Harvard Law School is one of the top universities offering aspiring law students the needed course in order to become lawyers. For the past seven decades, the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) has been the basis for people to get into Harvard Law School but that will no longer be a requirement.
The LSAT is a standardized test that students have to take to get into the American Bar Association (ABA)-accredited law school both in the United States and Canada. This fall, Harvard Law School will give students the power to choose whether they want to submit their Graduate Record Examination or the scores coming from the LSAT.
This is the first time that such choice is offered. This is a pilot program of Harvard Law School in an attempt to expand the number of students who could get into the school.
School officials said many students plan to pursue law school so the move to remove the LSAT requirement will be less expensive for those wanting to apply, Washington Post confirmed. The announcement came before ABA announced they would allow other tests to be presented to get into ABA-accredited law schools other than LSAT.
Harvard school officials added they wanted to eliminate the bias towards wealthy families who could afford LSAT coaching. They said, "Harvard Law School is continually working to eliminate barriers as we search for the most talented candidates for law and leadership."
Aside from Harvard Law School, the University of Arizona's law school dropped the LSAT requirement last year. Quartz reported it is expected more law schools will follow Harvard Law School's move.
Kyle McEntee, executive director of Law School Transparency, said she thinks many law schools have thought about the idea because they have struggled with the number of applications. Due to the Great Recession, many traversed another path aside from law school due to job prospects threatened.
As for the 2017-2018 academic year, 42,000 applicants have been recorded. This is a 1.5 percent decrease from the year 2016-2017.
