Dive Brief:

• Competition for a shrinking pool of students is forcing law schools to admit students with lower grades and test scores, Inside Higher Ed reports.
• Lowered admissions standards raises the concern that fewer students will be able to graduate, and that more graduates won’t pass their bar exams.
• All law schools accredited by the American Bar Association had students with median LSAT scores of 145 or greater five year ago; last year, there were seven schools with medians under 145.

Dive Insight:

Law school enrollment has reached its lowest point since 1973, even with 53 more law schools. The risk for underqualified students is getting stuck with student loan debt from paying more than $30,000 per year for law school, graduating without being able to pass the bar and then having little or no good job prospects. For law schools, their reputation suffers when their graduates can’t pass the bar.