For decades, the LSAT has virtually been the only admissions test used by law schools when it comes to evaluating prospective students. The test has been praised for it’s ability to predict first year success but has also been the target of withering attacks on the narrow focus of the skills being tested. In response to those complaints, the University of Arizona School of Law has decided to ditch their LSAT only policy and accept scores from the GRE, a test used primarily for non-law graduate schools. Arizona has stated that they have studies showing that the GRE is as good a predictor of law school success which allows them to use it under ABA accreditation rules. However, the school would be the only ABA accredited school in the nation to not rely on the LSAT which makes the results of this trial run important for other schools considering a change. It will be very interesting to see how this experiment turns out due to the implications it could have for law schools everywhere.
See Sara Randazzo, Move Over LSAT, Here Comes the GRE, The Wall Street Journal, February 22, 2016.
Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.
