Keeping Up to Data: September 2025

Welcome to Keeping Up to Data^SM, a space in which we discuss, analyze, and contextualize trends and perspectives in the current law school admission cycle.

SUSAN KRINSKY: Welcome back to Keeping Up to Data. I’m Susan Krinsky, executive vice president for operations at LSAC^®, with a brief report on the beginning of the 2026 application cycle and a talk with Rosanne Ibanez, dean of admissions at the University of Virginia Law School, and Rachel Duffy, who is a second-year student at UVA. They will talk with us about the LSAC Law School Forums. But first, some numbers — sort of.

The numbers I reported during our last podcast, on the just-completed cycle, remain unchanged. And it won’t be until later this fall that the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar will report on the total number of matriculants in the 2025 first-year class, and their composition. As for the 2025-26 admission cycle, it’s barely underway, as most law schools open their admission processes sometime during the month of September, and some as late as October. So, it’s really too early to see any real trends in applicant or application volumes.

Given the LSAT^® volumes so far, however, we are starting to see some indication of what this cycle might look like. This year’s LSAT testing cycle began with the August 2025 test administration, where we saw an 18.3% increase in test takers over August 2024. As we record this podcast, the September LSAT administration is still ongoing, but the registration numbers showed a significant increase over a year ago. We’ll know more about actual test takers soon.

For the upcoming October test administration, the registration deadline has passed, and as of three weeks before the test, registrants are up 14.6% over last October’s test administration. LSAC will begin providing daily updates on applicant and application volumes, starting in the middle of October, on our website, LSAC.org.

The 2025-2026 LSAC forums season is in full swing, starting with July’s Washington, D.C., forum; a recent LLM digital forum; and in-person events in Miami, Atlanta, and Toronto later in September; Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles in October; and San Francisco in November. For prospective law students, these events provide wonderful opportunities to connect with representatives from 100 or more law schools in one place. By attending an LSAC Law School Forum, prospective students are able to talk with representatives of law schools, attend workshops run by the law school admission and financial aid experts, and get important information and answers to any questions they may have. For law schools, LSAC Law School Forums offer an opportunity to expand their outreach by meeting with prospective students and highlighting what their programs have to offer.

Today, I’m joined by two very special guests who have experienced LSAC Law School Forums from two different perspectives. I am delighted to welcome to Keeping Up to Data Rosanne Ibanez, of the University of Virginia Law School, and Rachel Duffy, who is a second-year student there. However, when she was an aspiring law school applicant, she attended an LSAC Law School Forum in Los Angeles. And I have to say that this is the first time we’ve had a law student on this podcast. Welcome, Rachel.

RACHEL DUFFY: Yeah, thank you so much for having me today. I was so excited to hear from Rosanne about this podcast. She was the most memorable interaction I had at the LSAC forum, so it’ll be great to revisit that today.

SUSAN: Well, I’d like to start by congratulating you, Rachel, as you start your 2L year. We are so happy you could join us. As I mentioned, you are the first law student we’ve had on the Keeping Up to Data podcast, and I’m very excited to be able to bring the student perspective to our listeners. First, could you tell us a little bit about how your journey began? When and why did you decide to go to law school?

RACHEL: When I was in college, I think I always thought about law school as an option I might take in the long run. It was something I was interested in and curious about, but I wasn’t really sure if it was the right choice for me. So, after graduating, I took some time away from school; I worked as an archivist for an artist foundation for some time. Then I went back and got my master’s degree in art history, really thinking that I might pursue more of an artistic path. But while I was doing that, I had the good luck to sit in on this art law seminar, and as I learned more about art law, I became interested in law more broadly. And so, I realized that law school, after all, might be the right choice for me, so I ended up applying during 2023 — again, which is when I met Rosanne — and now I’m here.

SUSAN: How did you hear about LSAC’s Law School Forums, and what were you expecting?

RACHEL: So, I heard about the forums, I think, through the LSAC website. It was there, displayed pretty prominently, when I had registered to take the LSAT exam. Because I was living in Los Angeles, it made sense for me, I thought, to go to this place where I could meet all these different schools. I think back in 2023, we were still sort of getting back into the swing of having these big, in-person kinds of events, and it seemed like just a great opportunity to get to meet all these different schools. Also, being a West Coast applicant, there’s a whole untapped market of East Coast schools that you might not be able to visit so easily, because they are really far away. So, I liked the idea of being able to meet with people from schools like UVA and other wonderful schools that are just difficult to visit when you’re working or when you’re in school.

And so it was cost-effective, and it was a really efficient way, just in a couple of hours, you meet so many different people. I really enjoyed that about it. And ,yeah, it was just a great chance to see so much all at once and have those in-person conversations, get all these brochures, and be able to really compare everything in a similar way.

SUSAN: It sounds like attending a forum helped you. What kinds of things did you learn, and did it expand the possibilities of where you might apply?

RACHEL: Yeah, I think it expanded it a little bit. For me personally, I had a good sense of what schools I was going to apply to by the time I got to the forum, because that was right before I submitted my applications, or maybe even right after. But it was nice to have the chance to, again, meet with people in person, when nowadays, all these Zoom things are so wonderful, but you usually have fewer chances to do that. And maybe more importantly, the opportunity to have these one-on-one conversations with people, since when you’re in one of these online sessions, for example, it’s usually you and, like, 80 other students, and you’re sort of asking things in the chat or you might send something to someone by email. But it was a much more easygoing kind of way to have a natural conversation with someone and learn things about a school that you might not have expected.

So, for me, I think that helped me tailor my application approach a little bit more, and it also changed my perspective on schools that I had already applied to or knew that I was going to apply to.

SUSAN: How different do you think the law school application process might have been for you if you hadn’t attended an LSAC Law School Forum?

RACHEL: I think it might have resulted in me picking a different school to go to. That sounds incredibly dramatic, but I had such a positive interaction with Rosanne that really stuck with me as I considered whether or not I was going to attend UVA. The details of our conversation are pretty hilarious. We bonded over talking about Costco in Virginia, vs. Costco in Los Angeles. It was just such a funny, memorable thing that somehow stuck with me as she told me about the joys of being in Charlottesville, which I didn’t know so much about before the forum. It did have an impact just on other schools that I visited. The information I got, and I think the impressions I had, even from talking with other students who were there, gave me some insight into what they had learned during their conversations, and how their impressions may be different from when they had visited a school, or just, again, interacting with the admissions folks, but also just with other attendees. It really made me want to go to UVA, ultimately.

SUSAN: Rachel, do you remember how much time you spent at the forum and how many different schools you talked to?

RACHEL: I believe I was there for about two hours. I got there in the morning. I actually had work in the afternoon, so I kind of had it back to back. But I made a list ahead of time of the schools that I either was planning on applying to or had already applied to, and I got one of those little maps that they provide and circled all the ones, and then just kind of made my way up and down with a little beeline, zigzag formation. And I think it was about 20 or so schools that I visited, that I had planned to, but then just the nature of everything being kind of random, I don’t think it was in alphabetical order, organized by location. So I would just happen to see something that caught my eye, and so it ended up being more than just the ones that I planned. And I was very happy with the number of brochures, and little business cards, and all this information I got that I was able to put to good use over the rest of the cycle.

SUSAN: Do you remember, did any schools follow up with you after the forum?

RACHEL: Yes. Most of the booths, they had some kind of sign-up sheet where you would provide your LSAC number, and your email, so they would reach out to you and put you on their mailing list or give you some other kind of information. And I recall quite a few schools emailing me within the next week or so afterward.

SUSAN: What would you tell somebody who is just now thinking about applying to law school, and we’re in the height of the forums season? What would you tell them?

RACHEL: I would say that most people will tell you that visiting a law school is a really important step in deciding whether or not you’d like to attend. And I think that advice is very true, but I think this early on in the cycle, don’t forget about the forum opportunity. If there’s one near you, you should absolutely go. I think it is, again, the most efficient way to just get to know so many schools in a short period of time. I mean, it’s really much more simple than signing up for a whole array of online sessions or planning a bunch of trips to go visit in person. I really think that, in terms of all the schools that ended up not being the right fit for me, I was really happy to have that chance to meet with all of them. And I think it was really one of the more productive two-hour chunks of time in my application cycle.

SUSAN: Thanks so much, Rachel, and good luck during this coming year.

RACHEL: Thank you so much.

SUSAN: OK, Rosanne, shifting to how law schools view the Law School Forums. We all know that outreach and recruitment of an incoming class is very challenging for all law schools, so I’m really happy that you’re here to give us a little bit of perspective. Rosanne, how do you, as a director of admissions, view the Law School Forums?

ROSANNE IBANEZ: Oh, thank you so much for having me, Susan. I feel so special to be here with Rachel. I can’t speak for all my colleagues, Susan, but I will say I love them so much. It is part holiday, part family reunion, part convention, where it’s just really inspiring to see how many people come together to support these next steps for people who are really serious about joining the legal profession. I feel like there’s always so much energy: lots of people who are ready to have the conversations with you that you wish that you could have, and for people to get really good answers straight from the source.

SUSAN: What kinds of opportunities do the forums provide to law schools?

ROSANNE: Yeah. I think it gives law schools just as much face time with students as it gives students face time with law schools. This is kind of a rare opportunity, and I know Rachel mentioned how it’s really difficult to visit all the schools that you’re seriously considering, but this is a good, short window of time. It maximizes the engagement, I think, in a way that can really make an impression, and I love attending them. I’ll also say not to underestimate the workshops, and panels. I used to be on some, and we’d have these massive ballrooms full of students, and the information was incredible, so that is also part of my own forum experience. And I can still remember the panels I’ve been on, the other panelists I’ve worked with, and it’s a good way to get multiple perspectives with one session.

SUSAN: How do you prepare for each forum?

ROSANNE: Susan, this is going to sound hilarious, but I have to hydrate and stretch. So, I apologize to the students I talked to at the D.C. forum recently, morning session toward lunchtime; I had to tell them, I was like, “I am not crying, I’ve just lost my voice.” But I am happy to do that, just because you get to talk to so many great students. At a different school I’ve worked at, we did a heavy marketing — we were like, “Hey, come, and see us, we’re at this table.” And even then, it was great engagement to have a touchpoint, and I’ve been really fortunate to work at really high-touch schools, and so, forums like this make such a huge difference.

SUSAN: I know each forum is different, but can you estimate about how many students might you talk with at a forum?

ROSANNE: Oh, my gosh. I want to say, and running the numbers, if D.C. is a good snapshot — which, to be fair, D.C. is almost our home forum — I would say probably around 300. I will also want listeners to know most forum interactions, I think, are positive, just like most personal statements are good. So, don’t be too intimidated — come in, I think, as your best self and with great questions, and that will help you maximize the time. I think sometimes people get a little nervous. We’re people, and most people make a great impression. If they make really great impressions, it’s easy to keep track of them, but most interactions are good. And I will say, over the years, they’ve just gotten better and better. I remember leaving D.C. and I didn’t have a single question that was like, “Hey, what’s your LSAT median?” or “What’s your GPA median?” Questions that you can find online. I think the next generation of applicants are becoming so much more sophisticated and maximizing the time that they have. So that I think has been a really, really great change over the years.

SUSAN: Well, we both know that law schools often follow up with the prospective students they meet at forums. Have you ever had prospective applicants follow up with you after a forum?

ROSANNE: Absolutely. I think always appreciated. I think sometimes we don’t always have the bandwidth to respond to every single person. We absolutely try to, but it is always a good jumping-off point, I think, to keep the relationship going. We also, on our application, have a question that says, like, “Have you ever attended a forum or interacted with us at a fair?” And that is a really good way of jump-starting our memory for it. And what’s really funny is, I also was equally enamored with Rachel when I met her at the forum. And I remember reading her app while I was on a Delta flight above the Midwest, and she had actually applied before attending the forum. But then, in her interview, she was like, “We met at the forum,” and I was like, “You’re exactly right; we did meet.” So it comes back around, for sure.

SUSAN: Do you have any particular advice to prospective applicants about when to attend the forum? Is it ever too early? Is it ever too late?

ROSANNE: I would say no. It’s such a rare opportunity that if you have the privilege to be able to go to one, it doesn’t seem like there’s too early or too late. There’s almost not too early in that getting as many data points about the schools that you are considering is really valuable. And there’s not too late in that even if you’re someone who’s already gotten your decision and you’ve been admitted, that you get another opportunity to engage and ask some of your more specific questions in, hopefully, a situation that is easier for you to access lots of people at one time. I’m sure I’m a guest on this episode in particular because I love forums, but I really do believe that it is just so valuable at any point in your cycle.

SUSAN: Thank you to both of you for joining us. This was both enjoyable and really informative.

ROSANNE: Thanks, Susan.

RACHEL: Thank you for having me.

SUSAN: Thanks so much. To our listeners, thank you for joining us at Keeping Up to Data. We look forward to your joining our next episode. Until next time, stay well.

Thank you for joining us. Keeping Up to Data^SM is a production of LSAC. If you want to learn more about the current law school admission cycle and the latest trends and news, visit us at LSAC.org.

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