Law Schools

The 10 Worst Law Schools In The Country (2017)

What depths will these law schools sink to in order to keep their doors open?

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The American Bar Association recently released Standard 509 reports from every accredited law school in the country, and there’s much to be learned from the information that can be found within them. Based on the law school enrollment data in these reports, such as incoming students’ LSAT scores and undergraduate GPAs, we can determine which law schools are dabbling in what David Frakt, who serves as chair of the National Advisory Council for Law School Transparency, refers to as “predatory admissions practices.”

Frakt has analyzed the most recent Standard 509 reports available, and he’s come up with a list of what he calls the “bottom 10 least selective law schools in the country.” That’s a mouthful, so we’re going to go ahead and call them the “worst.” Here are the five — or actually six, thanks to a tie — “worst” law schools in the country:

1. Thomas Cooley Western Michigan U – 146/142/139. Cooley has already been found out of compliance with Standard 501 by the ABA. They recently lost in their efforts to get a restraining order against the ABA to keep this secret from prospective students and did little to improve their chances of having that decision reversed with this year’s embarrassing incoming class, with similar credentials to last year’s (147/141/138).   But the school is still making a fortune with an entering class of 458, third largest in the country (after Georgetown and Harvard). Cooley accepted 85.6% of applicants, far and away the highest acceptance rate in the country.  (Vermont, with 159 entering 1Ls, was second, with a 78.8% acceptance rate.)

2. Texas Southern – 146/143/141. Already sanctioned by the ABA for standards violations and under remedial measures, Texas Southern nevertheless enrolled a large class of 256 students, a significant increase from last year’s 227.  Unfortunately, these students are virtually all at high risk of failure.  The school grew its class by lowering its already dismal admission standards across the board.  Last year they were at 147/145/142.  What are they thinking? The school should be placed on probation.

3. (Tie) Appalachian – 149/143/141 Found out of compliance by the ABA last January and formally notified in May, they hid this fact from prospective students and managed to nearly double their class from 38 to 73 entering students, while very modestly increasing their numbers from 147/143/140. The bottom half of the class are all at extremely high risk of failure.  Their bottom 25% UGPA is an especially woeful 2.51, the lowest of any law school in the country.  Appalachian also boosted enrollment in its upper divisions by taking 16 transfers from Charlotte School of Law, which is not likely to boost their abysmal bar passage rate. Expect Appalachian to be sanctioned.

3. (Tie) Southern – 146/144/141. Number one on my list of schools that deserve to be sanctioned but haven’t yet. Southern has enrolled 200 students, virtually all of whom at are very high or extremely high risk of failure. They increased their class size to 200 from 171, so they could have raised standards, but basically held steady at atrocious. (Last year: 146/143/141) Where are you, ABA?

5. (Tie) Charleston – 148/145/142 Charleston enrolled a large class of 251 students, up from 215, by admitting 71% of applicants.  They could have been more selective and raised their standards considerably.  Last year: 149/145/141. So, for the last three years, at least 75% of Charleston’s class has been made up of high risk students.  The ABA must put a stop to this exploitation.

5.  (Tie)  Thomas Jefferson –  147/144/142.  In January, TJ was found out of compliance by the ABA on Standard 501.   TJ dishonestly kept this secret from its prospective students, enabling the school to grow its enrollment.  But this school is digging itself is an ever deeper hole by admitting a pathetically weak class in a state where students with LSATs below 146 have extremely poor prospects of passing the bar, and everybody below 150 struggles.   Last year TJ had 232 students with a profile of 147/143/141, and the second highest non-transfer attrition rate in the country at 37.2%.  Despite knowing they were facing sanctions due in part to its lax admission policies, TJ chose to increase its class size and essentially maintain its abysmal admissions standards.  The one point increase at the 50th and 25th percentiles was offset by lower UGPAs across the board.  Not surprisingly, TJ was recently placed on probation by the ABA.  Expect droves of transfers from TJ this winter and next summer, and continued bar passage woes for the foreseeable future, assuming TJ can stay in business.

You can see the rest of Frakt’s list over at The Faculty Lounge.

What is going on at these law schools? What depths will these law schools sink to in order to keep their doors open? How many law students will incur hundreds of thousands of dollars of nondischargeable debt in order to fill these law schools’ coffers? We imagine the ABA will be stepping in soon to deal with these problems.

The 2017 Bottom 10 Law Schools in the Country [The Faculty Lounge]

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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, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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