ABC: Law school enrollment down in U.S., up slightly at UGA (Atlanta: 2013)

[ChefRamsey]

"The number of students entering the nation’s law schools declined by 11 percent this fall, but the University of Georgia School of Law actually recorded a slight uptick in enrollment."


Georgia Law is ranked 33rd in the nation by U.S. News World Report. The trend for law school is decreasing applications and enrollment where only the oldest, most elite and well-funded law schools(T14 schools) will flourish over the next few years.

Law school enrollment down in U.S., up slightly at UGA - Atlanta Business Chronicle

[Mishap]

UGA is the cheapest/decent option for many(in-state) so it may be a lower risk option for some students w/ an unknown financial outcome the other end. Either that or they're offering more scholarships which is pumping up the yield.

I still think they'll have to drop the # of seats a bit to maintain the quality of the class. Even if they're 100k less than Emory, there's still a huge amount of risk to take 3 yrs out of your career w/o a guaranteed massive payout at the end. All law schools have too much capacity (professors, infrastructure, etc) and they need to downsize and reign in costs to align w/ the actual market for lawyers.

[ChefRamsey]

Originally Posted by Mishap

UGA is the cheapest/decent option for many(in-state) so it may be a lower risk option for some students w/ an unknown financial outcome the other end. Either that or they're offering more scholarships which is pumping up the yield.

I still think they'll have to drop the # of seats a bit to maintain the quality of the class. Even if they're 100k less than Emory, there's still a huge amount of risk to take 3 yrs out of your career w/o a guaranteed massive payout at the end. All law schools have too much capacity (professors, infrastructure, etc) and they need to downsize and reign in costs to align w/ the actual market for lawyers.

Agreed. Even the top 10 law schools saw decreased applications. UGA's SPIA is ranked 4th in the nation. Maybe the international affairs and public administration department is helping as well? UGA just created an MBA-MPH and MBA-MS(I think in biology) degree to use it's other strengths to help it's "flagship programs" (Like Terry)

President Morehead's 1 billion capital campaign may help boost the endowment and financial aid. It's pale in the face of Michigan's 4 billion dollar capital campaign(nearly half of which is already raised - this is also the largest ever for a public university) or Harvard's 6.5 billion capital campaign(largest in the world's history of higher education..and probably any non-profit education/research related campaign) but it'll still help put UGA on the map for permanent stability and visibility. Undergraduate applications are set to decrease over the next few years as the college going population shrinks - I would guess this would also in turn affect law school applications. Good thing for us in Georgia, UGA and Tech have both seen about 5k increase in applications since 2011.

3 Law School Trends to Watch for in 2013 - Law Admissions Lowdown (usnews.com)