The median LSAT score for students at the Thomas M. Cooley Law School is 145. This means that Cooley is already trawling in the waters of the bottom 25 percent of LSAT takers. So when Cooley Law Dean Don LeDuc says that the school might consider lowering its admissions standards to cover the drop in law school applications, it’s fair to ask what’s lower than the bottom of the barrel.
Are they going to start admitting people who took the LSAT in crayon? Are they going to start admitting people who can’t read? If the median score is 145 and you’re going to bring that number down, what (if any) “standards” does your school still purport to have?
Cooley would rather lower its standards than lower its tuition. In fact, LeDuc says that tuition is going the other way: Cooley announced that it will raise first-year tuition by 9 percent and tuition on everybody else by 8 percent. It’s almost as if Cooley has taken upon itself the responsibility of punishing people too ignorant to research legal education….
I use strong words when discussing Cooley because I think what they are doing is wrong. Tuition at Cooley will now cost $43,500 for the first year. Charging $43,500 for people who struggle to break 145 on the LSAT is just taking advantage of people who are too disadvantaged or uninformed to protect themselves. That’s all it is. It’s like giving a high school drop-out a predatory home loan, paying a drug addict in drugs for sexual favors, or convincing grandma to invest her life savings in a risky business venture. Cooley has a ridiculous informational advantage over its students, and it is literally targeting and exploiting people with poor logical reasoning skills, as evidenced by their performance on the LSAT.
2 comments:
Everyone going to Cooley is an adult capable of evaluating his own needs. They do not need pundits to protect them. There are many reasons one might wish to attend law school despite a law LSAT.
1) They might have taken the LSAT after working all night or after caring for a sick child all night.
2) They might never have taken a test like the LSAT.
3) they might have heard that law school is a good intellectual discipline, even if they do not intend to become a lawyer.
4) They might work for an employer who pays more if one is continuing his education and pays a lot more for an advanced degree.
5) They might have a lawyer father on his death bed whose dying wish is to see his son in law school.
Andy Fink
Tuition rates should begin to plummet across the country over the next decade. Our ability to convey information at low cost is increasing dramatically. The concept of paying $40K or more for people to teach you something is absurd. Kids will eventually figure it out. Certifications will take the place of degrees for many employers.
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