A historic volume summary of applicants by ethnic group is available below. Please note:
- These data display Academic Year. Academic year reflects the law school enrollment year. For example, academic year 2009 or 2009–2010 would indicate the academic year beginning in fall 2009 and extending into spring 2010.
- The following data include applicants for the fall term only and also include deferrals. Deferrals are defined as “applicants admitted for a prior term who were granted a postponed enrollment to the current term.”
- These data reflect final end-of-year counts of applicants to ABA-approved law schools.
- “All” applicants are rounded to the nearest hundred. All other volumes are rounded to the nearest ten.
- % change from prior year is computed on unrounded counts.
| Applicant Group | Fall 2001 |
Fall 2002 |
Fall 2003 |
Fall 2004 |
Fall 2005 |
Fall 2006 |
Fall 2007 |
Fall 2008 |
Fall 2009 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | Count | 77,200 | 90,900 | 99,500 | 100,600 | 95,800 | 88,700 | 84,000 | 83,400 | 86,600 |
| % change from prior year | 3.6% | 17.6% | 9.5% | 1.1% | -4.8% | -7.4% | -5.2% | -0.8% | 3.8% | |
| American Indian/ Alaskan Native |
Count | 580 | 640 | 740 | 780 | 760 | 730 | 730 | 730 | 660 |
| % change from prior year | -5.3% | 10.4% | 15.7% | 6.0% | -3.2% | -3.2% | 0.0% | -1.0% | -9.7% | |
| Asian/ Pacific Islander |
Count | 5,530 | 6,970 | 8,060 | 8,570 | 7,940 | 7,220 | 7,000 | 7,140 | 7,530 |
| % change from prior year | 4.7% | 26.0% | 15.7% | 6.3% | -7.3% | -9.2% | -3.0% | 2.1% | 5.3% | |
| Black/ African American |
Count | 8,650 | 9,700 | 10,600 | 10,670 | 10,010 | 9,340 | 9,090 | 9,430 | 9,880 |
| % change from prior year | 1.7% | 12.2% | 9.3% | 0.7% | -6.3% | -6.6% | -2.7% | 3.8% | 4.7% | |
| Caucasian/ White |
Count | 51,190 | 59,570 | 64,110 | 64,870 | 62,560 | 58,070 | 54,180 | 52,960 | 55,110 |
| % change from prior year | 5.1% | 16.4% | 7.6% | 1.2% | -3.6% | -7.2% | -6.7% | -2.2% | 4.1% | |
| Chicano/ Mexican American |
Count | 1,320 | 1,490 | 1,630 | 1,570 | 1,410 | 1,260 | 1,130 | 1,230 | 1,190 |
| % change from prior year | 0.2% | 13.3% | 9.1% | -3.4% | -10.4% | -10.7% | -10.0% | 8.6% | -2.8% | |
| Hispanic/ Latino |
Count | 3,020 | 3,680 | 4,330 | 4,560 | 4,710 | 4,510 | 4,690 | 4,860 | 5,150 |
| % change from prior year | 2.3% | 22.0% | 17.5% | 5.4% | 3.2% | -4.2% | 3.9% | 3.8% | 5.9% | |
| Puerto Rican | Count | 1,990 | 1,890 | 1,830 | 1,840 | 1,760 | 1,630 | 1,690 | 1,690 | 1,600 |
| % change from prior year | 1.8% | -5.0% | -3.4% | 0.5% | -4.4% | -7.5% | 4.1% | -0.5% | -5.3% | |
| Other | Count | 3,360 | 4,030 | 4,670 | 4,670 | 4,640 | 4,420 | 4,270 | 4,220 | 4,390 |
| % change from prior year | 15.0% | 20.1% | 15.8% | 0.0% | -0.6% | -4.5% | -3.6% | -1.1% | 4.1% | |
| No Ethnic ID | Count | 1,610 | 2,880 | 3,550 | 3,080 | 1,990 | 1,490 | 1,250 | 1,120 | 1,080 |
| % change from prior year | -31.1% | 78.6% | 23.3% | -13.2% | -35.4% | -25.2% | -16.1% | -10.3% | -3.8% | |
Due to significant changes in data collection methods, race/ethnicity data collected after 2009 are not directly comparable to prior data. Data from 2010–2015 are archived separately.
View Archived Race/Ethnicity Data: 2010–2015