Area Law School Enrollment Going Up, Bucking National Trends

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Image via Villanova University’s Charles Widger School of Law.

The recession caused first-year enrollments at area law schools to drop, but that trend now is reversing, writes Jeff Blumenthal for the Philadelphia Business Journal.

First-year enrollment rose for the second year in a row, bucking a national trend.

The six Philadelphia region law schools saw new students increase by 2.6% for 2019-20, after a 6.6% jump between 2017-18 and 2018-19, according to American Bar Association data released last week.

Law schools are being careful not to return to pre-recession levels. Villanova University’s Charles Widger School of Law had 215 first-year students in 2011 and now has 184.

At Villanova, applications have increased over the past five years from 1,321 to 2,048 and acceptance rates have declined from 51% to 34%. Median GPAs and LSAT scores for first-year students are higher.

“We can be more selective and have a stronger applicant pool when it comes to GPA and LSAT numbers,” said Villanova Law Dean Mark Alexander.

At Widener University’s Delaware Law School, numbers jumped from 126 students to 237 during that same five years.

Nationally, first-year enrollment was flat, with 119 schools reporting an increase or no change and 84 experiencing a decline.

Read more about Philadelphia law school enrollments here.

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