Baylor Law School Bucks National Trend on Applications

While the majority of law schools nationwide are facing a decline in applications, Baylor University Law School is "bucking the national trend" with an increase in applications, according to an article in the Texas Lawyer publication.

Quoting comparative 2005-06 application figures for the nine Texas law schools, Texas Lawyer states that only two - Baylor and Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law - show increases in the number of applications.

Baylor Law School received 2,450 applications in 2006 compared to 2,437 in 2005. Texas Southern increased from 2,112 applications in 2005 to 2,451 in 2006, the article states.

Texas Lawyer, in its front-page article, quotes Becky Beck-Chollett, admissions director at Baylor Law School. "Beck-Chollett attributes Baylor Law School's increase in total applications to its marketing efforts," the article states. "Those efforts include sending information about Baylor to all students who have taken the LSAT and who meet the criteria Baylor is looking for. Baylor also sends a mini compact disc with a video on the law school to those students, she says."

"'It's all about marketing and getting your name out to these applicants,' Beck-Chollett says."

The article points out that Texas Tech University School of Law experienced only a "minimal drop" in its application numbers from 1,834 in 2005 to 1,831 for the 2006 entering class. The decrease in application numbers at the other Texas schools ranges from 2.9 percent to 12.3 percent, the publication notes.

The Texas Lawyer article also quotes an official with the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) who states that law school applications for the fall 2006 entering class at American Bar Association-approved law schools dropped 6.3 percent nationwide. In the south central region, which includes Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, the number of applications dropped 11.7 percent this year, the official is quoted as saying.