Should Law Schools have to Require LSAT Scores?

The ABA continues to say yes. However, the reliance on standardized tests is decreasing at the undergraduate level. Recently, both Temple University and Monclair State (N.J.) have made the SAT and ACT tests optional.

Montclair’s president, Dr. Susan Cole notes that university has found that a student’s high school GPA is three times as powerful as the SAT for demonstrating a student’s likely performance at Montclair State, She also argues that that standardized tests can have the undesirable effect of disadvantaging capable, striving students from middle and lower socio-economic backgrounds, many of whom do not have the benefit of costly preparation courses.

You can read more here  At Temple:

Students who opt not to submit test scores will have to answer written questions designed to assess attributes such as leadership, self-awareness, goal-setting, determination, and "grit," Temple officials said.

This year, a study released by the National Association of College Admission Counseling found almost no difference in college GPAs and graduation rates between students who submitted SAT scores and those who did not at colleges where scores are optional.

You can read more here.

In the Philadelphia region, Bryn Mawr and St. Joseph’s University have already adopted similar policies, as has DePaul in Chicago.

I do not know of any relevant longitudinal studies looking at college GPAs, LSAT scores, College GPAs, and law school success, but I suspect they would find college GPAs to be the best predictors of law school success.

(ljs