The University of Arizona is now accepting generic graduate record examination for its law school applicants. The national group wasn't very happy about it, and even threatened to remove the school from their circle. However, Harvard Law School is now doing the same thing taking away the traditional Law School Admissions Test to bring a more diverse group to the field.
The number of students applying for law school has decreased by 40 percent for the past decade, Boston Globe reported. There are lesser job opportunities for new lawyers at present and students who are about to graduate from law school are concerned about how they will pay off their student loans. A lot of deans, even those who are that are from Harvard Law School believe that the GRE will encourage a wider range of applicants to take up law.
With the GRE graduate programs from chemistry to philosophy can now apply for law school. The exam is available any day using a computer at 1,000 different centers present in 160 different countries. The test will measure the applicant's analytical writing, verbal reasoning, critical thinking, and math skills.
Meanwhile, the LSAT can only be taken on paper and is only given four times each year. It will measure the logic, analytical reasoning, and reading comprehension of applicants. Students usually take the LSAT and GRE so that they can apply to various graduate schools.
If students will take just one of these exams, the financial burden would be lifted up from their shoulders, considering that each exam can cost $1,300. Boston University School of Law dean Maureen A. O'Rourke said that if the GRE can help predict the success of students, then most law schools can drop the LSAT.
Meanwhile, the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law has veered away from the LSAT in 2016 making it the first law school to accept the GRE. They did this in the hopes of bringing in more diverse applicants to their school, National Jurist reported.
