Kaplan Test Prep Survey: A Majority of Pre-Law Students Want Law Schools to Require a Standardized Admissions Test
August 02 2018 - 7:30AM
Business Wire
As the American Bar Association prepares to announce if it will
lift the rule mandating all accredited law schools require
applicants to submit a score from a standardized test like the
LSAT® or GRE®, pre-law students are rendering their own verdict.
According to a Kaplan Test Prep survey, 58 percent of aspiring
lawyers say the ABA should keep the standardized testing
requirement in place, 36 percent want it lifted, and 6 percent are
not sure.*
One student who favored keeping the requirement shared, “The
LSAT puts all students on a level playing field. GPAs vary
tremendously based on school and major so the LSAT is a good way to
score all students,” while another said, “The LSAT is an important
indicator of how students perform under pressure and timed. It also
is a good equalizer.” An opponent of the requirement said, “I don’t
think standardized tests are really measuring a student’s ability
to excel at a law school. It’s just measuring how good you are at
taking standardized tests.”
The origin of the ABA’s pending decision came two and a half
years ago, when, during the tail end of an unprecedented
application drought affecting law schools nationwide, the
University of Arizona's James E. Rogers College of Law announced
that it would begin allowing applicants to submit GRE scores in
lieu of LSAT scores for admissions. Since that February 2016 move,
more than 20 other law schools across the country (including many
of the top-ranked programs like Harvard, Columbia, and UCLA)
adopted this policy too, in an effort to expand and diversify their
applicant pool. Most recently, Cornell and UPenn not only began to
accept the GRE, but also the GMAT®, which has long been the
admissions test used by business schools.
The decision, expected to be announced within the next week at
the 2018 Chicago ABA Annual Meeting, may go one of two ways:
- The ABA House of Delegates could concur
with the decision the Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education
and Admissions to the Bar made in May to drop the requirement, thus
leaving it up to the individual law schools to decide if they want
to require a test or not, or;
- The ABA House of Delegates could refer
the decision back to the Council of the ABA Section of Legal
Education and Admissions to the Bar for further consideration, at
which point the latter group would reconvene, taking the full House
of Delegates’ recommendations into account, but not obligated to
act on them. After further discussion between the two bodies, their
original ruling could still go into effect, lifting the
requirement.
“Most pre-law students and their future selves -- law school
students -- are fair, but fiercely competitive, so the fact that a
strong majority wants a standardized admissions test as a screening
element makes sense based on everything we know about them,” said
Jeff Thomas, executive director of pre-law programs, Kaplan Test
Prep. “It’s important to note that even if the recommendation to
lift the testing requirement is approved and implemented, it’s
doubtful that law schools will decide en masse to do so. In fact,
we expect many will stick with their own admissions test
requirement, be it the LSAT, GRE, or GMAT, as admitting students
unlikely to complete their legal education (as measured by high
dropout rates and/or low bar passage rates) would risk the school
losing its accreditation. In that sense, standardized tests act
like a safeguard against bad admissions practices that can have
long-term ramifications for both law schools and their students.
Additionally, recent Kaplan research shows that pre-law students
would submit an LSAT score anyway to gain a competitive advantage
over those who do not.”
To schedule an interview about Kaplan’s survey results, please
contact Mike Tague at michael.tague@kaplan.com or 212-974-2785.
*Based on the results of a Kaplan Test Prep survey conducted by
email in July 2018 of 127 pre-law students who took a Kaplan LSAT
preparation course.
Test names and other trademarks are the property of the
respective trademark holders. None of the trademark holders are
endorsed by nor affiliated with Kaplan or this survey.
About Kaplan Test Prep
Kaplan Test Prep (www.kaptest.com) is a premier provider of
educational and career services for individuals, schools and
businesses. Established in 1938, Kaplan is the world leader in the
test prep industry. With a comprehensive menu of online offerings
as well as a complete array of print books and digital products,
Kaplan offers preparation for more than 100 standardized tests,
including entrance exams for secondary school, college and graduate
school, as well as professional licensing exams for attorneys,
physicians and nurses. Kaplan also provides private tutoring and
graduate admissions consulting services.
Note to editors: Kaplan is a subsidiary of Graham Holdings
Company (NYSE: GHC)
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180802005101/en/
Press:Kaplan Test PrepMike Tague,
212-974-2785michael.tague@kaplan.comTwitter: @KapTestNews,
@KaplanLSATPrep
Graham (NYSE:GHC)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
Graham (NYSE:GHC)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024