Is there any more LSAT?
A committee within the American Bar Association recommended at the end of last month that the law school would eliminate the requirement for a “valid and reliable entrance examination” as part of the admission process.
However, he added, “You can request the exam freely as needed, not to mention the law school.”
The recommendation was made by the Strategic Review Board on April 25, and the council of another group, the ABA’s Legal Education and Admission to the Faculty of Law section, approved similar changes to the rules and admission criteria. The council consists of 21 members, including lawyers, professors, managers, and more.
“The issue of admission policy has been a concern for the council for several years,” Bill Adams, managing director of ABA accreditation and legal education, said in a statement.
Bar association leaders say they are less worried about their grades on entrance exams than they do at law school.
However, the decision to adopt this standard is not final.
The Commission’s recommendations will be discussed in the council later this month, Adams said. If approved, the council also decides whether to submit suggestions for public comments.
Recent issues with American university campuses
- Registration crisis: According to new data, the number of students enrolled in undergraduate courses in the spring of 2022 was 662,000 less than the previous year, a decrease of 4.7%.
- Harvard University President: Lawrence S. Bakou, who piloted the university through attacks on pandemics and admissions policies, announced that he would resign in 2023.
- Affirmative action: As the Supreme Court prepares to determine the legality of two race-aware abortion programs, lawyers who helped draft a Texas abortion ban offer critics of affirmative action a new path. Did.
- Freedom of speech: Legal scholars who wrote that President Biden would nominate a “black woman” to the Supreme Court were allowed to take on a new job in Georgetown after an investigation. He decided to resign anyway.
According to Adams, the House of Representatives, which sets the association’s policies, has the opportunity to consider the recommendations.
“All the final decisions are left to the council,” he said. If the council finally approves the recommendation, the earliest change that may affect students will be students enrolling in the fall of 2023.
The Commission recommended that the wording of the admission criteria be changed so that the law school “may consider” the score of the entrance examination. The law school may also consider “undergraduate and grade averages, extracurricular activities, work experience, grades in other graduate or professional programs, associated proven skills, and obstacles overcome”. I can do it.
The Commission’s recommendations are in line with the tendency of some elite colleges and universities to abandon standardized testing requirements, with criticisms that wealthy students have benefits such as preparatory guidance. According to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, in May last year, the University of California system leaders resolved to completely abolish the test score requirement, leaving Harvard as a test option until at least the fall of 2026.
Traditional law school entrance exams are managed by the Law School Entrance Examination Council, a non-profit organization that partially oversees the law school application process. “We hope the ABA will consider these issues very carefully,” the organization said in a statement on Friday.
“We believe LSAT will continue to be an indispensable tool for schools and applicants for the next few years,” he added.
The council called this test “the most accurate predictor of law school success and a powerful tool for diversity when properly used as an element of the overall admission process.” ..
Some law school dean have recently questioned the use of traditional law school entrance exams, bringing standardized exams to a new group of potential applicants who may become law school students. We consider it an obstacle to reach. In 2016, the University of Arizona James E. Rogers Law School began accepting applicants who took only the more general GRE Graduate School Admissions Exam, not the LSAT.
The Law School Admissions Council has warned universities that schools in Arizona may be expelled from the network. However, other law school deans defended the university’s decision.
Two years later, the ABA council proposed changing the criteria to make test scores an optional part of the admission process.
According to a memo in April, there was “significant systematic opposition to the amendment” at a House meeting, and the proposed amendment to the standard was withdrawn.
The council then held a roundtable to discuss the criteria, according to the memo, “we sought feedback from stakeholders related to the requirements for entrance exams for the criteria.”
Later, the memo said the Strategic Review Board reviewed the criteria.
The proposed changes will be discussed at the Council’s public meeting in Chicago on May 20th.