Across the nation, law schools are registering a noticeable increase in the number of applications received each year since 1998, and Penn is no exception to this trend.
According to experts at Kaplan Test Prep, the country saw a 29 percent increase in law school applicants last year.
And here at Penn, the increase has been even more pronounced -- in 2002, the University of Pennsylvania Law School registered a 43 percent increase in the number of applications, and numbers for this year's incoming class were just as high.
With this increase, the school's acceptance rate has dropped. In 2001, 25 percent of the 3,700 applicants were accepted.
In 2002, however, the number of acceptances fell to 16 percent from an applicant pool of 5,200. And in 2003, 15 percent of the applicants were accepted from a pool the same size of that from the previous year.
"The application pool changed quite dramatically," Admissions Dean Derek Meeker said. "The quality of our applicants was actually significantly higher -- probably a result of self-selection."
In fact, with application numbers climbing by the year, Meeker said that Penn Law was now in the position to select students with the highest grade point averages and LSAT scores available, carving a place for itself among the top six law institutions in the country, according to the U.S. News and World Report ranking.
On a national level, the higher GPAs and LSAT scores that are now available for law schools to review have made these institutions very competitive environments -- as of June, more than 98,000 people applied to attend law schools, Kaplan Executive Director Justin Serrano said.
"Law schools can be more selective than they've ever been, and that's good," Serrano said. "They don't need to make any trade-offs."
According to Meeker, 2003 "was definitely the most competitive year in Penn's Law School's history." He added that "this was the most diverse class we have ever enrolled."
Serrano said that this situation mirrored that of 1991, when the number of applicants taking the LSAT reached its highest point.
Like recent years, 1991 was a time of economic recess, and the hiring slump that followed forced many college seniors to choose law school over full-time jobs.
The number of applicants also swelled due to those who had been laid off from previous jobs.
The October 1991 LSAT had the largest number of test takers in the exam's history, with 152,685 exams administered -- a number that was approached only by the October 2002 LSAT.
Serrano said that the current increase is also due to the fact that -- unlike a medical degree -- a law degree does not have prerequisites, and that, therefore, "you can make the decision [to apply to law school] fairly quickly."
He added that, because of the current state of the economy, a liberal arts degree, like a law degree, is quickly becoming an important asset for a student's future career.
"You're almost going to need it," Serrano said.
Meeker said that enhanced academic assets are not the only reason for Penn Law's jump in applications -- other reasons were the assertiveness of the school's marketing efforts, the broadened geographic focus of its recruitment and the "renaissance" that Philadelphia has experienced in the past five years.
Another key reason for the school's popularity was students' preference to apply to a greater number of schools than in the past, thus trying to enhance their likelihood of acceptance.
As for the coming academic year, Meeker said that Penn Law is expecting 2004 to be "at least as competitive" as these past few years.
Serrano said that application numbers across the nation are likely to continue to rise in the next few years -- unless the job market stabilizes itself in the near future.
