Ivy League Law School To Accept The GRE And The GMAT For Admission

Cornell gets in on some of that sweet, sweet GRE and GMAT action.

The LSAT, once the only law school admissions test in town, has taken another blow to its dominance. Today, Cornell announced a pilot program, limited to no more than 20 students, that would allow them to apply to the elite law school without taking the LSAT, instead submitting either their GRE or GMAT scores as part of the admissions process.

The goal of the program is to entice more students with diverse educational backgrounds to apply to the law school:

“By experimenting with greater flexibility in our application process, we hope to make a world-class legal education accessible to an even wider variety of students,” says Eduardo Peñalver, Allan R. Tessler Dean and Professor of Cornell Law School. “Our hope is that accepting the GRE and GMAT will allow us to reach a diverse group of prospective students from different academic backgrounds, such as engineering or technology.”

Cornell becomes the 21st law school to accept the GRE for admissions, and only the second to take the GMAT. HarvardColumbiaSt. John’sBrooklynNorthwesternArizonaGeorgetownHawaiiWashington University in St. LouisWake ForestCardozo School of LawTexas A&M, BYUJohn Marshall Law SchoolFlorida StatePaceUCLAChicago-Kent College of LawPenn, and USC allow applicants to take the GRE, and Penn also allows the GMAT. (University of Chicago and University of Georgia both allow candidates in dual degree programs to skip the LSAT). This is unlikely to be the last school to make the move away from requiring the LSAT — according to a Kaplan survey, a full 25 percent of law schools have plans in the works to accept the GRE.

Despite the volatility of the status of law school admissions testing, the ABA, the body responsible for law school accreditation, hasn’t officially weighed in on using anything other than the LSAT in admissions. As it currently stands, ABA Standard 503 requires admissions tests and that they be “valid and reliable.”

However, change just might be in the air. In April, an ABA committee recommended eliminating the accreditation standard mandating that schools use a standardized test in admissions. The change has gained steam, but it still must be adopted by the ABA House of Delegates before it’s official. While it’s incredibly likely law schools will keep some standardized testing in admissions, the move (should it be approved) is seen as giving an all clear to law schools interested in accepting the GRE or GMAT.

But don’t pour a little out for the LSAT just yet. A recent Kaplan survey found 73 percent of applicants would still take the LSAT, even if it wasn’t required. These student believe that taking — and acing — the notoriously difficult LSAT will give them a competitive advantage.

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headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior 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).

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