National
Campus enrollment: This is the sum of all full- and part-time, undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, in all the divisions and schools at this campus. Many campuses are very diffuse, and what is in principle a unified institution may be in fact an aggregate of semiautonomous parts. The contact between law students and others is usually slight but can vary significantly from school to school. Part time: The percentage of J.D. students who attend the school less than full time-for example, in a four-year evening session. Part-time programs often have different admissions criteria, application deadlines, tuition and financial aid poli¬cies, course requirements, etc.—get full details from the schools.
Women-The percentage of all law students who are female. Compare with the national average: 40%. Minorities: The percentage who are minority group members. The national average for comparison is 13%. Dorm residents: This figure indicates the portion of the law student population living in any type of university-sponsored housing, on or off campus, including traditional dormitories, university-owned apartments, and married students' housing. Library: This statistic is given to provide you with a rough idea of the research facilities. In many cases, this figure refers to the number of bound volumes and "microform equivalents"—those books that have been transferred from hard copy to film.
Transferring books to film has become increasingly popular as a way to preserve old volumes and save library space. Increased reliance on computerized legal research services like LEXIS and WESTLAW means that the resources may actually be better than they appear from this statistic.
Student-faculty ratio: This figure includes only full-time faculty. Keep in mind that some schools also have a large number of part-time adjunct instructors. Warning: the number of pro¬fessors may have little to do with their attitude toward, and accessibility to, students.
Tuition: The tuition and required fees are for a full-time J.D. student.
Where costs differ for in-state and out-of-state students, both are given.Financial aid: This statistic shows what percentage of the student body receives any type of financial aid administered by the school, from a full school-supported scholarship to a government loan that the school helped arrange. A separate figure for the percentage of the student body receiving "gift aid' (scholarship or grant) is given where available. Apply by: You make things very hard for yourself if you get your application in after the deadline. Chances are that many
How to Use This Book accessibility: fully accessible (all facilities and programs accessible); moderate/full accessibility (not all facilities accessible, but all requested courses, activities, meetings, etc., made accessible by scheduling in accessible locations); moderately accessible (some but not all facilities and programs accessible); or minimally accessible. They were also asked for numbers of blind (or visually impaired), deaf (or hearing impaired), wheelchair-bound students, and students with other mobility problems (such as crutches) who were enrolled in the previous five-year period.
Placement: This information is provided to give you a general idea of the employment patterns of law students and new graduates from each school. The types of statistics provided differ from school to school.