Summary: Though enrollment has sharply declined at many schools around the country, at the University of Colorado Law School in Boulder, numbers are increasing.
According to DailyCamera.com, the University of Colorado Law School has enjoyed a 22 percent increase in the size of its entering class.
The first-year class contains 205 students, up from 168 students in last year’s entering class.
Administrators at the school credit the increase with the school’s desirable location, as well as its reputation for a good employment rate after graduation.
Dean Philip Weiser said, “We’ve been really working hard at communicating our value proposition and why Colorado Law is a special place to be. We are getting that story out there. That story picks up on the fact that we are really helping our students on the job front.”
In 2012, the school expanded student loan repayment.
Since 2005, the size of the first-year class has averaged between 160 and 180 students.
According to the American Bar Association, fall 2014 entering-class numbers were at the lowest level since 1973. The 2014 classes witnessed a 4.4 percent decrease from 2013, and a 27.7 percent decrease from 2010. Law school enrollment actually peaked in 2010.
Roughly two-thirds of accredited law schools saw the size of their first-year classes decrease last year.
Although complete enrollment numbers are not yet available for the fall 2015 class, it seems that reduced numbers may be continuing. In August, the Law School Admission Council reported that applications had dropped 4 percent since last year.
However, at Colorado Law, 2,383 students applied for acceptance, up from 2,180 students in 2014.
Colorado Law and Duke both offer an entrepreneurial law LLM program.
The school did accept more students this year, and noticed that more students enrolled after being accepted, which is known as the yield rate. This year, the yield rate was about 19 percent. In 2014, it was 15 percent.
As for the entering class’ credentials, the median LSAT score was about the same, and the median cumulative grade point average declined from 3.62 in 2014 to 3.6.
Around 70 percent of the entering class is comprised of out-of-state students. In 2014, out-of-state students made up 59 percent of the first year class. According to Weiser, the school’s location and its collaborative model attracted more students.
Weiser commented, “Part of the story is Colorado. One is that our community in Colorado is a special community that really wants to help each other and collaborate and that cultural appeal resonates.”
Gabrielle Daley and Heidi Yim, two of the school’s first-year students, or 1Ls, said that the school appealed to them because it focuses on the “whole student.”
Dean Weiser will be stepping down from the school after serving five years as dean.
Yim said, “It’s just a really supportive environment and then not only is it supportive on the inside but then you go outside and there’s mountains right there, so it’s just a good place to be around — healthy body, healthy mind.” Yim added that she has heard “horror stories” that students at other schools are so competitive that they rip pages out of books in the library. Yim said that such competition is not the case at the University of Colorado. She said that if a student misses class, for example, other students are more than willing to give notes to that student.
Daley added, “It’s competitive because law school is inherently competitive, but we’re not out to stab each other in the back.”
The school is also working hard to keep its costs steady for students. Its tuition has been the same since 2012, at $29,718 for in-state students and $36,504 for out-of-state students. The school has also added to its scholarship budget.
Weiser said that the school has become less dependent on larger, corporate law firms than other schools. Its graduates are more original in their career moves, he said. Weiser explained, “We have a very entrepreneurial student population, alumni population, who have done all sorts of interesting things. There are lots of opportunities for smart people who are creative, who know how to communicate, know how to analyze. I remain excited about what our students are going to be able to do and the careers they’re going to be able to have.”
Source: Daily Camera
Photo credits: University of Colorado Law School