The Legal Skills Prof Blog is reporting that law school applications are in sharp decline from last year – this according to a report published on a password protected page of LSAC’s website.

The data in the report shows a 16.7% downturn in applications to law school, and a 15.3% downturn in applications to the American Bar Association. Simply put, there are fewer players in the “law school game”, a trend you should expect to see continue, at least in the short term.

The Law School Express, circa 2008

If I place myself in your shoes, oh law school hopeful, I think there are two important things to glean from this information. The first is quite obvious and good news for the law school applicant. Less competition for those coveted spots in the nation’s top law schools will certainly not hurt your chances.

I arrived at the second big takeaway by considering  why law school applications are declining.  The market of law school hopefuls is certainly reacting to the well publicized lack of job prospects that newly minted attorneys are facing today.

The staggering 16.7% downturn is compounded by the fact that there is a natural tendency for undergrads to flock to grad school during an economic downturn instead of testing the struggling job market. Read more

Happy Friday!

Unfortunately there is no overtime on the LSAT

To help you gear up for this Holiday weekend, we gathered some interesting law school and pre law links from around the web, as well as a few ‘just for fun’ selections.  Enjoy!

The National Law Journal analyzes the results of the 2011 Law School Survey of Student Engagement. The findings? Law School students are generally quite happy with their experience.

Law School Podcaster examines which majors are most advantageous for pre law students.

This is slightly throwback, but still supremely interesting! Long before the landmark 2008 Presidential election, Barack Obama became the first African American elected to another prestigious post.

The New York Times has a very interesting piece on undergraduate education, titled “What is College For?“.

And last but not least, just because I can’t get enough of Tim Tebow mania, “Tebowie“.