The LSAC tells us that some people are still applying to law school.
Applicants are already down 13.6 percent this year; 28 percent of the last year’s applicants had applied to at least one law school by this time last year. That gives us 51,344 applicants for 2014. I’m betting that the final applicant number won’t dip below 50,000 because last year the number of applicants accelerated in early 2013. However, I will point out that so far the preliminary applicant number has declined more this year than last year.
2011 (2010 wk. 48) – 19,696
2012 (2011 wk. 48) – 16,509 (-16.2%)
2013 (2012 wk. 49) – 16,241 (~-1.6%)
2014 (2013 wk. 49) – 14,171 (-12.7%)
One week early in the cycle might make a big difference, or application deadlines have been extended so much that people are delaying the process.
Nevertheless, to show how sudden the applicant collapse has been, there will be about as many applicants in 2014 as there were 1Ls in 2009 and 2010.
At the rate of decline, ~-8,082 fewer applicants this year, -8,530 last year, and -10,900 for 2012, the trend is slowing, so there will be a few more years of declines until then.
Heady stuff.
The Last Gen X American 