Choosing Law Schools: ABA Disclosures, Data, & Why Rankings Aren’t Everything
As you prepare to make decisions about your future with regard to law school, one of the first things you will look at is law school rankings, most likely those from U.S. News and World Report. Rankings alone simply feed into the myth of law school prestige and leave out a ton of data that can help you choose the law schools which are the best fit for you. You can use the full data provided in the USNWR to guide you and start your search, but you need to dig deeper to get the whole picture.
Reviewing public disclosure reports, called ABA 509 reports, provided by the American Bar Association (ABA) needs to be your go-to method for reviewing law schools in their entirety. I've provided this short guide to introduce you to public reports from the ABA, the data they provide, and how you can evaluate that data for your personal situation.
What Is an ABA 509 Report?
The ABA requires that accredited law schools share data about their enrollment each fall after their most recent incoming class has begun instruction. Standard 509 Information Reports disclose detailed specifics of several aspects of the law school admission process for each incoming class. The ABA makes these disclosures public at the end of each calendar year, so applicants can use the data to help them make decisions about the law schools where they will apply. ABA 509 reports were made available beginning in 2011. You can look up data on their website, but the ABA also requires law schools to make 509 reports available on their websites.
Extracting Useful Data from ABA Disclosures
ABA 509 reports are spreadsheets that show data about a law school's incoming class in 11 different categories. Below are the three most crucial categories to review for most applicants, especially because the exact data is hard to come by elsewhere.
First-Year Class
Most of the information that will guide you in choosing the right law school for you will come from this section because it includes most of the admissions data of those who actually enrolled in the school, not those who applied. Specific metrics you will see in this section include:
Acceptance rate. Low acceptance rates signal a competitive application process.
Enrollment rate. This is the raw number of students who enrolled out of those admitted. The enrollment rate is typically higher than the acceptance rate because most law schools do not want to admit applicants who do not enroll.
LSAT information. Here you will find details of LSAT results for the first-year class which is broken down into 25/50/75 percentiles in part-time and full-time programs for the law school.
GPA. You can see the first-year class’s GPA also broken down in the same way as the LSAT information.
Pro Tip: Most statistics used to attract applicants to law schools include data from full-time and part-time programs. Student populations primarily consist of full-time students, so median statistics likely skew toward the full-time program at a particular school. First-year class data is vital for part-time applicants who need a more realistic picture of the application process.
Grants and Scholarships
Understanding a law school's scholarship program is crucial in helping you decide if you should apply. You need to know your chances of receiving a grant or scholarship and the amount you might receive. The grants and scholarships section on an ABA disclosure includes the following details:
Raw number of enrolled students who received a grant or scholarship
Percentage of students who were offered a specific scholarship amount
Whether students offered a grant or scholarship were part-time or full-time
Amount of tuition coverage
Estimates of awarded money broken into 25/50/75 percentiles
Conditional Scholarships
Once you understand the grants and scholarships information, reviewing the conditional scholarships section of an ABA disclosure can give you a better grasp of the type of award a law school might offer you. Conditional scholarships refer to awards that require you to meet specific standards or thresholds to get the award. Most conditional offers require you to maintain a specific GPA or class standing each year.
Not all schools offer conditional scholarships. If they do, the key information you need to look at is the retention rate of students who are awarded these scholarships. If students get a sizable award their first year, but cannot maintain the conditions to keep their award in year two and/or year three, you might want to look at schools without conditional scholarships, or law schools where the students retain the award for its duration.
Additional Data Beyond Law School Rankings
Other data sources are available to help you evaluate the law schools where you want to apply. While looking at admissions statistics are important, your likelihood of passing the bar exam in your state and gaining employment after graduation should also be at the top of your list. The ABA also offers data on bar passage and employment outcomes for each accredited law school.
The ABA's Bar Passage Outcomes report offers the overall pass rate for a particular school and compares it to other ABA-accredited schools in the same state. You can see how the school you want to attend stacks up with others in the same state. Some law students take the bar exam repeated times, which can skew the overall number, so make sure to focus on "First Time Bar Passage" data. High passage rates strongly suggest the school is supporting students and helping them prepare for the exam.
The ABA's Employment Outcomes report offers three important pieces of information: full-time positions, long-term bar passage, and J.D. Advantage positions. These data points represent the “pie in the sky” positions that the majority of law school graduates want after they pass the bar exam. If the numbers are too low, it can indicate you might struggle to get a job. On the other hand, inflated numbers signal a high amount of nonlegal roles.
Making decisions about where you should apply to law school comes with a certain amount of stress. Instead of adding to your stress, I want to help you understand the many factors that impact your choices, so you can make informed decisions. Contact me today with further questions about law school applications, the data available to evaluate each school, and how to balance nuanced and holistic views to help you choose the right law schools to send your application.