U.C. Berkeley Law School

Law School Begins Accepting GRE For Select Applicants

UC Berkeley School of Law is making the LSAT optional for a select group of applicants this fall.
In a pilot study, the law school will allow certain applicants to submit GRE or GMAT scores rather than the LSAT, Daily Cal reports.
“No one gets in here just because of a test score,” Alex Shapiro, executive director of communications for Berkeley Law, tells Daily Cal. “If you did well enough on the GRE to get accepted and if you’re attractive in other ways to the admissions committee, this shouldn’t impact your acceptance. This is just a factor in a holistic decision.”
SPECIFIC APPLICANTS
The study is meant to target students who are applying for specialized fields such as patent or energy law.
Berkeley Law officials say these applicants may be deterred from applying to law school because of the LSAT.
LSAT STILL THE NORM
While these select few applicants will be able to submit a GRE or GMAT score in lieu of an LSAT score, Berkeley officials stressed that the LSAT will still be the norm for other applicants.
Over 40 law schools across the nation have chosen to accept the GRE in lieu of the LSAT for admissions, according to the Educational Testing Service, which administers the GRE.
Law schools making the switch argue that move opens up admissions to a more diverse field of applicants.
THE HOPE
Berkeley Law officials say they will evaluate current acceptance of GRE and GMAT scores after three years. The school says its policy will be changed each year it runs.
“Allowing these students to apply with the GRE and GMAT will further our interdisciplinary mission and help us to continue to attract outstanding law students,” Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky says in a press release.
Sources: Daily Cal, Educational Testing Service