2024-25 Applicants: What Motivates Them? How Do They Decide?

By Elizabeth Bodamer

This post is part of a series related to LSAC’s Knowledge Report: The 2024-25 Law School Applicant Profile.

Why law?
Where should I apply?
What does this school have to offer me?
Do I see myself growing here?
How do these programs compare?
Should I stay closer to home?
What is the total cost of attending this school?
Do their graduates do well on the bar exam?
Do they have high job placements for their graduates?

Applicants ask themselves so many questions as they decide where to apply to law school. Should they stay close to home? Does a law school ranking really matter to their personal journey to becoming a lawyer? Applicants consider many factors and consume a lot of information from their networks and from online resources in their decision-making process. In fact, almost 40% of respondents to LSAC’s 2025 Applicant Survey report they spent more than 30 hours researching law schools to decide where to apply.

More than 76,000 people applied to law school in the 2024-25 admission cycle, one of the highest applicant volumes in recent history. The 2024-25 admission cycle unfolded during a time of rapid and significant change in the U.S. political and economic landscape, fueling widespread speculation about why they were applying and whether they would continue to apply, especially in light of federal loan changes and other factors. 

Through real-time data collection, LSAC’s 2025 Applicant Survey provides the first empirical glimpse into what applicants were thinking, feeling, and doing amid a competitive admission cycle unfolding during so legislative, policy, political, economic, and social changes. Based on data collected from over 3,000 applicants in March of 2025, LSAC’s latest knowledge report focuses on:

1. Who applied to law school?
2. When did applicants first think about law school?
3. Why did they decide to apply to law school?
4. How did they approach the application process?
   1. What resources and support did they use to make their decision?
   2. How confident were applicants in their decision-making process?
5. What were the most important factors that ultimately informed their decisions on where to apply?

Applying to law school is a major milestone that requires time, resources, confidence, and a system of support. Yet as this report shows, the application process does not unfold under equal conditions for everyone. Differences in access to guidance, social networks, financial stability, and resources can impact how, when, and the confidence applicants have in hitting submit. These differences in how various applicants approach the application process reveal interventions opportunities to help prospective law students to:

• learn about what schools offer,
• reflect on what matters the most to them,
• build an informed understanding about financing law school, and
• expand the scope of their decision-making to consider all their academic, professional, and personal needs in the journey through law school and beyond.

Applying to law schools that meet their needs is about more than just information; it is about discerning what is relevant and applicable to their goals and needs. Overall, the new applicant report adds a piece to the puzzle revealing that inequality in access to resources and support system persists throughout the entire journey from prelaw to practice, starting long before someone takes the LSAT or applies.

To learn more about the critical moments along the prelaw to law school journey, check out any of LSAC’s applied research reports. Stay tuned for our next report in the new year, The Composition of the First-Year Law School Class and Enrollment Trends examining trends between 2021 and 2025.

Dig Deeper Into This Research

LSAC’s Knowledge Report: The 2024-25 Law School Applicant Profile provides deeper insights into how the most recent law school applicants were thinking and feeling during a high volume and highly competitive admission cycle.

View the Report

To learn more about the snapshot moments along the prelaw to law school journey, check out any of LSAC’s applied research reports.