Times are changing in the world of law school admissions, with at least 23 institutions, including Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, and Georgetown now accepting GRE scores instead of, or alongside, the long-favored LSAT. What’s more, 25 percent of law schools are currently working on retooling their processes to accept the GRE.

Why the shift? According to administrators, GRE scores are predictive of a student’s success as a 1L and open the legal profession to students with a wider set of skills and backgrounds. The GRE is also offered in a computer format, almost every day of the year, in more than 1,000 places, while the LSAT is not nearly as accessible – it’s offered on paper only and can only be taken four times a year.

However, it’s unlikely the LSAT will become obsolete any time soon. The American Bar Association (ABA) still requires that 90 percent of an entering class at an ABA accredited-law school have an LSAT score.  The Princeton Review keeps a running tally of law schools accepting the GRE.

Morgan Wright

Morgan Wright is a product manager at Fastcase and publisher of RAIL: The Journal of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence & Law. She earned her undergraduate degree from Hood College and her law degree from the University of Richmond School of Law. She has worked at the Institute for Actual Innocence and the Office of the Capital Defender in Virginia, as well as in the Maryland Court of Special Appeals.

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A lot has changed since Elle Woods aced her Law School Admission Test to land a spot at Harvard Law in “Legally Blonde.” Now, you may not even need an LSAT score to get in.

As part of a new pilot program this fall, Harvard will begin accepting scores from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), in addition to the LSAT, which it currently considers.

The new move is part of Harvard’s efforts to attract more diverse applicants, as well as those who may be weighing other graduate school options but don’t want to take two different entry tests because of cost and convenience. The GRE, which is available in more than 150 countries, could also help bring in more international students. It can be taken year-round and on a computer, unlike the LSAT, which is a written test offered four times a year.

Harvard Law Dean Martha Minow said:

All students benefit when we can diversify our community in terms of academic background, country of origin, and financial circumstances. Also, given the promise of the revolutions in biology, computer science, and engineering, law needs students with science, technology, engineering and math backgrounds. For these students, international students, multidisciplinary scholars, and joint-degree students, the GRE is a familiar and accessible test, and using it is a great way to reach candidates not only for law school, but for tackling the issues and opportunities society will be facing.

Though this could be a first step toward making the LSAT permanently optional, law schools are required by the American Bar Association to measure the impact of a GRE policy before they change their admission criteria. Last year, the University of Arizona’s law school started giving students a choice between submitting GRE and LSAT scores. The Law School Admission Council (LSAC), which  administers the LSAT, criticized the University of Arizona at the time, saying that all students should be required to take the test.

The announcement about testing the new admissions policy comes as Harvard faces falling enrollment numbers. The number of applicants to the most highly-ranked law schools has decreased overall between 2011 and 2015, and Harvard specifically has seen an 18 percent drop in applications.

Victoria Sheridan

Victoria is an editorial intern at Law Street. She is a senior journalism major and French minor at George Washington University. She’s also an editor at GW’s student newspaper, The Hatchet. In her free time, she is either traveling or planning her next trip abroad. Contact Victoria at VSheridan@LawStreetMedia.com.

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The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) has long been the seemingly make-it-or-break-it test that prospective law school students take. For years, it’s been a simple rule: if you want to go to law school, you take the LSAT. But the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law is breaking away from that mold–the school is accepting students who submit the Graduate Records Examinations (GRE) as well.

Arizona made its announcement about the GRE in February, and immediately saw backlash. The Law School Admission Council, which is in charge of the LSAT test, allegedly considering ousting Arizona from its membership–although the Council now states that its actions in regards to Arizona were “misinterpreted.” In addition to administering the LSAT, the Council offers a number of other admissions-related services, so it’s not really a membership that Arizona would have wanted to lose. The Council did decide to let Arizona retain its membership. Other law schools backed Arizona’s attempt to break from the norm–approximately 150 deans signed a letter supporting Arizona’s “effort to broaden its applicant pool.”

So why does Arizona want to let in applicants that don’t take the LSAT? There are a few reasons, including the fact that the American Bar Association (ABA) has never been clear that the LSAT is the only test that prospective law school students should or can take. According to Carrie Jung of NPR:

The American Bar Association says law schools must require a standardized test that’s valid and reliably predicts student performance, ‘but it doesn’t say that standardized test must be the LSAT,’ says Marc Miller, the Arizona law school dean.

Arizona commissioned a study which came to the conclusion that the GRE is a reliable way to measure applicants. And Arizona’s administration makes some good points about the accessibility benefits of the GRE–there are a lot more opportunities to take the GRE than the LSAT, and Arizona is hoping that increased accessibility leads to more a diverse pool of applicants.

Arizona’s admissions website now clearly states that submitting a GRE score instead of an LSAT score is allowed, and while it’s the first school to make this move, there may be others following suit. According to NPR, the University of Hawaii and Wake Forest are also considering opening admissions to GRE-takers as well.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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The trend among law schools in recent years has been to move toward  lower tuition and shorter programs. The driving force in all of this? Significantly fewer people are sitting for the LSAT each year. According to recent statistics, there are fewer people sitting for the LSAT today than there were in 1987. This year, just 105,532 LSAT tests were administered. This is nine percent less than the 115,988 that were administered in 1987, which is fascinating given the increased focus on higher education these days.

This trend has been getting worse in the last four years. Since 2010, the number of students taking the LSAT each year has dropped a total of 38.5 percent. This is the worst decline that the legal field has seen in recent memory.

So, why is this the case? One possibility is that students no longer see law school as a guaranteed ticket to a six-figure salary. Jobs in the legal field have become increasingly competitive, so it’s likely that many worry that they will not be able to get a job when they graduate. Or, even if they think there is a good chance that they will get a job, they might not want to pile up hundreds-of-thousands of dollars of debt trying to get there.

All of these factors have led to decreased 1L enrollment, which is a result of the drop in the number of LSAT takers. According to the American Bar Association, 1L enrollment rates have declined by 13.5 percent since 2010.

The industry is now referring to this change as the “legal technology revolution.” This is because legal technology companies are changing the legal services landscape, making it more streamlined and efficient. In addition, many firms are expediting the transition to flat-fee legal services. With more efficient practice, less manpower is needed. This means that firms no longer have a need to hire new law graduates like they used to.

It is clear that law school is not as popular an option as it used to be, with declining enrollment every year. I thought it would be interesting to see if some of the other major fields, like business and medicine, were experiencing a similar fate. Curiously enough, I found that the number of people taking the GRE ever year, which is the admissions test for most graduate schools in the United States, has drastically increased over the last several years. According to the Educational Testing Service, there has been a 38% increase in the number of people taking the GRE in the 2012-2013 testing year. This increase is most likely a result of many of the top business schools now accepting the GRE as part of the application as opposed to only the GMAT.

Not only is the number of people taking the GRE increasing significantly, but the number of people taking the MCAT and applying to medical school is increasing as well. Within the last decade, the number of applicants has increased from about 33,600 a year to almost 45,000 last year. However, the number of available spots in medical school has not gone up, meaning that the percentage of applicants who actually matriculate has actually gone down. However, that does not seem to be stopping anyone from sitting for the MCAT and applying to medical school.

So what makes law school so different from other types of grad programs? Has it lost its appeal? It’s not as though this “technology revolution” is only happening in the legal field. In medicine, with the creations of things such as new testing machinery and robotic surgery, has become increasingly reliant on technology as opposed to manpower. In a similar vein, businesses now have the ability to do most of their work and business management online.

Perhaps it’s the fact that employment is no longer secure. Perhaps it’s the almost guaranteed debt that comes along with it.  Perhaps it’s because there are now hundreds of people on the internet saying that law school is a bad idea. In reality, it’s likely a combination of all of these factors. But, no one can really say for sure. Hopefully this major drop in applicants will be enough to cause law schools to lower their tuitions and provide more scholarships. We’ve already seen many schools, such as Elon Law and Wayne State Law, doing so. It is likely that if this trend of decreasing applicants continues, many more school will follow in their footsteps.

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Brittany Alzfan (@BrittanyAlzfan) is a student at the George Washington University majoring in Criminal Justice. She was a member of Law Street’s founding Law School Rankings team during the summer of 2014. Contact Brittany at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

Featured image courtesy of [Shane S via Flickr]

Brittany Alzfan

Brittany Alzfan is a student at the George Washington University majoring in Criminal Justice. She was a member of Law Street’s founding Law School Rankings team during the summer of 2014. Contact Brittany at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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