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University of Akron School of Law offers guaranteed admission for qualified Ohioans

By Julianne Hill

October 19, 2023, 9:06 am CDT

The University of Akron School of Law will guarantee admission to Ohio residents who meet or exceed an LSAT score of 151 and an undergraduate grade-point average of 3.4, officials said this week.

Students who have met those academic standards still must submit an application through the Law School Admission Council and meet the school’s character and fitness criteria before being admitted via the new program, called the Akron Law Ohio Guarantee.

“We understand how stressful the law school application process can be,” says Barbara DiGiacomo, associate dean for administration and enrollment management at the University of Akron School of Law. “We thought it was a way to build our enrollment, build our applicant pool, but also show our commitment to Ohio students.”

The plan aims to catch applicants’ attention in the Ohio law school market.

“We have nine law schools in Ohio,” she says. “We want to be their school of choice.”

Typically, between 75% to 80% of students at the University of Akron School of Law are Ohio residents, DiGiacomo says.

Standards for out-of-state students were not announced.

“Our admissions committee does a holistic review of all the materials that each applicant submits to us,” she says.

The University of Akron School of Law aims to continue to have the same ratio of out-of-state students, she adds.

Kathy Northern, dean of the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, says the Columbus, Ohio, school will not be following suit.

“The Moritz College of Law will continue to fully and carefully assess both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of each individual applicant’s file before extending an offer of admission,” Northern says.

At the University of Akron School of Law, the median LSAT score for the entering classes over the past several years has been a 153, and the median GPA has been in the 3.5 range, according to DiGiacomo.

For the 2022 entering class, 386 of 614 applicants to the University of Akron School of Law were offered admission, and 125 accepted, according to data from the ABA. Total enrollment in the JD program was 431 in 2022, up from 416 a year earlier, according to the ABA’s enrollment data.

The University of Akron School of Law has been accredited by the ABA since 1961.