Leaky Law Admissions Pipeline for Women

Women obtain 57.1% of all college degrees, but they account for just 50.8% of law school applicants.

Women who apply to law school are less likely than men to be admitted.

When women are admitted to law school, they attend schools with significantly worse placement rates (and US News rank) than men.

These are the findings of a research report from Deborah Jones Merritt & Kyle McEntee. As for reasons for these findings, they suggest these:

• Schools, especially those in the top half of the US News ranking, stress LSAT scores over other admissions factors as they fight to maintain or improve their rankings. This disadvantages women, who have lower LSAT scores (on average) than men.
• Schools award an increasing number of scholarships based on LSAT scores. Men, with higher LSAT scores than women, receive scholarships to more prestigious schools.
• Women may not negotiate as aggressively as men for scholarships. Even if schools attempt to make equal “first offers” to men and women, men may negotiate for higher scholarships that allow them to attend more prestigious schools.

You can read more here.

(ljs)