Law Schools
Univ. of Alabama Accepts its Honors Undergrads Sans LSAT
Posted Apr 8, 2009 10:44 AM CST
By Sarah Randag
As a part of a pilot program, the University of Alabama School of Law has admitted seniors from the University of Alabama’s Honors College without LSAT scores, the Tuscaloosa News reported.
“The decade-old Law-UA Honors partnership, which is a select but important part of our recruitment effort, is experimenting this year with ways to keep top local students on campus for their legal education,” law school spokesman Aaron Latham said in a statement.
Through a public information request, the Tuscaloosa News obtained a letter that Claude Reeves, associate dean for admissions at the law school, sent to Honors College students in the fall. The letter stated that for Honors College students with a minimum 3.75 GPA, applications would not require LSAT scores, essays or recommendation letters, and that their admission decisions would be made within 24 hours.
The University of Michigan announced a similar program in September that goes so far as to not consider applicants who had taken the LSAT. The MoneyLaw blog, among others, suggested at the time that one aim of the program may be to improve the school’s ranking in U.S. News & World Report.
“After all, the law school can hardly report LSAT scores for its 1L Wolverine Scholars if no such scores exist. Yet those same students offer the school a chance to greatly improve the mean GPA of its 1L class,” according to the blog.
The Tuscaloosa News also noted that the University of Illinois College of Law announced a similar program in October, as the National Law Journal detailed at the time. This program allows University of Illinois undergrads to apply during their junior year, and the LSAT is optional.
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Comments
Steve
Apr 8, 2009 11:53 AM CST
It does sound like they just another school trying to out-maneuver US News by making it easy for certain students to get into their law school.
B. McLeod
Apr 8, 2009 5:48 PM CST
I wonder how that will turn out for those students long term. Back when I was enrolled in undergraduate classes, there was a student in the Engineering School with a 4.0, who took the LSAT and bombed it. If the LSAT actually measures aptitude for law school (and I know many take issue with this), Alabama could be screwing a lot of students with this policy.
Bill Dugan
Apr 9, 2009 6:54 AM CST
McLeod is right. I think this is not a good move for the State of Alabama, who already has to live down the reputation they made for themselves in the 1960’s. Do we really want more dumb lawyers, even if they stay down in Ol’ Alabamee?
Chris
Apr 9, 2009 10:02 AM CST
They’re only doing it to beat their US News Ranking. Now if US News really wants to thwart these kinds of programs it should simply give the school’s average score for each student who doesn’t take the LSAT (or even better the nation’s average score). I can see the headlines on abajournal.com now… “University of Michigan admits student with 3.9 GPA and a 149 LSAT!!! GO BLUE!!!”
Anonymous
Apr 10, 2009 4:31 AM CST
Considering that US News looks at median and 25/75 percentile scores (not averages), this could be too clever by half. Not reporting scores simply adds that many students to the bottom end of the score distribution.
Cellman49
Apr 10, 2009 6:13 AM CST
The dumbing down of lawyers continues. Instead of raising the bar, every new program enacted lowers the bar. Oh well, I guess this will ultimately create more work for lawyers, that is, cleaning up the mess of those incompetent newbies.
Michael Duff
Apr 10, 2009 8:05 AM CST
On the other hand, this may put a new focus on some undergraduate programs. Admit enough 3.9s who go on to bomb law school and flunk the bar and there would have to be a very interesting dialogue between the involved undergraduate programs and the law school. I doubt that there would be much pressure to admit local applicants thereafter, which is often the underlying dynamic in these decisions.
Proud Bama Grad
Apr 10, 2009 8:26 AM CST
Funny how nobody on this forum seems to have picked up a copy of the US News and World Report for the last decade or so…‘Bama law has been top tier for quite a while, and this year was ranked No. 32 overall. It’s also consistently ranked as a top value, with low tuition and student-friendly cost of living. So it seems unlikely that this is some sort of shell game to improve the rankings, as they’re almost as high as any school without a ‘name’ (‘cause we all know that’s what makes good lawyers) will be.
Furthermore, the students that they’re planning to recruit with this are Honors College, representing the top 10% of undergrads. Minimum SAT to get into this program is a 1240- hardly the sort of people who don’t perform well on the LSAT or who turn into more “dumb lawyers.” Rather, I think that the intent is probably exactly what they said - it’s a recruitment tool for both the law school and the Honors College to attract more top notch students to Alabama.
And as for BD’s overall snide comments…in addition to not paying attention to the rankings, you clearly haven’t read much national news lately either. Alabama is booming - even in these hard economic times, we’re doing much better the rest of the country. We have a good mix of high- and low- tech jobs and are poised to lead the way in green technology with fuels made out of sugar cane. Our cost of living is terrific, and the weather is almost perfect. Sure, we’re not perfect - but we’re a lot better than a lot of other places. So, yes, I’ll just take my 99 percentile LSAT score and my summa cum laude degree from UA law and stay down in “Ol Alabamee.”
Garp
Apr 10, 2009 8:32 AM CST
I think it generally devalues the profession. Part of becoming a lawyer and professional is that you are required to navigate the many academic hurdles to get here. LSAT is one of them. What next, drop the bar exam for 3.75 GPAs and above? Who knows what the classes are like at that school. I know “A” students who cheated regularly as undergrads. If you boink your professor to get an “A” should you be automatically admitted to law school?
3L dood
Apr 10, 2009 8:35 AM CST
This isn’t such a great deal for the students. If it really is highly selective, those kids would be well-advised to take the LSAT anyway—not doing so limits them to ‘Bama. That is bad for them even if that’s their top choice, because it makes it impossible for them to negotiate their financial aid package. (Admission to a peer school took me from waitlisted to in-with-$$ at my top choice).
This is like Early Decision: Great for the school, bad for the student. But this has the added benefit for the school of being spinnable as some principled stand against standardized testing.
Another Bama Grad
Apr 10, 2009 9:14 AM CST
While Bama is a great value in legal education, Dean Ken Randall is OBSESSED with being ranked higher than UGA. Whatever it takes. So the school must have done an analysis of Bama’s honors college grads who become law students and figured out they’re better off without these scores.
AD
Apr 10, 2009 10:14 AM CST
When I entered law school 61 years ago, we knew nothing about GPAs and :SATs; however, my law school boasts many successfuil alumni attorneys and distinguished jurists of local and apellate courts, both State and federal. I think that the LSAT process is only an excuse for the selection process when a law school is bombarded by applicants. I knew good lawyers who were lousy exam takers but were eager to learn and who made giood use of their opportunities. .
AD
Apr 10, 2009 10:36 AM CST
Oops. forgive the typo. I really know how to spell “good” well.
Bama grad
Apr 15, 2009 12:52 PM CST
I graduated from the Honors College at Alabama with a 3.9 GPA. I didn’t do so well on the LSAT, but got admitted to Law School at Alabama off of the wait list. I graduated near the top of my class, got two Best Papers, made it onto the Moot Court Board, and was elected to the Managing Board for Law Review. I had several other friends who were in the same situation (got in later, no scholarship, graduated high in the class, etc).
LSAT scores don’t mean everything, and perhaps Alabama is starting to realize that.
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