Skip to main content

5 Law School Triumphs for 2017

By William Vogeler, Esq. on December 27, 2017 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

It's so yesterday to say, "Happy New Year!"

Let's change it up and say, "Happy Old Year!"

It's our prerogative to change our perspective, especially for students with fresh minds to be bent one way or another. After all, there were some real law school triumphs in 2017!

1. Law School Debt Finally on the Decline?

When educational debt was scaring off law students, a new report said that students were graduating with less debt than three years ago.

Researchers could not pin down exact reasons, but more scholarships had something to do with it. Law schools had to attract students somehow after years of declining enrollments.

2. With Less Competition, Is Now the Time to Apply to Law School?

U.S. News & World Report, which reports annual law school rankings, said it was time to apply to law school because there are fewer students competing for seats.

"For aspiring lawyers, this creates a window of opportunity to apply to law school when competition for a spot at a reach school is less intense than it is under ordinary circumstances," the magazine said.

3. Utah Law School's 100 Percent Pass-Rate Plan Is Working

What is a law school education without a license to practice law? A paralegal, right?

So the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law dedicated itself to programs designed to ensure 100 percent of its graduates pass the bar. After pass rates fell nationwide to their lowest in 45 years, it was good to see someone hacking away at the roots of the problem.

4. California Bar Exam Stays Tough. Now What?

Wait, what? How does a tough bar exam improve law schools?

That's what the California Supreme Court left to law school deans, who had asked the court to lower the bar exam's cut score. Don't ask what a lower score can do for you, ask what you can do to improve legal education.

5. GRE Law Schools on the Rise

Here's what law schools can do: admit more students from non-traditional fields. As it turns out, math students score the highest on law school admission tests.

That's why Harvard, Columbia and other top law schools now accept GRE test-takers -- not just LSAT's anymore.

And so it was a good year for law schools because they changed for the better. More scholarships, more opportunities for improvement, and more diversity in testing.

It looks like 2017 was the year law schools bounced back.

Related Resources:

Copied to clipboard