.

He said that Brooklyn had their lowest numbers last year (a surprise to me) but that they usually experienced the lower numbers a year earlier than everyone else for some reason.  Wenton to say this year's numbers would probably be low, due to lower LSAT takers.  He thought this was a constant balancing act between law/grad/b school and was probably due to improvements in the economy and more people returning to b school again.  He did say, however, that it was too early to see who exactly wasn't applying anymore, if it was kids that wouldn't normally get in anyway or competitive applicants. 

Either way I choose to see it as good news for me, who is totally on the borderline of a tons of schools. 160, 3.66

Pookie, UPenn would be lucky to have you. Just cuz they have 72% more applicants doesn't mean they can shine a candle to you. I can related to applying to schools just b/c what they hell, you have a fee waiver.  I did that for more than one-particulary Temple, Hofstra, Marquette...it is always good to have a backup.  Watch me get dinged. 

Good luck everyone, just wanted to pass on a little ray of sunshine in this ridiculpusness.