As of May 1, applicants are down 11.6% from last year, up 6.1% from 2019-2020, up 1.6% from 2018-2019, and up 4.1% from 2017-2018.
(We do want to disclaim that the 2019-2020 cycle saw a late-cycle surge of applicants due to the pandemic—we would be surprised to end up more than 2-3% higher than 2019-2020 overall once all is said and done.)
While this seems like a shift back to normalcy as far as the overall size of the applicant pool, that belies the disproportionate growth in applicants with high LSAT scores and the disproportionate diminishment of applicants with low LSAT scores. See below for the full data:
Law School Applicant Volume Data, 2021-2022 Cycle vs. 2017-2021
| Change from 2017-2018 | Change from 2018-2019 | Change from 2019-2020 | Change from 2020-2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| < 140 Applicants | -29.2% | -27.6% | -5.4% | -13.3% |
| 140-144 Applicants | -23.8% | -24.2% | -14.1% | -15.3% |
| 145-149 Applicants | -16.1% | -16.8% | -3.3% | -8.5% |
| 150-154 Applicants | -1.5% | -3.8% | 3.0% | -8.6% |
| 155-159 Applicants | 5.3% | 1.0% | 4.4% | -11.4% |
| 160-164 Applicants | 9.0% | 6.2% | 12.1% | -14.1% |
| 165-169 Applicants | 23.8% | 25.9% | 15.9% | -12.0% |
| 170-174 Applicants | 48.4% | 52.2% | 45.3% | -13.0% |
| 175+ Applicants | 80.1% | 130.1% | 100.3% | -12.9% |
| LSAT Applicants | 1.1% | -0.1% | 6.6% | -11.5% |
| Non-LSAT Applicants | 118.4% | 42.7% | -2.4% | -13.2% |
| All Applicants | 4.1% | 1.6% | 6.1% | -11.6% |