Few
things
bump
up
law
application
numbers
like
a
volatile
political
environment
and
how
absurdly
difficult
it
is
to
get
a
job
right
now.
Deciding
to
go
to
law
school
is
choosing
to
bet
on
yourself
under
normal
circumstances,
but
our
rapidly
changing
circumstances
will
make
it
hard
to
know
what
you’re
getting
yourself
into
three
years
from
now.
Despite
that
uncertainty,
there’s
been
a
huge
jump
in
the
amount
of
people
applying
for
law
school.
Reuters
has
coverage:
The
current
pool
of
applicants
to
American
Bar
Association-accredited
law
schools
is
33%
larger
than
it
was
this
time
last
year,
according
to
newly
released
data
from
the
Law
School
Admission
Council.
…
“In
my
26
years
of
staring
at
the
[council’s]
volume
summary
report,
I’ve
never
seen
a
cycle
starting
this
much
up,”
said
law
school
admissions
consultant
Mike
Spivey,
who
predicted
that
the
applicant
pool
will
further
expand
through
November
before
tapering
down
to
an
increase
of
about
20%
over
last
year’s
total
count.If
this
trend
continues,
it
could
lend
itself
to
higher
law
school
tuition
costs.
Say
you
get
an
acceptance
letter
from
The
School
You
Actually
Want
To
Go
To
(W2G
for
short)
and
a
similarly
ranked
school
you’re
Willing
To
Go
To
If
You
Must
(IYM).
Once
upon
a
time,
it
may
have
been
a
good
idea
to
leverage
your
IYM
acceptance
against
W2G
—
make
up
some
sob
story
about
how
much
you’d
rather
go
to
W2G
but
IYM
is
offering
a
better
scholarship
package
to
see
if
W2G
could
match
or
exceed
what
they
were
offering.
Back
when
W2G
schools
were
competing
for
top
talent,
the
leveraging
may
have
worked.
But
if
this
keeps
up,
W2G
could
just
tell
you
to
kick
rocks
—
there
will
be
a
bunch
of
students
who
are
willing
to
take
your
spot
with
less
fuss
and
more
funding
because
the
number
of
applicants
keeps
ticking
upward.
As
reasonable
a
response
to
uncertainty
is,
applying
to
law
school
is
still
a
gamble.
Will
these
future
lawyers
enter
a
job
market
that
finally
dealt
with
the
AI
in
hiring?
Or
will
people
still
be
using
AI
to
craft
cover
letters
and
resumes
only
to
get
assessed
by
some
companies’
AI
filtration
system
to
no
avail
until
heat
death
comes
for
us
all?
Bracketing
aside
the
AI
screening
issue,
competing
against
other
highly
qualified
candidates
won’t
stop
at
getting
into
law
school
—
they’ll
have
to
compete
for
jobs
with
those
same
high
performers
when
they
all
graduate.
As
much
as
students
may
risk
while
kicking
the
job
search
can
down
the
road
for
three
years
by
going
to
law
school,
the
time
was
going
to
pass
anyway.
Setting
yourself
up
to
succeed
is
generally
preferable
to
waiting.
Best
of
luck!
US
Law
School
Applicants
Increase
33%,
Boosting
Competition
[Reuters]
Earlier:
U.S.
Politics
Drives
Law
School
‘Application
Boom’
Chris
Williams
became
a
social
media
manager
and
assistant
editor
for
Above
the
Law
in
June
2021.
Prior
to
joining
the
staff,
he
moonlighted
as
a
minor
Memelord™
in
the
Facebook
group Law
School
Memes
for
Edgy
T14s
.
He
endured
Missouri
long
enough
to
graduate
from
Washington
University
in
St.
Louis
School
of
Law.
He
is
a
former
boatbuilder
who
is
learning
to
swim, is
interested
in
critical
race
theory,
philosophy,
and
humor,
and
has
a
love
for
cycling
that
occasionally
annoys
his
peers.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected]
and
by
tweet
at @WritesForRent.