No job? Be a lawyer

As graduation approached for Clay Falls last year, he started tofeel the strain of the current economic downturn as he lookedtowards job searching.

Instead of facing the tight job market, Falls decided to applyfor law school.

“I had watched many friends struggle trying to get a jobright out of college. I had always wanted to go to law school, andwith the poor economy, it made a lot of sense,” Falls said,who just finished his first year at the Dedman School of Law.

The trend of students applying to law school has been on therise since 2001. Law schools across the country received moreapplications this year than ever before.

Many students are choosing law school because of the sluggisheconomy and its effects on the job market. More and more recentgrads are heading on to advanced degrees for fear of ending upwithout a steady job and steady salary.

Employers are expecting to hire fewer new college graduates in2002-2003 than the year before, according to a survey by theNational Association of Colleges and Employers.

Additionally, salary reports show salary offers to many recentcollege graduates are lower than they were last year.

However, the economy is not the only factor playing into theincrease, according the SMU and Baylor admissions offices.

“The increase is two-fold. Certainly the economy plays arole. But, SMU is a hot school right now,” Dedman School ofLaw’s Assistant Dean Lynn Switzer Bozalis said.”We’ve been getting a lot of recognition.

Heather Creed, director of student relations at Baylor LawSchool, attributes Baylor’s increase to other factors aswell.

“Baylor’s continued success on the bar exam weighsin, as does the new law building,” she said.

Law schools approved by the American Bar Association receivedapproximately 77,200 applications throughout 2001, according to theLaw School Admissions Council.

The same schools received approximately 90,900 applications, a17.6 percent increase, during 2002.

The SMU Dedman School of Law experienced an increase inapplications of 48 percent last year, Bozalis said.

Currently the admissions office has received 2,734 applicationsfor this fall, up 16.9 percent from last year.

Both the Baylor Law School and the University of Texas School ofLaw have also seen dramatic increases in applications. Applicationsat UT Law have increased by 65.7 percent since 1999, according toadmissions records. Baylor saw a 40 percent increase inapplications for fall admission, and a 50 percent increase inapplications for spring and summer, Creed said.

While applications nationally are continuing to increase, mostschools are not accepting more students into their programs. Thoughthe increase in applications to the bar association schools rose17.6 percent in 2002, the number of admitted applicants rose only9.1 percent.

That means 34,400 applicants were denied admission in 2002.

With so many applicants, acceptance into law school is becomingmore competitive and difficult to gain.

The students admitted into the Dedman School of Law for 2002,only 26 percent of all applicants, had the best credentials of anyclass in the school’s history, according to a school pressrelease.

“We’re having to deny people that two years ago wewould have killed for,” said Jessica Escobar, who works inthe law school’s admissions office. “We want to keep itat the best.”

In response to the growing national interest in law school, theDedman School of Law will offer an evening law program beginningfall 2004.

With the new program, the law school will be able to pull fromtwo different markets — the traditional students that attendclasses during the day and professionals that work during the dayand will attend classes in the evening.

Though the evening program was only just announced in March, theadmissions office has already had over 2,000 inquires frompotential students, Escobar said.

The school will accept 85 students for the new program.

However, even with the added program, admission will remaindifficult at Dedman. The day program will cut back admission from235 to 175, Bozalis said.

“Applications could easily get to 3,500 to 4,000,”Bozalis said of fall 2004. “Both programs are going to beharder to get into.