This passes for flying for this penguin, kind of like these test takers pass as good news for law deans.

For the first time since 2010, the year-over-year number of test takers for an administration of the LSAT has held steady. There were slightly more people who took the February LSAT this year than last year.

The worst is over, law deans! I’ll pause so you can hug and cry and feel good about taking your yachts out of dry-dock this season…

Here’s the good news for law school administrators, from LSAT Blog, as we mentioned in Morning Docket:

The number who took in February 2014 (19,499) was 1.1% higher than in February 2013 (19,286).

This is the first year-over-year increase since June 2010. What, if anything, does this news mean?

Let’s not jump to any enormous conclusions here. We’re dealing with an extremely small number of test-takers. The difference between these two test administrations is only slightly more than 200 test-takers. The real news is that it didn’t continue to drop as it has for the last several test administrations.

So, okay, deans shouldn’t start licking each other’s popsicles just yet. Hell, this could all just be the “Colorado affect.” Applications to Colorado colleges and universities are spiking because of pot. Could I see 200 additional potheads giving law school a second thought because they think they can go somewhere mellow?

Regardless, it’ll be interesting to see if these numbers hold. If we’ve seen the bottom of the market for law school applications, I know at least a few law deans who will be sleeping easier tonight.

Number of LSAT Takers Increased in February [LSAT Blog: Ace the LSAT]