AccessLex: Undergraduate GPA Growth Is A Superior Metric In Law School Admissions

AccessLex, Measuring “Up”: The Promise of Undergraduate GPA Growth in Law School Admissions:

Law school admissions emphasize Law School Admission Test (LSAT) scores and final undergraduate GPA (UGPA) despite these measures’ racial and ethnic scoring disparities. Using a sample of 5,599 recent law school students from 14 law schools, we compare the predictive power of UGPA growth to that of final UGPA and LSAT scores in law school admissions. We find that UGPA growth is positively associated with first-year law school GPA (1L LGPA) and negatively associated with first-year (1L) non-transfer attrition. Furthermore, our findings indicate that, unlike final UGPA and LSAT scores, UGPA growth does not substantively vary by race/ethnicity. UGPA growth might be a viable metric to consider as law schools examine how to recruit diverse cohorts without considering race.

Conclusion
Our findings suggest that UGPA growth could play an important role in the future of law school admissions. We find that UGPA growth, among our sample, successfully predicts 1L LGPA and 1L non-transfer attrition comparably to LSAT score and final UGPA. In the face of a changing admissions landscape and the push for more holistic application review, UGPA growth — either alone or as part of an index — might hold promise as a tool for continued development and consideration. Furthermore, we find that UGPA growth may result in fewer racial disparities in admissions, while remaining race-neutral and legally permissible. As graduate and professional programs and institutions of higher learning seek new ways to foster diverse learning environments following the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision, we hope these findings will help encourage persistent and innovative efforts to make law school admissions more equitable.

Editor's Note:  If you would like to receive a daily email with links to legal education posts on TaxProf Blog, email me here.