Law Schools

Law School Welcomes Its Tiniest Class Ever

This law school is trying to change for the better.

By Staci Zaretsky on August 25, 2017 3:15 pm

‘What is this, a law school for ants?’

Many law schools have “voluntarily” reduced their class sizes since prospective law students discovered that they didn’t want to be in debt and unable to find a job that could service their loans, but one school recently decided to reduce its class size in the hopes of welcoming brighter students — perhaps in an effort to increase the number of graduates who are able the pass the bar exam.

Which school was it, and by how much has its class size been reduced? Here’s our stat of the week, courtesy of the Indiana Lawyer:

As classes begin again, Valparaiso University Law School is standing apart from other Indiana law school as it welcomes an incoming 1L class of just 28 students, 73 percent smaller than the class that entered last year. …

The smaller class at Valparaiso has come with some of the highest LSAT scores and grade point averages of any recent 1L group. Students just starting their legal studies this semester have a median LSAT of 151 and a median GPA of 3.23.

Classes that entered Valparaiso between 2013 and 2016 all had median LSAT scores in the 140s. The lowest median LSAT score of 143 came from the 1Ls of 2013 and the highest of 147 was brought by the 1Ls of 2016. GPAs also ranged from 2.93 posted by the 2015 incoming class to 3.10 from the 2014 incoming class.

Congratulations to Valpo Law on raising its expectations.

Valparaiso Law incoming class significantly smaller but posts higher LSATs and GPAs [Indiana Lawyer]

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.