Law Schools

ABA Pumps The Brakes On LSAT Alternative

Standardized tests are still your best path to law school.

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bar exam scantron multiple choiceDid you wonder if JD-Next, an alternative law school admissions program that allows applicants to bypass the LSAT and the GRE, was too good to be true? Well, you may be right.

As reported by Reuters, the American Bar Association recently decided JD-Next is not on the level of either standardized admission test currently used for law school admissions.

The ABA’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar instead approved a recommendation from its standards committee that the JD-Next program should not yet be deemed a “valid and reliable” predictor of an applicant’s law school grades.

That is, at least until more is known about the new program. Daniel Thies, chair of the standards committee, said “more data and more study be gathered” is needed on JD-Next. Law schools may still seek approval from the ABA to use the JD-Next program in admissions.

And maybe that’s for the best, since law school admissions officers aren’t really sure what they think about it yet. Kaplan’s 2023 law school admissions officers survey does not reveal widespread acceptance of the program. Respondents were asked, “Based upon what you know of the JD-Next exam, what is your opinion of it?” And the results are as follows:

Very unfavorable: 4.5%
Somewhat unfavorable: 6.8%
Neutral: 21.5%
Somewhat favorable: 1.1%
Very favorable: 14.7%
Don’t know enough about it/Not sure: 39.7%

And they asked the follow up, “Based on any early discussions your admissions team may have had, how likely is your school to begin accepting JD-Next scores within the next one to two admissions cycles?”

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Very unlikely: 19.5%
Somewhat unlikely: 17.2%
Somewhat likely: 6.8%
Very likely: 18.3%
Don’t know/Not sure: 37.9%

So law school wannabes, looks like a standardized test is still in your future. At least for now.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. 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 or Mastodon @[email protected].

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