The #GRE joins the #LSAT as an objective and reliable admissions test

The above tweet references an article at TaxProf blog reporting that Harvard Law School (you would be surprised how many famous people are Harvard Law School Graduates) is the latest and possibly most important law school to allow applicants to submit the GRE rather than the LSAT.

The article includes:

The pilot program to accept the GRE is part of a wider strategy at Harvard Law School to expand access to legal education for students in the United States and internationally. The GRE is offered frequently throughout the year and in numerous locations around the world. Many prospective law school applicants take the GRE as they consider graduate school options. The Law School’s decision to accept the GRE will alleviate the financial burden on applicants who would otherwise be required to prepare and pay for an additional test.

The change is supported by an HLS study, designed in 2016 and completed earlier this year, examining, on an anonymized basis, the GRE scores of current and former HLS students who took both the GRE and the LSAT. In accordance with American Bar Association (ABA) Standards for Legal Education, the aim of the study was to determine whether the GRE is a valid predictor of first-year academic performance in law school. The statistical study showed that the GRE is an equally valid predictor of first-year grades.

The key point is that the ABA (American Bar Association) never required the LSAT per se. The ABA requires that law schools use a “valid and objective” admissions test.

On a number of other occasions I have predicted that the GRE would eventually become a substitute for the LSAT. (Note that the GRE has become a substitute for the GMAT for admission to many MBA programs.)

This “LSAT vs. GRE” question has been discussed recently at NPR.

Listen and enjoy …

Finally, if you are interested in live LSAT prep courses in Toronto …