U.S. News’ Ranking Guru Robert Morse in the Moot Court room at George Washington University Law School

This Law School Saw Exponentially Higher Applications

The future is bright for The George Washington University Law School.
The law school saw a 6.3% increase in applications during the past year’s admissions cycle, The GW Hatchet reports.
Largest Applicant Pool In Seven Years
Nearly 7,700 students applied to GW Law in 2018, according to the Hatchet. That’s 500 students more than the last year. It’s also the largest pool of applicants since 2011.
This past year’s applicant pool represented a diverse group of students.
“We recruit all students, and, given the incredibly diverse nature of our pool, we do not track first-generation students,” Liz Field, a GW Law school spokeswoman, tells the Hatchet. “In addition, we have students from 231 colleges represented and 13 countries represented in the 2018 incoming class.”
According to Field, the law school has been “fortunate for the last decade to receive the second largest number of applications in the country because of the depth and breadth of our programs,” she tells the Hatchet.
Potential Reasons For Increase In Applications
There are a number of potential reasons why more applicants may be interested in GW Law.
For one, the law school decided to drop its $80 admission fee last February.
Sophia Sim, the law school’s associate dean for admissions and financial aid, tells the Hatchet that the admissions office decided on getting rid of the fee following an increase in students’ request in fee waivers.
“The time required to respond to the individual requests became progressively more difficult and some applicants were disappointed we couldn’t provide a refund in every instance,” she tells the Hatchet. “Therefore, in the 2016-17 admissions cycle the admissions office elected to waive the $80 application fee for every applicant.”
Additionally, faculty cite the current political climate under President Donald Trump as a potential reason for the overall increased interest in the law field as a career.
“Now we’re back at the point where lawyers are to a certain extent seen as heroes,” John Banzhaf, a public interest law professor at GW Law, tells the Hatchet. “They marched into the airport and they took on Trump and they have to prevent people from being deported.”
Kyle McEntee, the executive director of Law School Transparency, says the increase in applications should be seen in context to the drop in law school applications over past years.
“People are looking at ways that they can contribute to the betterment of society, and one way to do that is through the rule of law, and the people who have the closest command of the rule of law are the people are lawyers,” he tells the Hatchet.
Sources: GW Hatchet, GW Hatchet