Slowly but surely, the GRE is taking over the law school admissions process. Once considered the LSAT’s secure domain, more and more law schools are looking to the GRE as an alternative admissions exam — one that will help attract students with diverse educational backgrounds. After all, why take the LSAT and the GRE when you can take one and be done in time to take a short trip and relax on the beach?
Florida International University College of Law is the latest law school to accept the GRE, and it’s the first law school in South Florida to make a bold move like this. Miami’s Community News has comments from Dean Antony Page:
“As South Florida’s public law school, we are pleased to join the increasing number of law schools nationwide that accept other entrance exams,” said Dean Antony Page. “Graduate school applicants should not have to choose between applying to law instead of other programs, or vice versa, based on whether they have the resources to study for and take multiple entrance exams.” …
Accepting the GRE also makes law school a more feasible option for prospective students whose undergraduate disciplines are not traditionally designed to lead to law school, but for whom law jobs in areas such as intellectual property and cybersecurity might be appealing.
“For STEM graduates in particular, accepting the GRE opens new career opportunities that they might not have previously considered,” said Page. “Broadening the diversity of our student body’s collective backgrounds will only enhance our students’ academic experience and increase the value of our graduates’ degrees.”
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The GRE is rapidly gaining acceptance at law schools around the country. Those currently accepting the GRE are: Harvard, Columbia, St. John’s, Brooklyn, Northwestern, Arizona, Georgetown, Hawaii, Washington University in St. Louis, Wake Forest, Cardozo School of Law, Texas A&M, BYU, John Marshall Law School, Florida State, Pace, UCLA, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Penn, USC, Cornell, Buffalo, NYU, and Penn State Law at University Park. (University of Chicago and University of Georgia both allow candidates in dual degree programs to skip the LSAT.) Though this is but a small percentage of the total number of law schools in the country, it’s an academic movement that is gaining steam. According to a survey by Kaplan Test Prep, a full 25 percent of law schools have plans in the works to accept the GRE. Which law school will be the next to accept the GRE?
Amid this changing landscape, the American Bar Association — the body responsible for law school accreditation — hasn’t officially weighed in on using anything other than the LSAT in admissions. ABA accreditation Standard 503 currently mandates that law schools require admissions testing and that the test used be “valid and reliable.” (In August, the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar officially withdrew a resolution before the ABA House of Delegates that called for the removal of Standard 503.) Since then, there’s been no official word from the accrediting body that any exam, save the LSAT, meets that standard.
Even if the ABA didn’t require such testing, most law schools are likely to keep a standardized test as a critical part of their admissions process. The LSAT remains an important brand in the world of legal academia. A recent Kaplan survey found 73 percent of applicants would still take the LSAT, even if it wasn’t required. A strong LSAT score is the surest way to get into law school — but if you want to go to a law school where you can have fun in the Florida sun, you can get in using the GRE.
FIU Law now accepts GRE results [Miami’s Community News]
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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.