Law School News, 1015 GABJ, Vol. 39 No. 5. 58
| Author | Klint W. Alexander, Ph.D., J.D. Dean & Professor of Law University of Wyoming College of Law |
| Position | Vol. 39 5 Pg. 58 |
Klint W. Alexander, Ph.D., J.D. Dean & Professor of Law University of Wyoming College of Law
UW College of Law Trending Upward in Terms of Quality and Service
The 2016-2017 school year is of to a great start for the University of Wyoming College of Law. Notwithstanding a difficult year of statewide budget cuts and declining applications nationwide, the 1L matriculating class this fall is better than ever in terms of quality and Wyoming representation. Moreover, the College of Law will be launching some new initiatives this year to raise our profile and enhance our collaborative efforts with the state.
First, regarding enrollment, the College of Law welcomed 70 outstanding new students to Laramie this fall. Te median LSAT and GPA of this group increased 2.2 points (153.2) and 1.6 points (3.38), respectively, over last year, and 63 percent (a ratio of 2-to-1) of our new students are Wyoming residents. Moreover, women in the first year class outnumber men by a ratio of 52/48 percent, arguably the widest margin of women-to-men in College of Law history. Te Equality State is indeed making strides.
Perhaps the most important aspect to all of this is that these 1L enrollment numbers were achieved by admitting far fewer applicants amidst a declining trend in applications nationwide. Currently, law schools everywhere are engaged in an arms race to lower their admissions standards and scrape the bottom of the barrel for students in order to satisfy enrollment expectations. Harvard is lowering its standards to admit more Texas-bound students; Texas is lowering its standards to admit more Nebraska-bound students; Nebraska is lower its standards to admit more for-profit law school-bound students, and so on. An old African expression comes to mind: “when the water table decreases, the animals begin to look at each other differently.” Fortunately however, Wyoming is increasing its standards and holding the line on selectivity in its admissions notwithstanding the dog-eat-dog national environment. Tis is as tough as it gets for recruiting in legal education. But when the going gets tough, the tough get going! And, for Wyoming, it paid of this year with an outstanding 1L class.
In addition to having high quality students, the College of Law is launching some important programmatic initiatives this year which prefect the...
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