July 9, 2014

ABA Application 2013/'14 data versus previous year

ABA Application 2013/'14 data versus previous yearBlog Post Banner Image
ABA Application 2013/'14 data versus previous yearSpivey Consulting Group

The following is a breakdown of ABA 2014 applicants and applications by region (based on data received through 7/04/14) and the percent change from last year:

Region Applicants # Applicants Pct Chg Applications # Applications Pct Chg
[Far West ]() 7,011 -7.8% 53,942 -5.7%
[Great Lakes ]() 6,539 -11.7% 49,329 -13.8%
[Midsouth ]() 6,320 -9.0% 65,039 -10.0%
[Midwest ]() 1,786 -9.2% 10,904 0.7%
[Mountain West ]() 2,686 -10.5% 10,656 -8.4%
[New England ]() 2,437 -9.8% 28,513 -8.5%
[Northeast ]() 8,490 -3.6% 61,473 -4.3%
[Northwest ]() 1,340 -5.9% 8,368 -8.9%
[South Central ]() 5,578 -6.6% 24,410 -10.3%
[Southeast ]() 8,154 -7.7% 35,333 -10.7%
Regional Total 50,341 -7.9%
Other* 2,763 2.9%
Total 53,104 -7.4% 347,967 -8.6%

* permanent residence is not available or is outside the United States.

Last year at this time, we had 97% of the preliminary final applicant count.

A more detailed breakdown of school increases/decreases in applications is shown below:

Increase of 100% or more: -
Increase of 50% to 99%: 3
Increase of 40% to 49%: -
Increase of 30% to 39%: -
Increase of 20% to 29%: 2
Increase of 10% to 19%: 15
Increase of 1% to 9%: 15
No change: 1
Decrease of 1% to 9%: 45
Decrease of 10% to 19%: 73
Decrease of 20% to 29%: 35
Decrease of 30% or greater: 12

Applications to private institutions are down 8.2%, while applications to public law schools are down 9.2%.

The following is a breakdown of 2014 ABA applicants by racial/ethnic groups and the percent change from last year.

Race/Ethnicity Applicants # Applicants Pct Chg
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Australian 5 -37.5%
American Indian or Alaska Native 1,189 -3.7%
Asian 5,834 -1.7%
Black or African American 7,756 -5.0%
Canadian Aboriginal 38 -15.6%
Caucasian/White 33,506 -9.4%
Hispanic/Latino 6,059 -3.3%
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander 253 -8.0%
Puerto Rican 1,502 -16.2%
Not Indicated 1,696 48.3%
Missing 13 -71.1%

The following is a breakdown of 2014 ABA law school applicants by gender groups:

Female applicants: 26,575, down 6.6%
Male applicants: 26,494, down 8.2%
Not indicated: 35, up 45.8%

The chart below shows the high LSAT score of 2014 ABA applicants with the percent change from last year:

Highest LSAT Number of Applicants Pct Chg YTD
< 140 4,472 -2.0%
140–144 5,600 -2.7%
145–149 8,122 -10.9%
150–154 10,320 -8.0%
155–159 9,767 -9.8%
160–164 7,183 -8.8%
165–169 4,747 -4.3%
170–174 2,189 7.4%
175–180 591 7.7%
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