LSAT No Longer Required For Top Law Schools Including Harvard, Georgetown

The LSAT has long bedeviled wannabe law school students.

Unlike the GRE, which like college entrance exams relies on knowledge that can be memorized, the LSAT evaluates logical reasoning and reading comprehension.

The GRE is used for admission to myriad graduate programs for the arts and sciences alike.



http://fortune.com/2017/12/06/lsat-law-school-harvard-georgetown/

 

The best indicator of success at the university level is high school grades, and the initiative a student takes to get involved in the community and school activities--it's definitely not standardized exams, LSAT, ACT, SAT, GMAT, whatever.

 

According to what research I've read on the subject, there is a very strong correlation between an applicant's LSAT score and his/her first year law school performance (and the aggregate class performance on the Bar exam). I know of no similar research regarding the GRE. I cannot think what justification there might be for deliberately NOT using a very well documented admissions screening device to help a student decide whether to spend $150,000 for a J.D. unless the law school scam bloggers are right; law schools are just after the student loan money.

 

And yet, law is an undergrad subject in many countries based on the same Common Law that (most) of the US legal system is based on. So close, in fact, that one of those undergrad LLB holders can, in some cases with no additional formal education, come to the United States and practice.

The idea that law schools simply could not operate unless they submit themselves before a for-profit company cranking out standardized tests is, frankly, silly.

Law school admissions rely on much more than LSAT scores. My LSAT scores were pretty average. Not at all exceptional. Any admissions I secured were due to the strength of my essay and my grades.

While I think there are quite a few law schools that want your money above all else and couldn't care less about the student, I don't think there is any way to credibly level that claim against schools like Harvard and Georgetown.

 

LSAT Survey

Please take the LSAT survey here:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RM7FVMJ

Scroll down and click the "DONE" button when you complete the one-question survey.

 

Fall 2018 Law School Admissions Season Opens With A Bang: Applicants Are Up 14.2%

TaxProf Blog

 

My guess is that some politically favored groups have lower average LSAT scores than less favored groups.

 

LSAT Survey Results

If you want to see the survey results (they are updated every 10 minutes), then click here:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-XSC52H2S8/

Then click on "Responses" to see what respondents wrote.

The survey will stay up indefinitely.

 

Anecdotal, of course, but it wasn't much of a correlation for me. Got 95th percentile on LSAT, and probably could've done better, maybe a perfect score, if I hadn't started daydreaming and got behind time and had to Christmas tree the last 9 questions or so (after getting through the first 3/4 of the test right on time schedule and with everything correct). Anyway, after blowing away the LSAT, where was I after the first year of law school? Right smack in the middle of the class, even a bit below average, 40th percentile. Gained ground second and third year and finished barely in the top half, but that LSAT proved one thing: I am really good at taking the LSAT. At least for me, that was about all it indicated. : )