Bar Exams, Law Schools

Pennsylvania Bar Exam Results Reveal Worst Passage Rates In More Than A Decade

When will bar exam passage rates stop dropping precipitously?

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bar exam emailAs more and more results are announced, bar exam passage rates continue to falter across the country. As we mentioned previously, Pennsylvania released the results of the July 2016 administration of the state’s bar exam late last week, with an overall passage rate of 69.31 percent. This is down from July 2015’s overall passage rate (71.15 percent), and down from July 2014’s overall passage rate (75.52 percent). But it gets worse…

This is Pennsylvania’s lowest overall passage rate in the past five years (the overall passage rate in July 2011 was 79.81 percent); in fact, this is Pennsylvania’s lowest overall passage rate in more than a decade (the overall passage rate in July 2003, the earliest date for which statistics are publicly available online, was 71.58 percent). This is also Pennsylvania’s lowest first-time passage rate (75.35 percent) in more than a decade.

How did Pennsylvania-area law schools fare this time around? We’ll break this down by July 2016 overall passage rate and July 2016 first-time taker passage rate, then compare these percentages to years prior and provide some key takeaways.

Drexel University School of Law

  • July 2016 overall passage rate: 76.69 percent
  • July 2016 first-time taker passage rate: 79.20 percent
  • July 2015 overall passage rate: 72.65 percent
  • July 2015 first-time taker passage rate: 80.00 percent

Duquesne University School of Law

  • July 2016 overall passage rate: 82.81 percent
  • July 2016 first-time taker passage rate: 91.96 percent
  • July 2015 overall passage rate: 70.95 percent
  • July 2015 first-time taker passage rate: 75.00 percent

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Pennsylvania State – Dickinson School of Law

  • July 2016 overall passage rate: 72.45 percent
  • July 2016 first-time taker passage rate: 77.53 percent
  • July 2015 overall passage rate: 76.34 percent
  • July 2015 first-time taker passage rate: 83.34 percent

Rutgers Law School

  • July 2016 overall passage rate: 70.41 percent
  • July 2016 first-time taker passage rate: 75.28 percent
  • July 2015 overall passage rate: 70.64 percent
  • July 2015 first-time taker passage rate: 73.20 percent

Temple University – James E. Beasley School of Law

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  • July 2016 overall passage rate: 80.49 percent
  • July 2016 first-time taker passage rate: 82.05 percent
  • July 2015 overall passage rate: 77.39 percent
  • July 2015 first-time taker passage rate: 82.46 percent

University of Pennsylvania Law School

  • July 2016 overall passage rate: 98.04 percent
  • July 2016 first-time taker passage rate: 98.00 percent
  • July 2015 overall passage rate: 94.44 percent
  • July 2015 first-time taker passage rate: 94.44 percent

University of Pittsburgh School of Law

  • July 2016 overall passage rate: 70.27 percent
  • July 2016 first-time taker passage rate: 76.34 percent
  • July 2015 overall passage rate: 75.78 percent
  • July 2015 first-time taker passage rate: 79.61 percent

Villanova University School of Law

  • July 2016 overall passage rate: 79.55 percent
  • July 2016 first-time taker passage rate: 81.15 percent
  • July 2015 overall passage rate: 81.48 percent
  • July 2015 first-time taker passage rate: 84.31 percent

Widener University, Commonwealth Law School

  • July 2016 overall passage rate: 67.86 percent
  • July 2016 first-time taker passage rate: 78.57 percent
  • July 2015 overall passage rate: 67.95 percent
  • July 2015 first-time taker passage rate: 73.85 percent

Widener University, Delaware Law School

  • July 2016 overall passage rate: 42.59 percent
  • July 2016 first-time taker passage rate: 45.16 percent
  • July 2015 overall passage rate: 62.50 percent
  • July 2015 first-time taker passage rate: 74.47 percent

Out of the ten Pennsylvania-area law schools listed here, four (Duquesne, Rutgers, Penn, and Widener – Commonwealth) saw their first-time passage rate increase year over year, and six (Drexel, Penn State, Temple, Pittsburgh, Villanova, and Widener – Delaware) saw their first-time passage rate decrease year over year.

Penn Law posted the highest first-time passage rate (and overall passage rate), with Duquesne Law coming in second place. In fact, Duquesne saw a 16.96 percentage point increase in its first-time passage rate year over year. Congratulations! But what happened at Widener – Delaware between this summer and last? The law school’s first-time passage rate dropped by 29.31 percentage points. That’s frightening.

When will bar exam results stop dropping precipitously? When law schools change their modi operandi, raise their admissions standards, and put their students first? We’ve said it numerous times before and we’ll say it again, because it still bears repeating: “Until law schools realize they’re doing a disservice to everyone — their students, their graduates, and their graduates’ future clients — things will only continue to get worse.”

PA Bar Exam Statistics [Pennsylvania Board of Law Examiners]

Staci Zaretsky is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. Follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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