The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College, The Short List: Grad School and The Short List: Online Programs to find data that matter to you in your college or grad school search.
For some aspiring lawyers, attending law school part time is the best way to go.
Part-time students may have more time to take care of family obligations or work while pursuing a J.D. The lighter course load can also be ideal for students who perform better when focusing on one or two classes at a time.
[Ask these questions before applying to law school.]
At Georgetown University, going to school part time is an especially popular option. The program received 1,381 part-time law school applications for the fall 2016 entering class — the highest number of applications out of the 103 ranked institutions that submitted these data to U.S. News in an annual survey.
Georgetown, ranked No. 1 among part-time law schools, also drew the most applicants in fall 2015.
Two schools new to the list are the University of Akron in Ohio, which received 456 part-time applications, and Western Michigan University’s Cooley Law School, which received 455.
[Learn if now is the time to apply to law school.]
For the top 10 schools, the average number of applications was 602 for fall 2016. The average among all 103 schools was around 183.
Below are the 10 schools that received the most part-time law school applications for the fall 2016 entering class. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report.
| Law school (name) (state) | Part-time applications (2016) | U.S. News part-time law program rank | U.S. News law school rank |
| Georgetown University (DC) | 1,381 | 1 | 15 (tie) |
| Loyola Marymount University (CA) | 939 | 9 | 65 (tie) |
| Mitchell Hamline School of Law (MN) | 510 | 38 (tie) | RNP* |
| George Mason University (VA) | 508 | 4 (tie) | 41 (tie) |
| George Washington University (DC) | 495 | 2 | 30 (tie) |
| American University (Washington) (DC) | 479 | 6 (tie) | 86 (tie) |
| University of Akron (OH) | 456 | 50 (tie) | 134 (tie) |
| Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School | 455 | RNP | RNP |
| New York Law School | 407 | 24 (tie) | 112 (tie) |
| Brooklyn Law School (NY) | 387 | 16 (tie) | 88 (tie) |
* RNP denotes an institution that is ranked in the bottom one-fourth of its ranking category. U.S. News calculated a rank for the school but has decided not to publish it.
Don’t see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News Law School Compass to find application data, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.
U.S News surveyed 203 ABA-accredited law schools for the 2016 survey of law programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News’ data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Law Schools rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data comes from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News’ rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The application data above are correct as of Aug. 8, 2017.
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10 Law Schools Popular With Part-Time Applicants originally appeared on usnews.com
