Law Schools can now admit 10% of its class w/o an lsat score Forum

[FairchildFLT]

So what everyone is saying is that, since I am a AA male, I don't have to take the LSAT because law schools already know I'm awesome?

Just kidding

[09042014]

So what everyone is saying is that, since I am a AA male, I don't have to take the LSAT because law schools already know I'm awesome?

Just kidding

this is essentially true.

[FairchildFLT]

So what everyone is saying is that, since I am a AA male, I don't have to take the LSAT because law schools already know I'm awesome?

Just kidding

this is essentially true.

Well there is a ton of evidence showing how URM's tend to over perform on the LSAT anyway. *sarcasm*

[SPerez]

I was wondering when this was going to pop up here. A lot of discussion, but I can tell few if any have linked to the actual proposed regs. Here's the newly added interpretation to rule 503, which places restrictions on HOW a school would be able to do this.

Interpretation 503-3
(a) It is not a violation of this Standard for a law school to admit no more than 10% of an
entering class without requiring the LSAT from:
(1) Students in an undergraduate program of the same institution as the J.D. program; and/or

(2) Students seeking the J.D. degree in combination with a degree in a different discipline.
(b) Applicants admitted under subsection (a) must meet the following conditions:
(1) Scored at or above the 85th percentile on the ACT or SAT for purposes of subsection (a)(1), or for purposes of subsection (a)(2), scored at or above the 85th percentile on the GRE or GMAT; and
(2) Ranked in the top 10% of their undergraduate class through six semesters of academic work, or achieved a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or above through six semesters of academic work.

TL;DNR = 1) Must be from school's own undergrad or applying to a dual-degree program; 2) Has to have 85th percentile score on ACT, SAT, GRE, or GMAT AND be over 3.5 or top 10% of their class.

You're not going to see much adoption of this by schools, IMO. Like many ABA regs seem to be, this really only benefits the elite schools with both grade inflation and students who test very well. And of course, if you have a high GPA and test well, why wouldn't you roll the dice and take the LSAT unless you were absolutely sure you wanted to stay at your school's law school or you're at an elite undergrad with an even more elite law school you don't think you would be able to get into...and this is IF said school even decides they want to make this available.

Your average regional schools with a virtually open-enrollment undergrad might have the grade inflation for students to have the 3.5 GPA, but most will likely not meet the 85th percentile requirement. (And don't even ask me how they came up with that percentile. I really hope some psychometrician person did some research or shook a magic 8-ball or something, but I have no idea.) Those that could are probably gunning higher than their alma mater's law school so will take the LSAT.

I can't tell for certain from the wording of the articles, but it sounds like this is only an option in the case of applicants who haven't taken the LSAT. In other words, a school can't simply ignore an applicant's low score and not report it to the ABA, right?

Correct. While it's not spelled out, I can't see a way by which schools would be allowed to not report a student with a score simply because they have a program that technically doesn't "require" an LSAT score. The GPA's of students admitted through this standard would absolutely count, though.

In short, the previous standard and interpretation was really vague so they probably felt the need to make it more specific (IMO, a bit messed up how they approved Rutgers program a few months before dinging them for the same program), but I'm not aware of any movement among a large number of schools for something like this.

Dean Perez

[McAvoy]

Well that really clears things up. I doubt people admitted under such a program would receive comparably decent scholarship offers, either.

[Nucky]

Wish they'd do the opposite as well and take only LSAT scores into consideration while ignoring GPA.

Help a splitter out!

[transferror]

In other words, a school can't simply ignore an applicant's low score and not report it to the ABA, right?

Correct, that's how I understand it. The schools that are already doing this are targeting applicants that took the GRE/GMAT and not the LSAT. If someone has an LSAT to report, I imagine it has to be reported.

[90convoy]

This really isn't a big deal. Can't the law school only admit students that went to the law school's undergrad institution??