New York Is Officially GRE Country

A fifth New York law school will now accept the GRE for admission.

All aboard!

Five New York law schools now accept the GRE in lieu of the LSAT for admission. Pace University Elisabeth Haub School of Law applicants can now use the alternative exam.

The GRE is rapidly gaining acceptance at law schools around the country. The full list of law schools currently accepting the GRE are: HarvardColumbiaSt. John’sBrooklyn Law SchoolNorthwesternArizonaGeorgetownHawaiiWashington University in St. LouisWake ForestCardozo School of LawTexas A&M, BYUJohn Marshall Law SchoolGeorge Washington, and Florida State. (Plus UCLA Law and the University of Chicago allow some students to take the GRE. Such as if they’re applying to a joint degree program or if already enrolled in another graduate program at the school.)

And we can expect even more law schools to join in on the GRE party. Seventeen law schools now accept the GRE for admissions, but according to a survey by Kaplan Test Prep, a full 25 percent of law schools have plans in the works to accept the GRE.

The powers-that-be at Pace have made what are now the expected comments about the GRE expanding the potential pool of law school applicants:

“Since our founding, Pace Law has welcomed a strong, diverse group of applicants and students to the law school,” said Dean David Yassky. “I am proud that the faculty’s decision to allow GRE scores in addition to the LSAT continues our long-standing tradition of removing barriers to students pursuing juris doctor degrees.”

“While we expect that most applicants will still submit LSAT scores, there are some who have already taken the GRE or for whom the GRE is more accessible. We look forward to reviewing their applications,” added associate dean of faculty development and strategic planning Emily Gold Waldman.

While the move to take the GRE is gaining steam in the legal education community there may be some reason for concern. The ABA — the law school accreditation body — still hasn’t weighed in on the validity of the GRE as an alternative to the LSAT. ABA Standard 503 requires admissions tests be “valid and reliable,” and whether or not the GRE meets that requirement is an open question. However, several law schools as well as the Educational Testing Service — the makers of the GRE — have done their own studies, which, unsurprisingly, affirm the validity of the exam.

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But for now, more students can celebrate that they may not have to take the dreaded LSAT.


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).

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