Applications Jump to Law and Medical School

" This is the year for admissions officers to worry about enrollments. Undergraduate enrollment is down 4.4 percent, according to the latest datafrom the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Freshman enrollment is down 13 percent. Community college freshman enrollment is down 19 percent.

Graduate enrollment is up modestly, at 2.9 percent.

But law school applications are surging, and some signs suggest that medical school applications are as well. While the application cycle for neither sector is over yet, the numbers have officials encouraged.

Kellye Y. Testy, president and CEO of the Law School Admission Council, said that applications are up 32 percent from this point last year. And there are more applications for each applicant, with the average student applying to six law schools instead of five. Applications are up across geographic boundaries and LSAT scores.

For medical schools, the Association of American Medical Colleges didn’t see a significant increase in the number of students who took the MCAT in the last year (only about 2 percent). But applications to medical schools are up 18 percent compared to a year ago.

Applications to osteopathic medical schools are also up 18 percent." …