Counterintuitivosity…

I find this rather fascinating, from moststronglysupported.com:

On September 26th, more students took the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) than have ever taken a single administration of the LSAT in the history of the exam. Chalk it up to the recession, the economy, or the sudden increase in all things vampire…

As the economy foundered, the number of LSAT takers began to increase again, with June 2009 constituting the single largest June administration in the history of the LSAT. June and September 2009 combined represent 13,681 more tests administered over the previous year, or an increase of 17%.

I would have predicted just the opposite if asked - why in the world would a college graduate take the LSAT, knowing that the legal services industry has been violently contracting for some time and is likely to continue doing so indefinitely?  How, in light of the current situation, could a person justify incurring so much more student loan debt over the next three years after watching the carnage of the last 18 months? 

I’m guessing that two factors are at work, the first being that many more recent college grads are unemployed and figure, hey why not, what do I have to lose by taking the test, let’s see how it goes - many of those sort of whimsical test takers will likely not even fill out an application no less attend a law school.  The other factor at work is probably good old human nature: I won’t be one of those people who graduates in the middle of my class from law school, I’ll work really hard and get a rockin’ job when I graduate, I’m one of the smart ones.  (Cue the ominous music…)

In any case, the piece that accompanies the stats is a good read, check it out.