More law schools use entry test that may make it simpler to apply

Law schools, which have been plagued by a shortfall of students in recent years, are changing admissions requirements.

Two top-ranked schools — at Georgetown University Law Center and Northwestern University — this week joined Harvard Law’s recent move to make it simpler to apply.

Applicants can submit the results of the more widely available Graduate Record Exam, the GRE, instead of those from the Law School Admissions Test.

Many law schools are casting wider nets to attract students who would not otherwise set their sights on a legal education. The schools hope that by making it easier for the engineers, scientists and mathematicians who typically take only the GRE, more of them will enroll.

With the two this week, there are now four law schools, including at the University of Arizona, that admit students with GRE scores.

The Law School Admission Council, the nonprofit law school membership organization that is the LSAT’s administrator, reacted harshly at first but later backed away as dozens of deans supported Arizona’s action.

Arizona, Harvard, Georgetown and Northwestern each conducted individual studies that compared their students’ academic results with their entrance test scores. Georgetown said that it found “GRE scores were at least as strong a predictor of academic success at Georgetown Law as LSAT scores.”

The LSAT retains an old-fashioned appeal for some because it remains a relatively infrequently administered paper test compared with the GRE, which is offered often and digitally. The cost of each exam is about $200.

As law school enrollment has fallen in recent years, differing views about relying on LSAT scores have bubbled to the surface. Adherents argue that the exam tests the analytic and logical reasoning that is critical for law school success. Opponents maintain that the GRE’s testing of math skills achieves the same purpose.

The Law School Admission Council already announced that it would step up its schedule of LSAT exams, offering the test six times a year rather than four and removing the limit on the number of times it can be taken.

Critics also say that relying on the LSAT’s hard and fast numbers hampers minorities, who may not have had access to the education needed to score highly. Kellye Testy, CEO of the Law School Admission Council, countered that the council “regularly conducts validity studies to uncover testing practices that disadvantage racial and ethnic groups.”