BC Law First-Year Enrollment Increases Significantly During COVID-19 - The Heights - The Heights
First-year enrollment at Boston College Law School increased by 40 percent this past year due to a heightened interest in law careers during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Boston Business Journal.
“Due to last year’s unprecedented nationwide interest in attending law school, we and many other highly selective schools saw a significant increase in both applications and in accepted students who chose to enroll,” Nate Kenyon, director of marketing and communications and senior advisor to the dean at BC Law, wrote in an email to The Heights.
Enrollment also increased significantly at six other law schools in the Boston area—Boston University, Harvard University, New England Law Boston, Northeastern University, Suffolk University, and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
The Boston Business Journal wrote that first-year enrollment rose at these six schools and BC Law by a combined 13 percent this fall—more than triple the rate it had increased the previous year.
Applications to the seven schools also increased by a combined 32 percent year-over-year, which is significant as law schools have seen annual declines in overall enrollment for large parts of the past decade, according to the Boston Business Journal.
Though many schools saw enrollment increases, BC Law’s rising enrollment figures were comparatively large. According to the Boston Business Journal, the school’s first-year enrollment jumped by 40 percent from 2020, ahead of BU’s enrollment increase of 26 percent.
With the surge in law applicants, many law schools could be more selective with their admissions, the Boston Business Journal wrote. The acceptance rate at BC Law fell from 31.8 percent in 2020 to 23.5 percent in 2021.
For the Class of 2024, the law school enrolled 353 J.D. students out of 6,368 applications, according to BC Law’s website. The students, ranging in age from 21 to 38, represent 31 states, Washington D.C., and 14 countries. Thirty-two percent of the class is made up of students of color.
“We welcomed the most diverse and one of the strongest classes in BC Law’s history this fall,” Kenyon wrote.
This new class makes up 41 percent of the total enrollment of 866 J.D. students at BC Law.
Kenyon said BC Law made a number of changes to accommodate the increase of students.
“In order to properly support them, we added a 4th section and increased our faculty, course offerings, and support staff and services,” he wrote.
According to Kenyon, BC Law has had a successful year so far.
“We are pleased to report that the semester has been successful and the students’ experience has been overwhelmingly positive,” Kenyon wrote.
Featured Graphic by Annie Corrigan / Heights Editor
source: https://www.bcheights.com/2022/01/06/bc-law-first-year-enrollment-increases-significantly-during-covid19/
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