REFILE-US law school applicants increase 33%, boosting competition

By Karen Sloan

Oct 15 (Reuters) - The 2026 law school admissions cycle just began and it’s already looking like yet another highly competitive year.

The current pool of applicants to American Bar Association-accredited law schools is 33% larger than it was this time last year, according to newly released data from the Law School Admission Council.

That increase — which experts attribute to the political climate and a tough job market for new college graduates — is good news for law schools that will have more candidates to choose from but bad news for applicants vying for limited spots.

The current applicant increase comes on top of last year’s admissions boom, when the cycle started with a 26% jump in applicants before ending in an 18% increase — with 12,000 more people seeking a seat in law school.

“In my 26 years of staring at the [council’s] volume summary report, I’ve never seen a cycle starting this much up,” said law school admissions consultant Mike Spivey, who predicted that the applicant pool will further expand through November before tapering down to an increase of about 20% over last year’s total count.

In a Monday blog post, council president Sudha Setty cautioned that early applicant data is volatile — typically only about 15% of total applications have been submitted at this point in the year — but added that the numbers point to “continued strong interest in law school across a broad applicant base.”

The total number of people taking the Law School Admission Test this cycle is up nearly 22% compared to this time last year, further evidence that law school will be a hot ticket in 2026.

Setty cited an “especially dynamic political environment” and the “uncertain economic climate and the potential impact of AI and other trends on future employment,” as factors bolstering interest in law school. An August report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed that the 2025 average unemployment rate for recent college graduates was 5.3%, outpacing the 4% unemployment rate for the wider labor force.

A survey of law school admissions officers released this month by test prep company Kaplan found that 56% said the political climate was either the main factor or a primary driver in last year’s applicant surge, and 90% said this admissions cycle would be “at least as competitive” as last year’s.

In addition to politics and the sluggish entry-level job market for recent college graduates pushing more people to consider law school, some of this cycle’s early applicant surge is likely due to attorney hopefuls reapplying after not getting accepted last year, Spivey said. Others may have opted not to apply last year when they saw the surge in applications and are instead trying this year, he said.

But it will be even tougher to get an acceptance letter this cycle, he warned.

“This is horrible news for applicants,” Spivey said. “It’s going to be really competitive.”

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