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Summary: Kaplan Test Prep surveyed admission officers at law schools across the U.S. to find out how many might follow Arizona’s lead and start accepting the GRE.
Kaplan Test Prep, a subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company, surveyed admissions officers at 125 law schools across the country and found that 56 percent have no plans to start accepting GRE scores instead of the traditional LSAT scores for admissions. The University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law is the first school to adopt a new policy that allows students to apply for the law program with only GRE scores. The survey found that 14 percent of the schools plan to adopt the new policy. The remainders of the schools are not yet sure what they will do.
The Arizona law school conducted research with the Educational Testing Service, the GRE’s administrator, to determine how valid the test would be at determining success of students. The American Bar Association is now evaluating how valid the research done is to decide if the school will remain an accredited institution.
Read Law School Admissions Council May Kick Arizona Law Out for Accepting GRE Scores.
Jeff Thomas, the executive director of pre-law programs at Kaplan Test Prep said, “Right now, there doesn’t seem to be any great enthusiasm by law schools to adopt the GRE as an alternative to the LSAT, which isn’t too surprising considering that law schools tend to be judicious, wanting to see all the evidence and research before making an important decision like this. What’s particularly interesting it that nearly a third of law schools say they are unsure of they will accept the GRE, as opposed to simply being against it, which suggests that the pro-GRE movement has room to grow.”
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The University of Arizona credits the reason for changing their policy was to attract a “greater number of high-quality applicants with the widest range of life, educational, and professional backgrounds.” Eighty percent of admissions officers agree that law schools that accept that GRE might do so to get a more diverse applicant pool.
See UA Law First to Allow GRE Test Scores.
Other reasons for accepting the GRE could be to fill spots in their wavering enrollment numbers at some law schools and because the U.S. News & World Report doesn’t count GRE scores so less qualified students being accepted won’t hurt their rankings immediately.
The most interesting note of Kaplan’s survey may be that a majority of the law schools are opposed to the ABA prohibiting law schools for accepting the GRE scores. Thomas explained, “[This] implies that they are in favor of letting law schools experiment in new ways to help revitalize the legal education landscape.”
Do you think that law schools should be able to accept the GRE if they want? Tell us what you think in the comments.
To learn more about the University of Arizona’s plan, read Arizona Law Defends GRE Test Acceptance Policy.
Photo: wsj.com
