According to the Law School Admissions Council, 25 percent more law school hopefuls will take the LSAT this month than October 2000, the largest jump ever in a single year.
The LSAT is a standardized test required for law school applicants. The next test is scheduled for Saturday.
Last October, about 45,000 people registered to take the LSAT. This October the number should top 60,000, according to LSAC spokesman Ed Haggerty. LSAC will not calculate the final number of test takers for this month until the test has been administered. The June 2001 LSAT saw an 18.6 percent jump in takers from the previous June.
The nation's most popular provider of LSAT instruction, Kaplan Test Preparation, also is reporting a significant increase in LSAT class enrollment, though Kaplan spokeswoman Bonnie Eisner said she did not have exact enrollment statistics for LSAT courses.
Both LSAC and Kaplan officials partly attribute the large increase in LSAT interest to the nation's floundering economy.
"It appears that there is a significant interest in law school because it seems that when the economy is weak more people apply to law school," Haggerty said.
Before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the national economy was already in a downward spiral. According to The Washington Post, before the attacks, economic growth was about 4 percent higher than the previous year. It is now approaching 0 percent. The declining economy supports theories that a strong relationship exists between economic stability and student interest in the LSAT.
"We have seen a significant increase" in applications, Eisner said. "Basically, the increase in enrollment is tied into the economy."
She noted that when the economy is struggling, students think law school provides a good education and entry into a lucrative job market. She added that the increase in test takers for the LSAT and test preparation classes is an aberration.
"On the whole interest in law school has been decreasing for the last 10 years. This is a tremendous increase," Eisner said.
Bianca White, president of Phi Alpha Delta, the University's pre-law fraternity, said that although she planned to go to graduate school regardless of the nation's economic status, "It encourages me to go now even more."
This Sunday Kaplan will hold a "test drive" at the University. The event will include an overview of the LSAT, a free practice test, and an analysis of the test results. Last year there were more than 22,000 participants nationwide.
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