STUDENTFOCUS
An Admissions Adventure BY SHARON N. GASKIN Assistant Dean of Admissions
During the past year, every facet of our lives has been impacted by the global pandemic. Law school admissions is no exception. COVID-19 has prevented law school admissions professionals from traveling to colleges and universities to recruit prospective students and has disrupted the administration of the Law School Aptitude Test (LSAT). NCCU Law admissions professionals have adjusted to meet the requirements of safety protocols mandated by the pandemic and to provide the same level of service and information to prospective students. Much like Dorothy in The Wiz after she was picked up by the tornado and dropped in the Land of Oz, the Office of Admissions needed to survey the new reality of virtual recruitment created by the pandemic and quickly adjust to meet enrollment goals and benchmarks. Nationwide, the entire admissions landscape has shifted to a virtual platform. The Law School Admission Council (LSAC) administers the LSAT electronically and uses virtual proctors to monitor LSAT takers. During the fall of each admissions cycle, LSAC sponsors recruitment forums in major cities that anchor a region of the country like
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Atlanta, New York City, Houston, Chicago, or Los Angeles. When held in person, these forums would typically have a representative from 180 law schools or more and an average of 1000 prospective students would attend. When COVID took away our ability to assemble safely, LSAC created virtual forums where each law school is assigned a virtual booth to meet with prospective students. By way of comparison, the September forum had 12,450 registrants and 6892 attendees, and the smallest forum was November’s with a registrant count of 7237 and 3664 attendees. The virtual forums were popular with attendees, offering convenient and cost-effective opportunities for applicants to meet with multiple law school representatives without leaving the safety of their homes. Following the success of the fall forums, there was a nationwide increase in law school applicants of twenty percent while NCCU Law has seen an increase of forty percent. That 40% increase in applications is the Yellow Brick Road that will lead to success with recruitment and enrollment for the class entering fall 2021. Like the LSAC forums, American college and universities host law school and graduate school fairs during the fall semester. Career Services offices will invite admissions professionals to their campuses to recruit. Pre-COVID, all of the admissions professionals would be herded into a room to meet face-to-face with prospective students. During the pandemic, the challenge has been to simulate the intimacy
