Harvard Law School to Start Accepting GRE Scores

Harvard Law School is one of the top law colleges in the world. It accepts GRE scores to offer admission to students.  The college is reputed so the average GRE scores for incoming students are quite high, with a range of 161-167 on the verbal and quantitative sections.

Now Harvard Law School accepts GRE scores to offer admission to international students. There is an anticipation in the education community that dropping the traditional LSAT as an entry requirement for applicants could lead to a better and more diverse group of future lawyers entering the field. 

The number of law school applicants has decreased by 40% over the last decade. This is seen as a direct result of lesser opportunities in the job market for lawyers. Many US law school deans argue that accepting GRE scores will encourage a lot more diverse body of applicants to consider law school. 

GRE can be taken any day on a computer in more than 160 countries. It essentially tests verbal reasoning, quantitative skills, analytical writing and critical thinking. While LSAT is a paper-based exam and is administered only four times a year at fewer locations across the world. LSAT tests reading skills, analytical reasoning and logic. 

If the students are aiming at different graduate schools, they need to take both tests separately. This can prove to be quite costly as the prep courses for each are different. If the students are allowed to take just one exam, it would ease a major financial burden. 

Although Harvard Law School hasn't experienced a major drop in applications, the school maintains that they are interested in 'widening their applicant pool'.  Accepting GRE scores will make the school more attractive to international students, and to students from various fields like computer science, engineering etc.  

However, critics say that requiring different test scores isn’t going to make law field more attractive as the job market remains weak. Also, eliminating LSAT could encourage even those students to enter law school who may not have considered law as the right career choice.

Candidates looking for assistance with university admissions can get in touch with our Shiksha Study Abroad counsellors team.