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Trump's Presidency Is Inspiring People to Go to Law School

In a new survey of pre-law students, more than 30 percent of respondents cited the 2016 election as their motivation to get a JD.
Drew Schwartz
Brooklyn, US
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The number of folks applying to law school shot up after the 2016 election, leading to speculation about a "Trump bump": The idea was that the president's shocking win inspired a wave of young people to study law, whether they wanted to fight his agenda or further it. According to a new survey from Kaplan Test Prep, that theory was right.

Of the 500 prospective law students Kaplan asked, 32 percent said the election motivated them to pursue a JD, with respondents citing issues like Trump's immigration policies and a deepening divide in America as reasons they're going into law.

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"I work with refugees and new government policies have directly impacted and impeded my ability to do my job," one pre-law student told Kaplan. "I am interested in a law degree in order to have a new way to fight for human rights and defend those in need.”

As of October 2017, there was a 21.4 percent rise in the number of people signed up for the LSAT compared to a year before. And the number of law school applications submitted last month was 10.6 percent higher than at the same time last year, the American Bar Association Journal reports.

Still, Trump's win isn't the only reason for the uptick. Some folks just take the LSAT for the hell of it.

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Related: Trump's State of the Union