Law School Competition Is So Stiff This Year That Normal T14 Applicants Might Get Pushed Out Of The Game

This is the most competitive admissions cycle in nearly 20 years.

This is a year like no other. To give you some numbers, if you were applying to Georgetown with a 3.9 [grade-point average] and a 171 [LSAT score] last year, I would have said to myself, ‘This is real strong. I’ll probably say yes to this.’ Now, with the exact same applicant, you better have a reason for me to say yes or you’re not getting in, because I have plenty of you.

Andrew Cornblatt, Georgetown University Law Center’s dean of admissions, commenting on the incredibly strong applicant pool the school has seen so far this year. According to the latest data from the Law School Admission Council, the number of applicants with LSAT scores of 165-169 was up almost 27%; the number of applicants with scores of 170-174 was up more than 53%; and the number of applicants with scores of 175-180 was up by 99%, which is almost unbelievable. “It breaks my heart that we can’t take some of these kids,” Cornblatt said. “We’ll put them on a waitlist and hope they hang around.”


Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked 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.

Sponsored