Iowa Law, SUNY Buffalo first law schools to drop the LSAT Forum

[Rahviveh]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... -beginning

Two law schools said this month that they would begin accepting applicants who have not taken the Law School Admissions Test, a move that may help curb weak interest and plunging enrollments in law schools across the country. The State University of New York-Buffalo Law School and the University of Iowa College of Law said they would admit students from their respective undergraduate colleges based on their grade point average and scores on standardized tests other than the LSAT.

“Taking the LSAT is a pain, and it is expensive,” says James Gardner, dean of SUNY Buffalo’s law school. The test comes with a $170 fee, often in addition to months-long prep courses and tutoring that can cost thousands of dollars. “This is just a way to identify strong-performing students based on perfectly rational criteria that don’t involve the LSAT,” Gardner says.

He acknowledges, however, that the change might be a lifeline to law schools, which have lately been suffering from a persistent lack of bodies. “It does address that problem to the extent that they remove what is, for some students, an obstacle for applying to law school,” says Gardner. In 2014, first-year enrollment at U.S. law schools fell to about 38,000, its lowest point in four decades, down 28 percent since it peaked in 2010. First-year enrollments have declined by around 20 percent since 2011 at both SUNY Buffalo and the University of Iowa.

The two schools are the first to announce that they've taken advantage of a recent ruling by the American Bar Association, which accredits U.S. law schools. In August, the ABA changed its rules to allow law schools to fill up to 10 percent of their class with students who have not taken the LSAT, as long as they were at the top of their college class and scored highly on the the SAT and ACT, college aptitude tests, or on the GRE or GMAT graduate school exams.

[RareExports]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... -beginning

Two law schools said this month that they would begin accepting applicants who have not taken the Law School Admissions Test, a move that may help curb weak interest and plunging enrollments in law schools across the country. The State University of New York-Buffalo Law School and the University of Iowa College of Law said they would admit students from their respective undergraduate colleges based on their grade point average and scores on standardized tests other than the LSAT.

“Taking the LSAT is a pain, and it is expensive,” says James Gardner, dean of SUNY Buffalo’s law school. The test comes with a $170 fee, often in addition to months-long prep courses and tutoring that can cost thousands of dollars. “This is just a way to identify strong-performing students based on perfectly rational criteria that don’t involve the LSAT,” Gardner says.

He acknowledges, however, that the change might be a lifeline to law schools, which have lately been suffering from a persistent lack of bodies. “It does address that problem to the extent that they remove what is, for some students, an obstacle for applying to law school,” says Gardner. In 2014, first-year enrollment at U.S. law schools fell to about 38,000, its lowest point in four decades, down 28 percent since it peaked in 2010. First-year enrollments have declined by around 20 percent since 2011 at both SUNY Buffalo and the University of Iowa.

The two schools are the first to announce that they've taken advantage of a recent ruling by the American Bar Association, which accredits U.S. law schools. In August, the ABA changed its rules to allow law schools to fill up to 10 percent of their class with students who have not taken the LSAT, as long as they were at the top of their college class and scored highly on the the SAT and ACT, college aptitude tests, or on the GRE or GMAT graduate school exams.

Could be wrong, but doesn't Mich already do this?

ETA: http://www.law.umich.edu/prospectivestu ... holar.aspx

[03152016]

yeah mich does for their undergrads
i believe uiuc has/had a similar program, there might be others
and, of course, there are plenty of non-accredited law schools that don't require the lsat

this is, of course, on a different scale tho
it's a neat marketing trick (and a nice way to boost gpa median without giving $$$, they'll have zero leverage)
i believe dean pless referred to it as "trapping the little bastards"

[Winston1984]

Not going to lie, your new tar may have startled me slightly.

[03152016]

[Winston1984]

This is better.

[Rahviveh]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... -beginning

Two law schools said this month that they would begin accepting applicants who have not taken the Law School Admissions Test, a move that may help curb weak interest and plunging enrollments in law schools across the country. The State University of New York-Buffalo Law School and the University of Iowa College of Law said they would admit students from their respective undergraduate colleges based on their grade point average and scores on standardized tests other than the LSAT.

“Taking the LSAT is a pain, and it is expensive,” says James Gardner, dean of SUNY Buffalo’s law school. The test comes with a $170 fee, often in addition to months-long prep courses and tutoring that can cost thousands of dollars. “This is just a way to identify strong-performing students based on perfectly rational criteria that don’t involve the LSAT,” Gardner says.

He acknowledges, however, that the change might be a lifeline to law schools, which have lately been suffering from a persistent lack of bodies. “It does address that problem to the extent that they remove what is, for some students, an obstacle for applying to law school,” says Gardner. In 2014, first-year enrollment at U.S. law schools fell to about 38,000, its lowest point in four decades, down 28 percent since it peaked in 2010. First-year enrollments have declined by around 20 percent since 2011 at both SUNY Buffalo and the University of Iowa.

The two schools are the first to announce that they've taken advantage of a recent ruling by the American Bar Association, which accredits U.S. law schools. In August, the ABA changed its rules to allow law schools to fill up to 10 percent of their class with students who have not taken the LSAT, as long as they were at the top of their college class and scored highly on the the SAT and ACT, college aptitude tests, or on the GRE or GMAT graduate school exams.

Could be wrong, but doesn't Mich already do this?

ETA: http://www.law.umich.edu/prospectivestu ... holar.aspx

I thought michigan dropped that program cause it was so TTT

[Jchance]

UMN also does this for their undergrad and grad students
http://www.law.umn.edu/prospective/map.html

Georgetown does this for their undergrad students, note the "non-binding" part
http://www.law.georgetown.edu/admission ... e-program/

[sublime]

..

[03152016]

come to think of it, no lsat required for nu jd/mba or accelerated jd

[DKM]

Forgive my ignorance, but why don't law schools just lower their tuition prices if they are that hurt up for students?

[Kinky John]

I thought michigan dropped that program cause it was so TTT

http://abovethelaw.com/2011/11/the-life ... s-program/

[pamphleteer]

I think Georgetown and Penn do this too.

[BigZuck]

I don't know why they would say these are the first 2 schools in the headline, but then in the article mention that 15 other schools have already done this

Maybe I'm misreading

[Kinky John]

I don't know why they would say these are the first 2 schools in the headline, but then in the article mention that 15 other schools have already done this

Maybe I'm misreading

Such programs have been proposed by a number of law schools, and the Council has granted variances when the proposals have satisfied the criteria for a variance

So these would be the first two to do so w/o a variance I'm guessing.