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Friday, August 22, 2014
Number of FAR Forms in First Distribution Over Time
The first distribution of the FAR AALS forms came out this week. Here are the number of FAR forms in the first distribution for each year since 2009.
(All information obtained from various blog posts and blog comments over the years and not independently verified. If you have more accurate information, please post it in the comments and I will update accordingly.)
2009: 637
2010: 662
2011: 592
2012: 588
2013: 592
2014: 492
Posted by Sarah Lawsky on August 22, 2014 at 01:13 PM in Getting a Job on the Law Teaching Market | Permalink
Comments
Fewer schools are hiring, and the cost to participate has risen. It makes sense that fewer hopefuls would pay so much for so little.
Posted by: Kelly Anders | Aug 28, 2014 10:39:15 AM
I don't think the TaxProf VAP/fellowship list has been updated since 2012. Many of those listed have been discontinued for financial reasons. Just an FYI, and in no way a criticism of Paul, who took the time to assemble the most comprehensive list available.
Posted by: anon | Aug 27, 2014 9:15:57 AM
I am one of those who just held off applying this year, given the low amount of hiring last year. I felt that I'd rather take a couple of years in a fellowship (I'm just finishing up a PhD), or work in the private sector and see how things turn out then, than spend the money (a bit scarce for a PhD) on what seems to be a bleak hiring market.
Posted by: Ryan | Aug 26, 2014 10:11:21 AM
@charlie, thanks a lot for the advice, I'll immediately check that!
Posted by: Hopeful | Aug 26, 2014 12:10:56 AM
Hopeful--Paul Caron's tax blog has a good list of schools that offer VAPs.
Posted by: Charlie Martel | Aug 25, 2014 9:17:01 PM
Being a first time applicant to the FAR, I was wondering how you guys have gotten these VAP positions. Should I just check on the FAR Bulletin that I recently received or is there any other useful website where I can find the open positions available?
Posted by: Hopeful | Aug 25, 2014 7:19:13 PM
I, for one, have decided to skip the hiring conference this year even though I had two wonderful semesters as a visiting assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law (spring 2013 and 2014). Go Cleveland! For family reasons my wife and I need to be on the East Coast and given the lack of prospects for getting a position at a law school located in or between DC and NYC (teaching business organizations, M&A or sec reg), there is no reason to spend the $495. However, if anyone associated with a law or business school wants to contact me directly about teaching in the fall of 2015 I would love to hear from you.
Posted by: Bernard S. Sharfman | Aug 25, 2014 3:10:13 PM
Very clever.
Posted by: andy | Aug 24, 2014 4:25:07 PM
This is terrible. There will be a huge shortage of Professors in the near future if this continues. Lawyers should understand now is the time to do a VAP since in a few years many open positions will not get any applicants due to the shortage. Moreover, there are many complex issues that will go unexplored due to this shortage of academics. The only bright side is that the shortage will drive faculty salaries skyward which will at least provide some compensation for all the sacrifices legal academics make.
Posted by: matt | Aug 23, 2014 12:42:35 PM
There are stats somewhere on the total number to tenure track positions filled each year, too, right? I vaguely remember it dropping to around 60-80 the past few years, but that could be way off.
Posted by: anon | Aug 22, 2014 5:16:19 PM
Really, really curious if the drop is people who have been on the market the past few years giving up or if it's fewer people deciding to try to go on the market for the first time because of the high odds against getting a job.
I'd suspect it's mostly the former because of the effectively two year lag between the year someone decides to try to go into academia and when they hit the market. Most of the people on the market in 2014 for the first time are the ones who decided to apply for VAPs and fellowships in 2012, which would have occurred just before it became apparent how awful the hiring market was. If that's true, we should see another big drop next year reflecting the not-VAPs/fellows who didn't go that route in 2013 because the market was so bad. Plus another cohort giving up and leaving the market. I wouldn't be surprised to see it drop to 400 or so.
Posted by: Failed Academic Wannabe | Aug 22, 2014 1:51:16 PM
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