Cooley law school enrollment drops by 52%

[jeaniebueller]

Good.

www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/08/16/cooley-law-school-enrollment-sinks/31824515/

LANSING — More than 3,900 students were enrolled at Cooley Law School in 2010. That was the zenith. It’s been downhill since. Cooley’s enrollment for the 2014-15 academic year was 1,880.

That’s a drop of 52%, according to data from Cooley and the American Bar Association. In comparison, Michigan State University College of Law, which is more selective, had about 830 students last year.

Law school enrollment has been declining nationwide since 2010, ABA data show. At Cooley, it has declined almost three times as fast.

During its years of explosive growth, Cooley opened three satellite campuses in Michigan and one near Tampa.

Last year, administrators at the school, now known as the Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School, closed its Ann Arbor campus and laid off faculty members in an effort to mitigate the losses.Records from the ABA show 119 full-time faculty employed at Cooley in the spring of 2014 compared to 49 in the fall. Jim Robb, associate dean of external affairs, said staff reductions were a combination of retirements and layoffs.

Despite recent struggles, Don LeDuc, president and dean of the school, expects 2015 to be a transition year for Cooley.

He says enrollment is up since December. He anticipates that an increase in students taking the LSAT will soon result in a return to pre-recession enrollment.

Downward trend

Cooley is one of the least selective law schools in the country. That is by design, LeDuc said. The majority of Cooley’s students are part-time, and many are not considered traditional law school applicants. It’s Cooley’s commitment to proving an opportunity for these prospective students that sets it apart from its counterparts, he said.

Among the pool of 2014 applicants, 85% received offers. By comparison, Wayne State University Law School sent offers to 49% of applicants last year, while the Michigan State University College of Law sent offers to 43%.

That’s part of the reason why Cooley’s enrollment losses have been greater as the pool of applicants shrinks, LeDuc said.
“One of the things that schools will do is they’ll start taking students that they wouldn’t have taken in good times,” he said. “(They) reach down further into applicant pool. Well, when they do that they’re taking our students, and we’re adversely affected by that.”

The causes of Cooley’s decline go beyond that, said Brian Leiter, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School who writes frequently about law schools at Brian Leiter’s Law School Reports.

“Schools with weak employment outcomes and weaker reputations have suffered the most in the downturn in applications to law schools,” he said.

And Cooley’s employment outcomes, at least those reported to the ABA, have hardly been rosy.

Of the 871 graduates from Cooley last year, ABA employment reports shows just 263 had found full-time work that required a law degree as of April 2015. Of those, 35 were in solo practice.

The decline in applications from prospective law school students is also stark. In 2011, Cooley received 4,032 applications, with 1,161 accepting offers and enrolling. It got just 1,481 applications last year, and the number who matriculated fell to 445.

During the same period, the median LSAT score of its entering class fell from 146 to 145 and dropped from 143 to 141 at the 25th percentile. An average LSAT score is roughly 150, according to Manhattan Prep, a leading test prep provider.

Effort and success

In accepting students other law schools shun, Leiter said, Cooley does provide opportunities for those who have the will to thrive.

Amy Rebideaux, a transplant from Reno, Nev., chose Cooley after receiving a 50% scholarship offer and hearing positive things about its faculty.

She attended Cooley four years, graduating with a juris doctor in 2011 and a master of law degree in 2013. She worked two internships, one with a public defender’s office and another with the Michigan Supreme Court while at Cooley and passed the bar on her first attempt.

“If you made the effort and applied yourself, you did fine,” she said. “If you hit the pavement hard and look for a job, you’ll find something.”

Rebideaux spent a year looking for work after graduating, and was eventually contracted to work as a policy analyst for Courtland Consulting. Her work led to a position as a case management policy team manager with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

“I went out of my way to go to career services and got involved because I knew it was a tough job market, she said. Her professors insisted she focus on bolstering her resume prior to graduation.

Other Cooley graduates looking for work haven’t been as fortunate.

A dozen Cooley graduates recently dragged their alma mater into court, alleging it had presented fraudulent employment figures. While the law school ultimately prevailed in 2013, news of the lawsuit was widely circulated across the internet.

Elizabeth Stomski, a 2006 Cooley graduate, said she works with both Cooley and MSU Law School students who work part-time as law clerks. From her experience, Cooley students are more prepared for the working world than many of their counterparts.

“When you are a Cooley student, you are busting your butt and learning the things you need to succeed in a career,” she said. “You only go as far as the amount of work you put into it.”

After passing the bar, Stomski went on to work in the Michigan Supreme Court Administrative Office as a management analyst for the Friend of the Court Bureau.

Despite having more than $100,000 in student loan debt each, both Rebideaux and Stomski said they were confident in their ability to pay off their loans.

Cooley’s affiliation with Western Michigan University began formally in 2013. It represents the culmination of a long-standing relationship with the Kalamazoo school, LeDuc said. Collaboration among staff members as well as joint degree programs are expected in the years to come.

The affiliation also gives Cooley a pipeline for new students.

The impact of that alliance, Michigan’s economic climate and the perceived value of a law degree among potential students are just a few of the variables that will determine the school’s future, LeDuc said.

Contact RJ Wolcott: 517-377-1026 or [e-mail]. Follow him on Twitter @wolcottr.

[ttt]

Megan Heimer who endangers public health and spreads misinformation and is not a doctor or a real lawyer must be so disappointed.

[StrawberryBlondie]

Good.

I have a couple of colleagues that I respect a ton who went there. But none practice and I think it was more of an "I need to have a " , Esq." behind my name to advance" type of decision.

[tres3]

the end reads like a PR piece for Cooley

[simpsongal]

Cooley would have more of a place in the "industry" if its graduates got some good black-letter training and standard skills to practice in public interest law (and of course, pass the bar). But graduating with $100K in loans does not enable a person to hang out a shingle or work as a public defender.

For profit schools need to stop NOW.

ETA: From the Atlantic last year

ETA 2: Der, Cooley isn't even for profit, they just suck.  Oh well.

[shell403b]

Cooley is a for-profit law school? I didn't even know those existed (for law degrees, anyway).

[ChillyMcFreeze]

I just found out that a former student who was universally hated around here was bragging about going to Cooley. I just laughed and laughed.

[tacosforlife]

Aug 17, 2015 12:19:29 GMT -5 shell403b said:

Cooley is a for-profit law school? I didn't even know those existed (for law degrees, anyway).

It's not. The Atlantic piece focuses on Florida Coastal, which is for-profit, but at the end, it talks about how the practices low performing non-profit law schools like Cooley and John Marshall are pretty similar to those of for-profit schools.

[Deleted]

Megan Heimer who endangers public health and spreads misinformation and is not a doctor or a real lawyer will find 100s of idiotic reasons to point to her superiority over others who attended Cooley. It's all the essential oils and woo.