NY Times: The Contentious GRE v. LSAT Debate

New York Times, Law Schools Debate a Contentious Testing Alternative:

[A]n upheaval of sorts [is] going on at most law schools around the country, which have faced plummeting enrollment for several years. Although they are beginning to recover, the fallow period led them to explore ways to find new pools of potential students.

One of the solutions, many decided, was to make a change in admission requirements. They would no longer rely solely on the Law School Admission Test, or LSAT, which has been considered the surest predictor of how a student will fare in coursework. As an alternative, they would consider performance on the Graduate Record Exam. Accepting it could allow many more students to get into law school, proponents of the change said.

One test versus another might seem like a less than radical reason for debate.

But some defenders of the traditional test say the change amounts to a dangerous lowering of standards and could allow too many students to enroll in law school who would be unable to pass the lawyer licensing exam.

Many deans, however, want to rid themselves of some constraints on their admissions policies. They seek more flexibility to admit candidates they think are promising but who do not necessarily fit a conventional profile.

A showdown of sorts is set for later this month when the American Bar Association’s accrediting body plans to hold a public hearing where both sides can air their views. ...

Nearly 20 law schools, including Harvard’s, have embraced the GRE as an alternative. More than 150 law school deans, including those from many elite schools that had no shortage of applicants, vigorously backed Arizona’s effort two years ago to introduce the alternative.

In March, the Education Testing Service, the Princeton, N.J., organization that administers the GRE and other standardized tests, unveiled a tool to help schools compare the results of the GRE and the LSAT.

Supporters of the GRE say fewer restrictions will make law school more readily available to people of more varied backgrounds as well as more races, ethnicities and income levels to offset the small percentages of minorities in law school. Black and African Americans make up only about 8.5 percent of law students; Asians and Hispanics make up an additional 20 percent of law students in 2017.

• Is Wake Forest Law School's Offer To Pay Students To Take The GRE A U.S. News Rankings Ploy? (Jan. 30, 2016)
• Christine Hurt (BYU), Could The GRE Replace The LSAT? (Feb. 6, 2016)
• Arizona Is First Law School To Admit Students Based On GRE Instead Of LSAT (Feb. 11, 2016)
• WSJ: Law Schools Replace LSAT With GRE To Goose Enrollment (Feb. 23, 2016)
• The First Two Law Schools to Drop the LSAT Could Be Just the Beginning (Feb. 25, 2016)
• The Empire Strikes Back: LSAC Threatens To Expel University Of Arizona Over Use Of GRE In Law School Admissions (May 1, 2016)
• 148 Deans Demand LSAC Rescind Threat To Expel University Of Arizona Over Use Of GRE In Law School Admissions (May 5, 2016)
• The Antitrust Implications Of LSAC's Threatened Expulsion Of University Of Arizona Over Use Of GRE In Law School Admissions (May 8, 2016)
• LSAC Backs Down (For Now) On Threat To Expel University Of Arizona For Use Of GRE In Law School Admissions (May 9, 2016)
• Poll: Majority Of Law Schools Are Not Racing To Follow Arizona In Replacing LSAT With GRE (June 6, 2016)
• Taylor: The GRE Is No Law School Diversity Tool (June 16, 2016)
• University Of Arizona Is 'Preying On Low-Information Prospective Law Students' (June 21, 2016)
• Rick Bales (Dean, Ohio Northern),75% Of Law School Deans Support Arizona's Use Of GRE As Substitute For LSAT, Not Its Use Of 'Misleading Employment Stats' (June 23, 2016)
• The Empire Strikes Back, Part II: LSAC Stops Certifying Matriculant Admissions Data In Response To Law Schools' Use Of GRE (Aug. 4, 2016)
• LSAC Rescinds Threat (For One Year) To Stop Certifying Matriculant Admissions Data In Response To Law Schools' Use Of GRE (Sept. 25, 2016)
• Proposed ABA Accreditation Rule Sets Process To Determine Validity Of GRE, Other LSAT Alternatives In Law School Admissions (Feb. 15, 2017)
• Khan Academy Offers Free LSAT Prep; Is Free Bar Exam Prep Next? (Mar. 3, 2017)
• Harvard Is Second Law School To Admit 1Ls Based On GRE Rather Than LSAT (Mar. 9, 2017)
• NY Times, Will Dropping The LSAT Requirement Create More Miserable Lawyers? (Mar. 19, 2017)
• Bill Henderson (Indiana), U.S. News Eliminates The Rankings Advantage Of The GRE, But Harvard Has Started A 'Quant' Arms Race For Diverse Students Who Will Thrive In A Transformed, Tech-Driven, Disrupted Legal Profession (Apr. 11, 2017)
• LSAC Moves Toward Digital LSAT (Ten Years After MCAT), Says It Was Not Due To Growing Use Of GRE In Law School Admissions (Apr. 20, 2017)
• Harvard Law School, The GRE, And Moneyball (Apr. 26, 2017)
• Facing Competition From GRE, LSAC Allows Applicants To Take LSAT An Unlimited Number Of Times (May 20, 2017)
• Chicago Law Schools Consider Accepting GRE As Test Alternative To LSAT (May 31, 2017)
• Northwestern Is Third Law School To Accept GRE For Admissions, Finds It Is Just As Accurate As LSAT In Predicting 1L Grades (Aug. 7, 2017)
• Georgetown Is Fourth Law School To Accept GRE For Admissions, Finds It Is Just As Accurate As LSAT In Predicting 1L Grades; LSAC Disagrees, Says 'The Rest Of The Top 14 Will Go Like Lemmings Off The Cliff' (Aug. 8, 2017)
• The GRE Is Shaking Up Law School Admissions (Aug. 9, 2017)
• More On Using The GRE In Law School Admissions (Aug. 11, 2017)
• Do We Really Want To Make It Easier To Go To Law School? (Aug. 17, 2017)
• 25% Of Law Schools Plan To Accept The GRE (Sept. 19, 2017)
• Washington University Is Sixth Law School To Accept GRE For Admissions (Oct. 4, 2017)
• Columbia Is Seventh Law School To Accept GRE For Admissions (Oct. 17, 2017)
• Arizona Deans: It's Time To Rethink The Law School Entrance Exam Monopoly (Oct. 26, 2017)
• ETS Releases Study Establishing Validity Of GRE In Predicting Law School Success, Using Data On 1L Grades From 21 Law Schools (Nov. 1, 2017)
• ABA Council Clears The Way For All Law Schools To Admit Students Based On The GRE (Or To Ignore Admissions Tests Entirely) (Nov. 4, 2017)
• Texas A&M Is Ninth Law School To Accept GRE For Admissions (Nov. 16, 2017)
• Wake Forest Is Tenth Law School To Accept GRE For Admissions (Nov. 16, 2017)
• BYU Is Eleventh Law School To Accept GRE For Admissions (Nov. 21, 2017)
• Can The GRE Cure What Ails Law Schools? (Nov. 30, 2017)
• WSJ: Law Schools Say: Please Come, No LSAT Required (Dec. 6, 2017)
• Kent Syverud And Dan Rodriguez On The GRE/LSAT Debate (Dec. 13, 2017)
• Nick Allard And David Brennen Continue The GRE/LSAT Debate (Dec. 18, 2017)
• John Marshall Is Fifteenth Law School To Accept GRE For Admissions (Feb. 3, 2018)
• Two More Law Schools Admit 1Ls Based On GRE Rather Than LSAT (Feb. 25, 2018)
• George Washington Discontinues Use Of GRE In Admissions Because It Has Not Done A School-Specific Validation Study (Mar. 18, 2018)
• The Economist: Why Are Law Schools Accepting The GRE? (Apr. 5, 2018)