Data shows an increased interest in attending law school for the 2024 admissions cycle, according to applicant and application numbers tallied by the Law School Admission Council.
As of Aug. 27, LSAC recorded 64,916 applicants, up 5.7% from last year, with all regions having an increase in applicants compared to 2023.
The largest percentage increase in applicants were from Mountain West with 12%, as well as those with international addresses at 11%.
The Far West had a 7% increase; Great Lakes up 6.4%; and the Southeast increased by 5.6%.
Susan Krinsky, interim president and CEO at LSAC, said in a recent press release that historically the influence of an election year yields more applicants and applications.
The breakdown of applicants by ethnicity, gender and first-generation students all had percentage changes as well.
Applicants who identify as Asian are up 6.7%. Those identifying as Black/African-American are up 7.5%, and Hispanic/Latinx-identifying applicants are up 9.6%.
In all, more than 36% of this year’s applicants identify as persons of color, more than 57% identify as female and 29% as first-generation college students.
As for application volume, applicants have submitted more than 420,000 applications, 2.6% over last year’s total at this time.
Over half of the 197 ABA-accredited law schools, 118, are showing increases in applications, 72 are showing decreases, and seven are showing no change from last year.
In April, more than 33,000 students had registered for the June LSAT, according to the LSAC, which prompted the additional of a fourth test day.
Previously, the largest LSAT administration since the beginning of the pandemic was in November 2020, with more than 27,000 test-takers.
