In the past few weeks, even in the Undergraduate community, there have been many questions surrounding the University of Illinois College of Law, which has recently come under fire for the falsification of admissions statistics published by the Law School. This inflation of admissions data, a guiding factor for prospective students applying to schools, has left many wondering if the Illinois Law School really deserves its nationally-acclaimed status. In 2011, USNews.com ranked the University of Illinois as the 23rd most acclaimed law program in the nation.
Recently, the Illinois College of Law claimed that their incoming class had a median LSAT score of 168 and a median GPA of 3.81. Corrected, these scores actually come out to be a median of a 163 on the LSAT, a full 5 points lower than originally claimed, with a median GPA of 3.7. Currently, many of the Law professors at the Law School are hesitant to speak; they know about as much as what has been released to the press, according to one Law Professor. The Dean of Admissions has been placed on leave as the school holds an investigation into the admissions practices.
Photo
The program’s website has admitted to and corrected its false information for the class of 2014 and also stated that, “Ten years of profiles have been rigorously reviewed, and the inquiry has now determined that student profile data for the classes of 2011, 2012, and 2013 were also inaccurate.”
Gina Jenero, a senior undergraduate student in LAS, was admitted to the Law School through the iLeap program, an accelerated admissions process for the school. “Personally, I am hoping that this ‘scandal’ is being blown out of proportion. When interviewing for the iLeap program for early acceptance into U of I law school, I spoke primarily with Dean Pless, who seemed to be a down to earth, intelligent, hard-working man. He spoke to me during the interview with a sense of comfortableness that I really appreciated. I hope that his good character will be proven in the findings of this case,” says Jenero.
While many people wonder at the severity of the recent findings of false admissions information, it has been debated how this situation will actually affect the law school. According to Jenero, these false representations had no effect on her decision to attend the University of Illinois Law School. “These numbers didn’t affect my decision, seeing as I was already accepted before the scandal broke out. However, I would definitely still apply to U of I’s Law School regardless of this mishap. The real admission scores, if anything, would give courage to a greater population of students wishing to be accepted to this law school,” Jenero explains.
Although the ongoing investigation has already determined that several class profiles have been misrepresented, it remains unclear if these “misrepresentations” were intended to be falsified, and if there are further inconsistencies in the admissions process.
Either way, the Law School is moving forward and for the time being, remains a very nationally revered learning institution. “I think there is still a lot that has to unfold in order for the prestige of U of I’s Law School to be discredited. The acceptance scores are only what gets one into the University, but the education the University provides remains the same and will always be outstanding,” says Jenero.
Sources: http://www.law.illinois.edu/