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Harvard Law School Now Accepts the GRE for Admission

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Harvard Law School Accepts GRE in Addition to LSAT - Manhattan Prep LSAT Blog

You read that right. 

In a stunning move, Harvard Law School will now allow applicants to submit GRE (Graduate Record Examination) scores in lieu of LSAT (Law School Admission Test) scores for consideration for admission to its JD program.

Starting in the fall of 2017, Harvard Law School’s GRE pilot program will aim to give wider access to legal education to students around the world.

Harvard Law School says that they’re accepting the GRE in order to make the application process more accessible for students:

  • The GRE is offered year-round, whereas the LSAT is offered just four times per year, making it more easily accessible for students regardless of schedule.
  • Many students take the GRE before they have fully settled on a graduate career path or school choice. By expanding eligibility to GRE test-takers, Harvard Law School claims to be alleviating the financial burden for GRE students to have to pay to take the LSAT as well, should they decide that law school is the right fit for them. Our very own Matt Shinners, LSAT Program Manager, doesn’t think it’s that simple, though. See his thoughts in the Q&A section below.

But there are upsides for Harvard, as well. Here’s how Harvard Law School stands to benefit from accepting the GRE:

  • Nearly 600,000 students take the GRE every year. Many of those students would be competitive applicants to law school. Harvard now has access to a broader talent pool. This means better students and lower acceptance rates, which would positively factor into their rankings.
  • According to Harvard, given the scientific and technological revolution and the promise that it holds for future prosperity, law schools are interested in recruiting students with STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) backgrounds. Such students would typically take the GRE for graduate school admissions. Now, Harvard Law School can recruit them.

But isn’t the GRE very different from the LSAT? How can it be a comparable replacement?

The answer to this question remains unclear. A Harvard Law School study designed in 2016 and completed early in 2017 examined an anonymous pool of GRE scores of current and former Harvard Law School students who took both the GRE and the LSAT. The goal of any admission test, as decreed by the American Bar Association (ABA) Standards for Legal Education, is to predict first-year academic performance in law school. According to Harvard, the results of the study suggested that the GRE is an equally accurate predictor as the LSAT of first-year grades for Harvard Law School students.

Matt Shinners isn’t entirely convinced by this study, though. Find out why in his Q&A section below.

Is the ABA cool with this?

In May of 2016, The University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law became the first law school to accept GRE scores in addition to LSAT scores for admissions consideration. In response, the LSAC threatened to expel the school from its membership, but the majority of the country’s law school deans co-signed a letter of support for Arizona Law, and forced the ABA to back down.

The ABA is currently reviewing its rules governing eligible tests for law school admissions.

In response to this, HLS Dean Martha Minow said, “We look forward to working with the American Bar Association on finding the most effective ways to encourage the best students to enter the legal profession.”

What does Manhattan Prep think about all of this?

Matt Shinners is an LSAT Instructor and head of the LSAT Program here at Manhattan Prep. He also is a Harvard Law School grad with a perfect LSAT score in his back pocket. Here are his initial responses to some of the key questions surrounding this situation:

Are many law schools likely to follow Harvard’s lead in accepting the GRE?

If Harvard Law School is doing it, then other schools are likely to follow suit.

What impact will accepting the GRE have on applications to Harvard Law School?

  • It’s hard to say for sure. The two groups who will be affected by this decision are GRE test-takers who can now apply to law school, and aspiring law school students who might now be tempted to submit GRE scores rather than LSAT scores. Applications will likely go up, but it’s hard to predict if more students will be in the former or latter category (and only the former will result in more applicants).
  • That said, accepting GRE scores will still likely mean more people will apply to law school as well as to grad school because they can, and not because they’re particularly interested in a career in law; that’s not a great thing for the job market for lawyers, since lawyers are already in oversupply. Law school students should be dedicated to becoming lawyers, not merely considering it.
  • Harvard Law School is correct that this move will save some GRE students from the financial burden of having to prep for the LSAT, but, as a test prep company, we have insight into student prep strategies and behaviors; rather than just picking one of the tests, many students will now “shop around” by prepping for both tests to see which one they do better on. This will actually make the process more expensive for that group.

Will many Harvard Law School applicants skip the LSAT in favor of the GRE now?

  • Probably not. For the time being, there’s too much unknown for many students to feel comfortable taking only the GRE. Without knowing how law schools will analyze GRE scores, or what range they’re looking for, it’s a gamble to apply with one.
  • Also, if they want to apply to any other law schools besides Harvard and Arizona, students will still opt for the LSAT, which most schools exclusively accept…at least for now. This may change going forward.

Is the GRE a proper substitute for the LSAT?

We don’t have enough detail into the HLS study to be able to analyze it clearly, but if it’s true that the study only looked at students who were accepted based on traditional criteria and also happened to have taken the GRE, then the lack of a random sample would leave us with concerns about the study’s conclusions.

The LSAT vs. GRE debate has only just begun, and we’ll be sure to stay on top of the story as it develops to bring you the latest news and analysis.

Thoughts? Questions? Comment below!

Source: https://today.law.harvard.edu/gre/

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