Another law school will be joining the University of Arizona in accepting the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) for admissions. Harvard Law School is now the second institution to accept the test.
For the most part, students hoping to go to law school have to take the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) to be considered for admission.
In a statement, officials at Harvard say the move to accept GRE scores too is part of a wider strategy to expand access to legal education adding that students benefit when they can diversify the legal community.
"Certainly when Harvard changes a long standing policy with regard to admissions I think a lot of law schools are going to certainly take notice of that," said Jeff Thomas with Kaplan Test Prep.
Thomas said the fact that Harvard has jumped on board with the University of Arizona is significant.
"Law schools are looking to diversify their classes. To give themselves more options in terms of the numbers and types of students they’re admitting to their first year classes," he said.
When the University of Arizona Law School began accepting GRE scoreslast winter they received some criticism. Opponents of the move argued it was an attempt to fill seats in a time when law school attendance across the country is down. But Marc Miller, the dean of the University of Arizona College of Law, said that’s not the case.
"The idea that at our small school, given our values and our affordability, that we did this to generate money or manipulate the rankings is absolutely absurd," he said.
According to Miller, the school received 72 applications using a GRE score during last year's admissions process. Of those, 16 were admitted and 12 accepted.
