How do law students decide where to apply to?

In this article from the Autumn 2007 issue of Directions Paul Catley (University of the West of England) outlines his research into the sources of information prospective law students use when choosing which law school to apply to.

Law schools inhabit a competitive market. More law schools are being established. Competitors are expanding their intakes. New courses may attract students who might otherwise have been drawn to law. Admissions staff may worry about filling places, meeting widening participation targets, attracting international students – and simply attracting the largest possible pool of high quality applicants. Whatever our worries, it is imperative to understand what influences the choices made by prospective law undergraduates.

My research started by talking to a group of 20 students in a series of focus group sessions, considering the sources of information on which they and their friends had relied and the factors they had taken into account in making their decisions. This generated many ideas, with a final list of 13 sources of information and 21 factors felt to be influential.

First year students at two universities then rated these on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 indicating ‘not at all important’ and 5 ‘very important’). Respondents were also encouraged to add any items they considered important that had been omitted from the list. The results supported the list generated by the focus group. – very few additional sources or factors were identified, and none by more than one student.

In the autumn term of 2004-05 law schools were asked to encourage their first year students to complete an online survey made up of the questions generated by the focus group. 826 responses were received from 17 universities. The survey was conducted again in 2005-06, generating 1,388 responses from 41 universities. In total over the two years 2,214 responses were received from 49 different English and Welsh law schools.

The sources of information:

1. University prospectuses
2. University websites
3. University visits/open days
4. Careers/university fairs
5. Attendance at lecture(s) or other events at the university
6. Books providing guides to university courses
7. Guidance from UCAS
8. Press reports including league tables
9. Advice from school/college
10. Advice from careers service
11. Advice from people who had been at the university
12. Advice from friends
13. Advice from family

Interestingly, the three highest rated sources of information (university prospectuses, university websites and university visits and open days) are university controlled.

The results were remarkably consistent over the two years, with only one source differing in terms of its mean rating by more than 0.15. One possibly interesting trend was that university websites moved up from being the third most important factor in 2004 to replace visits and open days as the second most important factor in 2005. Whether this change was indicative of a shift in prospective student behaviour, or simply reflected differences between students at the universities involved in the surveys, may become clearer as further surveys are conducted and analysed.

With over 2,200 responses it has been possible to examine the differences between different types of students and between students at different types of institution. Students were asked to classify themselves in terms of gender, ethnicity, age grouping and university attended. In 2005 additional questions asked them whether they had gained their place through clearing and whether either of their parents had degrees.

Students at pre ’92 ‘old’ universities (n=1250) rated press reports, including league tables, as far more important than students at post ’92 ‘new’ universities (n=940). Respondents from old universities gave this source a mean rating of 3.76, placing it second only to university prospectuses as the most important source of information in their decision making process. Respondents at new universities, on the other hand, placed press reports 10th out of the 13 information sources, with a mean rating of 3.02. Aside from this major disagreement the two groups of respondents were largely in agreement.

Analysis by age grouping also unearthed some interesting differences. Students aged over 25 (n=143) were less interested in press reports and league tables than their younger counterparts, and relatively more interested in advice from people who been at the university. Contrary to the popular perception that it is the young who are most ready to embrace the Internet, it was those students aged over 21 (n=292) who viewed university websites as the most important source of information, whereas those aged under 22 (n=1872) placed them third. One of the most dramatic differences was that respondents aged over 30 (n=81) rated lectures or other university events as the equal fourth most important source of information, whereas those aged under 22 viewed it as the least important source of information.

Given HEFCE’s concern about law school recruitment it is interesting to note how different groups relied on different sources of information – for example Pakistani and Bangladeshi respondents (n=94) placed considerably greater emphasis on guidance from people who had attended the university and advice from their families (rated by this group as the two most important sources of information), and were much less likely to view visits and open days as important (rated 11th).

Last Modified: 9 July 2010