Incoming law students do not have to take the LSAT if they want to study at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, at least for now.
The state law school is the first to accept students who have taken the GRE rather than the LSAT. After coming under fire, this week the school received an OK from the Law School Admission Council, the membership body that oversees the LSAT and the common application process.
Nearly 150 deans had signed a letter backing University of Arizona’s effort to broaden its applicant pool, the New York Times reported. They argued that experimentation in the admissions process benefits all schools. Since the economic downturn, University of Arizona, like other schools, has seen smaller class sizes and in response, has tried to diversify its makeup.
The LSAT had been believed to be the best indicator of law school success, but University of Arizona had a study done that found GRE scores were just as good at predicting students’ grades. Five times more students take the GRE than the LSAT.
So far, three students have been accepted to the College of Law based on their GRE scores.