Dickinson receives rise in applications

What's in a name? In the case of The Dickinson School of Law of The Pennsylvania State University, the name change may be the cause of an increase in applications for 1998-99.

Application numbers to Dickinson have increased by about 23 percent compared to last year, said Barbara Guillaume, director of law admissions for Dickinson.

Last year, the school received 594 applications by Feb. 3. This year, it had received 732 applications by yesterday.

The July 1 affiliation between the University and Dickinson was one reason for the increase, she said.

"We certainly saw an increase in interest due to the affiliation with Penn State," Guillaume said. "There's a lot a of name recognition."

Although the application numbers change on a weekly basis and a demographic breakdown of the applications is not available, Guillaume said the increase is not unexpected.

"We were anticipating and even hopeful that the Penn State affiliation would bring us an increase in enrollment and applications," Guillaume said.

The interest in Dickinson from University students has always been strong, said Elena De Luca, pre-professional programs coordinator for the College of the Liberal Arts, in an E-mail message. Statistics about what law schools University students apply to and attend are not available, she said.

"(University) students are inquiring about Dickinson, but mostly to see if it will be easier to get in because of the affiliation," De Luca said.

She added that the affiliation will make Dickinson more attractive to out-of-state applicants.

Dickinson has seen an increase in name recognition in the West and Midwest, where it was not as well-known before, Guillaume said.

Because it is still early in the application process and the school has just started to send out acceptances, Guillaume said, she did not know if the increase will significantly raise the standards for acceptance.