Law School Will Process Record 6332 Applications

The Law School Admissions Committee will finish deliberations on a record 6332 applications by the end of April, according to Walter J. Leonard, assistant director of Admissions.

The Committee so far has read and considered 5140 applications, and has accepted 675 students for the Class of 1974. Another 25 to 50 applicants will be accepted during the next two weeks, Leonard said Thursday.

Leonard attributed the dramatic increase in applications to a combination of factors, including the recent deemphasis on "hard sciences" and the job crisis in engineering and related fields.

"Law is looked upon as a general profession which offers a number of options, even within the profession," he said. "It is possible at law school to obtain a higher education and a professional degree, and yet be prepared for a number of occupations."

Leonard also said there is "a growing concern among young people about society in general, and the law profession seems to give them some leverage for dealing with institutions."

The 6332 applications represent an increase of 1,349 over last year and 2197 over 1969. About 600 applications were received after the School's March 1 deadline and were returned by the Admissions Committee.

The Educational Testing Service of Princeton, N. J.- which annually administers the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT), more commonly known as law boards- told the Law School in December that 7607 students taking the LSAT said they planned to apply to Harvard.

The Admission Office this year employed the Law School Data Assembly Service (LSDAS) in Princeton to help cope with the deluge of applications. After a breakdown last Fall which put the selection process four to five weeks-behind schedule, the Admissions Office was able to recover the lost time as the LSDAS system gained efficiency, Leonard said.

Acceptances are now being mailed as usual, three to four weeks after applications are received. Leonard said that application responses may be processed even faster next year.

The Law School has recorded an application increase of more than 100 per cent since 1968, when the number of applications leveled off at about 3000.

Part of the application increase is due to the fact that college seniors who entered teaching, the Peace Corps and other community based organizations to avoid the draft two or three years ago are now applying to law schools, Leonard said.

The Law School has also received more applications this year from persons holding graduate or masters degrees, and from professional people. "Certainly we consider what people have been doing," Leonard said. "We give just as much weight to the experience and exposure of applicants who are advanced chronologically as to the college records of undergraduate applicants."

Although the admissions office has not yet broken down acceptances into minority group categories, 92 women have been admitted as of last Friday. Ninety-one Harvard seniors and graduates have been accepted, along with 13 Radcliffe seniors and graduates.

Despite the difficulties passed by processing over 6000 applications, Leonard maintained that only "the busywork" has been delegated to computers. Likewise, alternative methods of coping with the growing number of applications- a lottery, for instance- have been dismissed.

"We [the Admissions Committee] simply refused to stop selecting our class on a personal basis." Leonard said.