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Summary: St. John’s University School of Law announced today that it will accept the GRE for the fall 2018 class.
St. John’s University School of Law in New York will begin accepting the GRE starting in 2018. So far, St. John’s and Columbia are the only law schools in New York that accept the GRE in the admissions process.
St. John’s will accept the GRE and the LSAT starting for the fall 2018 class. The decision was made by St. John’s Dean Michael A. Simons.
“Accepting the GRE and creating a more expansive and inclusive applicant pool is consistent with our mission,” Dean Simons said. “St. John’s Law has provided underserved populations access to a top legal education since we first opened our doors in 1925. Today, with our decision to accept the GRE, we continue that proud tradition.”
According to the press release, Vice Dean Larry Cunningham spearheaded the change.
“This decision follows an extensive review process we undertook with the ETS (Educational Testing Service), the educational testing and assessment organization that administers the GRE,” Dean Cunningham said. “After correlating GRE performance to performance in the first year of law school, we’re confident that the GRE predicts student success in law school.”
St. John’s is joining schools such as Harvard, Washington University in St. Louis, and Northwestern that has followed the University of Arizona’s lead. For years, law schools have been thinking of ways to address the drop of interest from potential students, and accepting the GRE has been one solution to diversifying the pool and attracting students from non-traditional backgrounds to law such as science or technology.
“The GRE also opens the Law School’s doors to a broader, more diverse set of applicants, increasing access to legal education,” Dean Cunningham added. “Not only is the GRE offered throughout the year at an extensive network of locations, it meets the needs of a growing number of applicants who pursue a law degree after obtaining a graduate or doctorate degree in another field, and who have already taken the GRE.”
St. John’s University School of Law was named a 2017 Go-To Law School by the National Law Journal. Founded in 1925, the school boasts a high bar passage rate for first-time test takers. For instance, St. John’s graduates who took the exam in July 2017 had a bar passage rate of 89.2% compared to the state average of 86%.
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