Following a recent American Bar Association policy change, law schools will only report a student's highest LSAT score -- rather than an average of all scores -- to the ABA, changing the way many law school admissions offices evaluate applicants' scores.
While top law schools like Stanford and the University of Chicago have moved to the standard of considering only the highest score when reviewing applications, some of the other top ranking law schools -- like Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and NYU -- have left their policies unchanged.
A Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions survey of 170 law schools' admissions officers found that the new policy is quickly becoming accepted by law schools around the country. Prior to the announcement, 87 percent of law school admissions officers used students' average LSAT scores during the admission process, but soon after the announcement, 74 percent reported they had already begun considering only the highest, single test score.
The change should relieve student headaches; they can take the exam without worrying about low scores affecting their chance of admission into law school.
"It's nice for a person who unexpectedly bombs the first time out, so that one bad day doesn't have such a disproportionate effect on her application," NYU law student Brian Burgess '05 said.
For nervous test-takers, knowing one can retake the exam multiple times "may alleviate some of the pressure and may allow scores to more accurately reflect nervous students' raw aptitude," said Kevin Goldstein '05, a first-year Georgetown law student.
Kaplan representative Steven Marietti was certain there would be a definite rise in students taking the exam multiple times.
"We surveyed the admissions officers on that and three-quarters of them said that they believe the new policy will result in an increase of applicants who take the LSATs more than once and we talked to students and the same trend holds true," he said.
The Law School Admission Council's limit on taking the test -- students can only take it three times in two years -- is still in place. And while many law schools have adopted the higher score standard, students should be aware that this new policy has not been universally accepted by all law schools.
"Law schools are free to admit students in any way that they choose and it doesn't matter what the ABA decides about how to evaluate first-year classes," Marietti said. "We did ask schools that have moved to the higher score standard if it was still beneficial for students to have fewer scores on their report, and 37 percent said having fewer scores could still benefit students in the admissions process."
Craig Janecek, Yale Law School's director of admissions, said he was concerned students would feel "secure under the mistaken assumption that they will be able to 'erase' lower scores with a subsequent, higher score."
Due to hyper-competitive admissions pools, a higher score on a later exam will, at times, not compensate for the failure to prepare for a previous exam.
Several Dartmouth alumni held varying opinions on the change; some think it reduces aspiring lawyers' stress while others think it won't change any admissions decisions.
"Personally, I would have taken the LSAT again if the proposed change had already been in effect," said Justin Brownstone '06, a UCLA law student. "However, plenty of my peers were happy with their scores and would not have needed this change."
Katherine Espiritu agreed with Janecek of Yale when she said LSATs are only one piece of an application reviewed by law schools.
Goldstein played down the changes' importance.
"Most likely the ABA policy will not cause significant changes in admissions, especially at the competitive schools to which Dartmouth students often apply, because law schools will still receive all LSAT scores, look at candidates' explanations of big variances, and reach the same semi-speculative, holistic conclusions about the ability of each candidate," he said.
