Move Over LSAT -- As Of Today 6 Law Schools Accept The GRE

A sixth law school presents students the option of taking the GRE.

I told you so. I rarely get to say that, let alone have it in print for all of the internet to read, so indulge me for a second. We are in the midst of a radical shift in legal education, and before much longer, the GRE will be a widely accepted law school entrance exam. So which law school is the next to help usher in a new era of law school admissions — one where the horrors of the LSAT are nothing more than ghost stories told by old-timers eager to impress upon the youth how hard things were back in their day?

Following in the steps of (in chronological order) Arizona Law School, Harvard Law, Northwestern, Georgetown, and Hawaii, today, Washington University in St. Louis School of Law announced they would accept the GRE in lieu of the LSAT for applicants beginning in the Fall 2018 semester. Consistent with other schools that have accepted the alternate exam, WashULaw’s dean touts the benefits of opening up the admissions process (and the accompanying student debt) to students who have not seriously considered law school enough to have taken the traditional entrance exam:

“WashULaw wants to appeal to the best students in the country and the world, regardless of their academic, professional or personal background,” said Nancy Staudt, dean and the Howard & Caroline Cayne Professor of Law. “The class beginning this fall was one of the most accomplished and diverse in the history of WashULaw. The decision to accept the GRE will continue to build on these efforts, making the admissions process even more accessible to highly qualified and motivated students of all backgrounds interested in pursuing a legal education.”

And you don’t have to be Carnac the Magnificent to know there are more law schools that will succumb to the siren’s song of the GRE. A recent Kaplan Test Prep survey of admissions professionals indicated 25 percent of law schools were eyeing the move.

Though it should be noted the path is not without peril. The ABA has been suspiciously quiet, leaving it to the individual schools to determine if the GRE as an alternative to the LSAT is “valid and reliable.” (According to the ABA Standard 503, alternative admissions tests must meet that benchmark.) Should they decide to make a statement on the validity of the GRE, it will likely have immediate implications for the world of admissions.

But it is clear the LSAT isn’t the only game in town anymore. Monitoring this slow-played take down of the (former) gold standard of law school admissions sure is fun to watch.


Sponsored

headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

Sponsored