UF Levin College of Law did not follow the national trend of cutting the size of its entering class this year.
More than half of law school admissions officers reported cutting their entering law school classes this year, making this the second year in a row law schools reported cutting their entering class sizes, according to results of Kaplan Test Prep Survey released last week.
This year, UF Law enrolled a class size of 318, which is about 30 more students than last year’s class, said Robert H. Jerry, dean of UF Law.
“I think it’s because our applicant pool is so strong, and we are viewed as a very strong school,” Jerry said.
Even with the increase in UF Law’s entering class size, Jerry said he expects to see a decline in the average credentials of students accepted to UF Law — a median of about one LSAT point, which he said he expects will be on par with the national average.
He attributes this expected decline in student credentials to the decrease in law school applicants nationally.
To offset the drop in credentials, Jerry said, some schools have been shrinking the size of their classes.
Kaplan reports law school applications have dropped from 602,300 in 2010 to 385,400 in 2013. That’s the lowest level in decades.
Javier Gil, a 20-year-old UF psychology senior, is applying to UF Law. He said he thinks students not wanting to work hard is why there is a decrease in the number of applicants.’
“It’s a little bit strange,” he said. “I don’t like the idea of law schools dropping their standards, but it makes sense.”
A version of this story ran on page 4 on 10/8/2013 under the headline "UF Law bucks national trend of decreasing admissions"
