Exploring the Role of Institutional Research in Graduate and Professional Education

A small study to learn more about the interactions between the institutional research community and graduate and professional schools

From the Bachelor\u27s to the Bar: Using College Completion Data to Assess the Law School Pipeline

The story of declining law school applications is well known among the legal education community. Over 100,000 individuals applied to law school for admission in fall 2004, but demand for legal education has since declined — only 54,000 applicants sought admission in fall 2015. Accesslex Institute examined college completion data to determine whether undergraduate interest in fields most popular among law school applicants has also waned in recent years. In particular, this research brief summarizes bachelor’s degree completion in the top 10 law school feeder majors over the last 10 years, and compares degree production in these fields to those in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)

Examining Grad PLUS: Value and Cost

This report, the first in a two-part series, uses federal data to show that the primary criticisms of the Grad PLUS program—rising institutional education costs and potential cost to the federal government—are either nonexistent or massively overblown

Roadmap to Enrolling Diverse Law School Classes, Volume 4: Contextualizing Admission Factors

Law student diversity is critical to the robust exchange of ideas that is the basis of legal education. Unfortunately, many law schools struggle to enroll classes that reflect the demographics of the regions, states, and even cities in which they are located. A commonly cited reason for the dearth of diversity in many schools is that the pool or “pipeline” of eligible prospective students is not diverse itself. The premise of this critique is rooted in the manner in which “merit” in the admission process is conceived. LSAT scores are the most prominent admission factor. Past academic performance, typically undergraduate GPA (UGPA), is often given prominence as well. Applicants with high LSAT scores and UGPAs will have many possible options for law school. Law schools also consider other factors, such as personal statements, letters of recommendation, and work experience. But the LSAT score and UGPA typically bear the most weight. Ideally, the weight conferred to admission factors is justified by the value of each factor (or combination of factors) in predicting outcomes. Fairness, equity, and the fostering of diverse student bodies require that admission factors be properly contextualized. Narrow conceptions of merit can place applicants from underrepresented backgrounds at a disadvantage in the admission process, due, most significantly, to clear and enduring racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic LSAT score disparities. When factors such as LSAT scores are given undue weight, their impact is unduly harmful to some applicants. But how can a law school determine the predictive value of different admission factors? The purpose of this fourth volume of the Roadmap to Enrolling Diverse Law School Classes series is to provide law schools with a guide to using empirical research methods, such as regression analyses, to gain a better understanding of the relative impact of admission factors on student outcomes

Law School Applicants by Degrees: A Per Capita Analysis of the Top Feeder Schools

In this research publication, AccessLex Institute explores applicant concentration at the top 240 feeder schools, as published in the Law School Admission Council\u27s (LSAC) Top 240 Feeder Schools for ABA Applicants list. The resulting per-capita figures help contextualize the feeder school trends

Priming the Pump: How Pipeline Programs Seek to Enhance Legal Education Diversity

AccessLex Institute has developed this research brief to provide an overview of legal education pipeline programs in the U.S. – the channel by which we, as stakeholders in legal education, can improve access to law school. The prevalence of these programs and their components are discussed in detail. The brief also takes preliminary steps towards assessing their impact and effectiveness. The immediate goal is to provide useful information to aspiring students, their advisors, and others concerned about legal education diversity. The ultimate goals for future research are to identify components shared by the most effective and impactful pipeline programs, and to encourage other programs to adopt those best practices

Future in Law? A Profile of Graduating College Seniors Interested in Legal Education and Careers

The recent decline in law school applicants is well-documented. Despite a slight increase in 2018, the number of law school applicants remains substantially lower than levels observed prior to 2011. This decrease in the demand for legal education presents an opportunity to better understand the pathway to law school and the formation of interest in pursuing a law degree or career. The American Association of Law Schools pioneered inquiry in this area with their groundbreaking study, Before the JD: Undergraduate Views on Law School, which surveyed undergraduates from 25 four-year institutions and first-year law students from 44 law schools, to learn more about what attracts and deters undergraduate interest in legal education and other advanced degrees. This report aims to build on this work by analyzing a broader dataset of undergraduate students—specifically, college seniors—to further describe the characteristics, academic behaviors, goals and career path considerations of those who report an interest in law compared to those who have other career and degree aspirations. Utilizing 15 years of data from the College Senior Survey administered by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at the University of California, Los Angeles, our study offers insight about the traits of college seniors aspiring to a law degree and/or career, when their interest in law develops, and the extent to which their interest in law changes during college

Examining Graduate Lending: Access vs. Private Lending

This report, the second of our two-part series on graduate lending, uses federal data to show, as one example, that black borrowers and Historically Black Colleges and Universities would likely be severely harmed by a move to significantly limit or outright eliminate federal lending to graduate and professional students

Distance Learning Questionnaire Findings

Distance learning is now a central component of the law school curriculum. The COVID-19 pandemic forced law schools to engage in emergency remote teaching after in-person instruction became too dangerous. As a result, nearly every law school is now engaging in some form of distance learning, at least temporarily. Fortunately, sophisticated models exist for both synchronous and asynchronous online learning. And online delivery of the J.D. curriculum is not brand new to legal education. There are hundreds of practicing lawyers today who earned their law degrees through programs that were delivered in significant part online. Just prior to the sudden, temporary shift from in-person instruction in the spring of 2020, there were four law schools that were operating under variances from ABA rules restricting the number of J.D. credit-hours that could be delivered online, and other non-ABA law schools have had online J.D. programs for some time