The number of law school applicants and applications has continued its downward trend, according to data compiled by the Law School Admission Council.

By May 31, about 56,424 people had applied to law schools accredited by the American Bar Association for the 2013-2014 school year, a drop of 13.2 percent from the year before. That’s from last year’s applicants. Keep in mind that applications have been on decline for 4 to 5 years.

With the typical applicant applying to multiple schools, there were 376,380 total applications filed, which was a drop of 18.6 percent from the year before.

At least would-be applicants are getting the picture: there are few jobs for recent graduates.

My question: why don’t more people apply to engineering schools instead? We need more engineers and scientists.