Assistant Dean of Enrollment Stephen Brown was quoted in a Fordham Ram article about the recent increase in law school applications.
Stephen Brown, assistant dean of enrollment at Fordham Law School, said he has seen applicants reacting to the political world around them.
“Students are passionate, more so than ever before,” Brown said.
After a downward trend in applicants coinciding with the economic crisis of 2008, law schools are beginning to see a trend of increasing applicants, partly attributed to the country’s political atmosphere, according to The Wall Street Journal.
One reason for this uptick in applicants is due to an increase in students’ interest in America’s political atmosphere and the legal topics that come with it, the Journal notes. Some believe that Trump’s presidency and its handling of the law is one such reason students have become attracted to the field.
However, this awareness is not merely a reaction to the Trump presidency, according to Brown.
Brown said, “calling it a Trump bump gives the president too much credit.”
According to Brown, college students have been more politically cognizant over the past five years. While some may be influenced by more recent changes, Brown has seen colleges becoming more politicized even before Trump took office.
However, in the wake of this politicization, Brown said he has found that students are looking to make a difference. “Prospective students looking to become agents of change are looking to law,” he said.