how many people really drop out of law school after the first year?

[Jake_MONDATTA]

anybody know?

[Jake_MONDATTA]

do you have any idea how many dropped out of your class?  I suppose it would be hard to tell.  The drop outs would probably be the least talkative people... you, know, spending all their time on chat boards and stuff.  You probably wouldn't remember them.

Follow-up: does anybody ever down-grade?  Do people in CLS bolt for Fordham or something if they find they can't hack it as a 1L?  Maybe bolt for a public school?

[Jake_MONDATTA]

did you know the person? 

[Jake_MONDATTA]

did the person drop out for personal or academic reasons?  Or both?

[Matthies]

We lost like 10 from my class first year. I only think 1-2 of them were due to grades, the others just decided it was not for them or had personal/work issues. We have lost about 5 every year since then, most for work/family issues (I’m PT so most of my classmates work). I think a lot of them plan to come back but just had to withdraw for work stuff.

[Jake_MONDATTA]

Are law schools lenient about students withdrawing and returning later on?  I realize that I'm not asking people who are likely to know the answer, but I'm curious as to whether or not any one does.

[imwithhappy]

http://officialguide.lsac.org/Search/GeographicSearch.aspx

find school your interested in.  Click on it.   Hit first blue box: ABA law school data
scroll down to second page, top right corner:  JD attrition
transfer info is in there as well.

[Matthies]

Are law schools lenient about students withdrawing and returning later on?  I realize that I'm not asking people who are likely to know the answer, but I'm curious as to whether or not any one does.

They seem to be at my school, at least one guy I know took a year off then came back this year. I would think most schools would be OK with it if you left for personal reesons, if your like on probation maybe not.

[observationalist]

In my class we had one student who eloped and left 1st semester, one who missed too much class due to being really sick last spring and withdrew and is doing it over again this year, 3 or 4 who transferred up to HLS, Columbia and UVA, and 1 who transferred down to WUSTL (she's from St. Louis and had personal reasons for returning).  Otherwise, we pretty much convinced each other to stick around after we got through "first is the worst" semester. At some schools (Pace, for example), students who finish up in the bottom after first semester routinely fail or drop out and go find something else to do.

[MissNatalie]

I'm a 1L and I've noticed that in one class at least three people that I started with at the beginning of the semester are MIA.  This is highly unlikely at my school given its attrition rate, but maybe this year is different.