2004 Law Forums

August 8 -- Washington DC Forum Report

Despite a decrease in attendance, the room was still hot and crowded -- not as much as in previous years, because of a larger room, I think.  I also wouldn't read too much into the decline in attendance.  2400 is lower than last year's 3000, but higher than the previous year's 2200.  Also, Forum attendance has traditionally not correlated with application or test-taker volumes.  (In fact, test-takers this June were at an all-time high.)  

I managed to talk to two dozen admissions officers, which was my target number.  Most of them represented schools from Chicago and points east (both north and south).  Here's what I learned:

• There's no discernible pattern of app increases and decreases thus far.  We considered quality of school, region, urban/rural, public/private, and previous yield, and nothing presented a pattern.  
• There was one noticeable pattern in application trends.  State schools that had a large increase in apps reported that the increase was almost entirely in non-residents. 
• There was a spate of last-minute changes of admissions officers, which means that some schools will be left with no admissions officer for the coming year.  That always makes decisions slower and more numbers-driven.  
• There were a few changes in how schools handle multiple LSATs, but no trend.  A few that used to average now take the higher, and vice-versa.  
• Every single school reported that the variance in the percentage of women in the 1st year class was caused by the applicants themselves, not by the school's admissions decisions.  

September 22 -- New York and Chicago Forum Report

This year's forum season opened with a bang. The New York and Chicago forums were back-to-back.  My visits to the two cities were lovely, exhausting, and uneventful.

Lovely -- I spent quality time with clients, admissions officers, alumni, and friends.  Marcos and John joined us for a lovely Indonesian dinner.  Sue, one of my earliest clients (are you reading this, Sue? does it make you feel old?) and Jim joined us for a lively Argentinian meal.  And on Sunday evening my best friend from Philly came up to help me recuperate by taking in a Broadway play.  In Chicago, Marisa, Ryan, and Hugo joined us for a lovely Persian dinner and Nam took us to Giordano's for pizza. With so many delightful dinner companions (not to mention lunch with an admissions officer who should probably remain nameless) how could I have had less than a fabulous time?

Exhausting -- In order to get acquainted with three new clients, I spent every spare minute before the forum on the job. With four clients taking the LSAT next week, I spent every spare minute after the forums tutoring. In between the two, I spent my time in hot, crowded rooms, shouting over the noise of chaos. Since only about half the schools were represented by the dean of admissions, I had to talk to twice as many people to get the answers I needed. Then I had to explain to the clients how school X's answer would translate at school Y.

Uneventful -- There were no surprises. There were no disasters. The new things I learned, while useful, tended towards the trivial. Here are some examples:

• Georgetown Law School does not offer grants to evening division students.
• Loyola New Orleans teaches only civil law (French style) in the evening division.
• Penn does not typically offer public interest scholarships to foreign students.
• UW moved its law day from November 17th to November 19th.

While all of this information is useful to the person who needs it, even I would hardly call it earth-shattering. And that was about the level of new information that I gained. Oh, there was the usual gossip about admissions officers changing schools or about whose apps dropped, but even this kind of info gets relegated to the microcosm.

The microcosm, however, was functioning just fine.  I found good homes for all of my clients, got great advice on how to handle difficulties in their files, and added three interesting new people to Team DeLoggio for the year.  

November 21 -- Forum Finale

Ft. Worth

• We had breakfast with one admissions officer and dinner with another.  
• We learned that IERS translates foreign transcripts differently from WES, and one client had to delay his apps for a month while he had his transcript analyzed all over again.  His gpa went up by about .25, so it was worth it.  
• We learned that some schools want a person with a 3.9/158, others want a person with a 2.1/170, and no one in their competitive range wanted both.

Atlanta

According to my notes, I talked to 30 admissions officers, including one for after-Forum drinks each day (or was that first one actually in Ft. Worth?)

• I learned that a cop's schedule makes attending school almost impossible.  In the future I'll advise them to get a desk job before they attempt this difficult feat.  
• I learned that, almost always for minority students, and at least sometimes for mainstream applicants, 5 years of work experience can offset bad grades -- as long as the LSAT interests the school.
• I learned that John Marshall's scholarship for cops is only for Chicago cops.
• And I learned that for schools playing musical chairs with admissions officers, no one knew anything worth knowing. (This changed a bit by San Fran.)

Los Angeles

I had great dinners with great clients -- we ate Jamaican, Ethiopian, Barbecue and Italian.  On Saturday we had drinks with two admissions officers, who told us all the pros and cons of submitting apps online.  (Sorry, folks, I'm saving that one for the paying customers; you'll just have to trust what Law Services says.)  

• I introduced two Angelenos to the sad truth of applying on the west coast (apps, and the numbers you need to get in, are sky-high), and showed them delightfully positive alternatives in the midwest.  
• I squeezed in only a handful of interviews with six people to escort.

San Francisco

It happened again.  I was too tired to go play.  I had plans; I had the time; I just didn't have the energy.  

Part of the problem was the Forum itself.  Because of a labor strike at the Hilton (the Forum hotel), one Forum became several.  Wandering from hotel to hotel, talking to whoever showed up at each location, extended the day by several hours and my feet by several miles.  

Part of the problem was me; age takes its toll, children.

However, the extended Forum allowed me to complete 30 more interviews, in addition to walking Jackie through, and gathering data for Teri (who couldn't fly in from overseas for one afternoon's work).  We found schools for both, and made Jackie very happy when she learned that she needn't retake the LSAT.  

• I learned that several of the new admissions officers have settled in and were able to discuss their new schools knowledgeably.  
• The schools they left, however, are faking it, and not very well to the educated ear.  

Going Up?

Back in July, I reported that some schools showed a decrease in apps this year.   Now that I've interviewed 142 schools, and almost every school in the top 3 tiers, I can give you some info about who's still on the increase.  

First of all, the data I gathered very closely matched the graph.  

• The highest increase reported was 87%.
• The lowest decrease reported was -21%.
• Only 2 schools reported increases of more than 50%.  For those schools, published data from two years ago is virtually meaningless.  They are:
  • VALPARAISO
  • THOMAS JEFFERSON
• Another 9 schools reported increases between 30% and 50%.  For those schools, published data from two years ago can be interpreted by making the old 75th %ile number represent the current median, and the old median represent the current 25th %ile.  Those schools are:
  • CAPITAL
  • TULSA
  • TOLEDO
  • SEATTLE
  • TEXAS SOUTHERN
  • WEST VIRGINIA
  • WASHINGTON AND LEE
  • WAYNE STATE
  • NOVA
• 15 schools reported increases between 20% and 30%.  For those schools, published data from two years ago can be interpreted by increasing all the old numbers up by 1 LSAT point AND .1 gpa. Those schools are:
  • NEVADA
  • MERCER
  • TOURO
  • SYRACUSE
  • WILLAMETTE
  • TENNESSEE
  • MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE
  • NORTH CAR. CHAPEL HILL
  • CAMPBELL
  • WILLIAM AND MARY
  • CALIFORNIA WESTERN
  • STETSON
  • GOLDEN GATE
  • CATHOLIC
  • VIRGINIA
• 22 schools reported increases between 10% and 20%.  For those schools, published data from two years ago can be interpreted by increasing all the old numbers up by 1 LSAT point OR .1 gpa. Those schools are:
  • MISSISSIPPI
  • SAINT MARY'S
  • LOUISIANA STATE
  • TEXAS WESLEYAN
  • DEPAUL
  • FLORIDA STATE
  • BROOKLYN
  • PACIFIC
  • CHICAGO-KENT
  • IDAHO
  • SANTA CLARA
  • DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
  • NORTHEASTERN
  • SAN DIEGO
  • MIAMI
  • SAN FRANCISCO
  • BAYLOR
  • PACE
  • DAYTON
  • WILLIAM MITCHELL
  • VERMONT
  • CASE WESTERN RESERVE
• The largest number of schools  -- 60, to be precise -- reported increases of less than 10%, virtually no change, or decreases of less than 5%.  
• And 24 schools reported decreases of more than 5%.  Those schools should be easier to get into this year, especially early, when low Forum attendance will make a lot of admissions officers very nervous.  Which schools are they?  Sorry, that's the part I save for the clients.