Before the JD II: Building a National Sample of Undergraduates

A class of scholars sitting at their desks in a traditional amphitheater classroom, working together during study time

Challenge

A landmark study of undergraduate aspirations needs a broad, representative foundation for its second iteration.

In 2018, the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) conducted Before the JD, a first-of-its-kind national study examining how undergraduates form their post-graduation plans, including whether and why they consider law school and other graduate degrees. The study drew on a survey of more than 22,000 students at 25 four-year institutions and produced widely cited findings on the role of factors like parental education, campus advising, and career aspirations in shaping students’ paths after college.

Now AALS and the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) are fielding Before the JD II to update and expand those findings. To capture the full range of undergraduate experiences across U.S. colleges and universities, this successor study requires a representative sample of bachelor’s degree-granting institutions, and the recruitment infrastructure to build one.

Solution

NORC is recruiting a representative cross-section of institutions and harmonizing their student rosters into a unified sample.

NORC is leading the school recruitment effort for Before the JD II, assembling a representative sample of postsecondary institutions that reflects the full diversity of bachelor’s degree-granting colleges and universities in the United States. This involves navigating each institution’s unique processes for granting research access (from institutional review boards to registrar offices) and establishing secure data-sharing agreements for student roster files.

Once rosters are obtained, NORC transforms them into a harmonized student sample suitable for survey administration. Because institutions maintain student records in different formats and systems, this requires systematic data cleaning, standardization, and deduplication to produce a single, analysis-ready sample frame. The resulting infrastructure will support a survey that can credibly represent the experiences and aspirations of undergraduates across a wide range of institutional types, sizes, and geographic locations—a significant expansion from the original study’s 25-institution sample.

Result

A high-quality, nationwide student sample will enable researchers and institutions to better understand and support students’ post-graduation pathways.

NORC’s recruitment and data harmonization work will produce the sample foundation for a national survey reaching undergraduates at institutions across the United States. The sample will allow Before the JD II to examine how students at different types of colleges and universities form and act on their post-graduation aspirations.

Higher education leaders, advisors, and policymakers will be able to use the study’s findings to strengthen campus support structures, refine advising strategies, and make more informed decisions about how to help students navigate their options after graduation. The project aims to give voice to the experiences of a wide variety of students.