Minority law applications down

Though law-school applications are down recently, for some groups of applicants, the decline has more constant.

Minority enrollment has decreased in the past decade. First-year enrollments of African American and Mexican American students dropped from 3,937 in 1992 to 3,595 in 2005, according to a recent Columbia Law School study.

In 1992, those students constituted about 4.3 percent of enrolled students; in 2005, they counted for about 3.8 percent.

Top-tier law schools such as Penn Law, however, continue to attract and enroll a diverse group of students.

"At Penn, we're actually really lucky to have tremendous interest" from a diverse group of students, Dean of Admissions Renee Post said.

Thirty-three percent of the Class of 2010 are minority students, according to Penn Law's Web site.

While Penn has not experienced decreasing minority enrollments, Post said the figure fluctuates from year to year.

Drops in minority enrollment typically mirror the overall decreases in the demand for law students, said Nicholas Murphy, president of the Black Law Students Association of the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

"It is somewhat of a mischaracterization to say that it has been on the decrease for 10 years," Murphy said. "Historically, demand for law school has fluctuated in both the black and Mexican American communities."

Meanwhile, admissions experts noted that the Columbia Law school study used selective data to arrive at its conclusion.

Ivey said that while Mexican American enrollments decreased, enrollment of Latinos -which include Mexican Americans - increased by 62.4 percent. There had also been a big jump in applicants who called themselves "other," suggesting that students' ethnic backgrounds are increasingly complicated.

Donna Mancusi, an admissions consultant at Law School Connections, added that African-American enrollment has declined while Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islander enrollment has increased from 1990-2006, according to a separate study conducted last March by the Government Accountability Office.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.