For a very long time, taking the LSAT was the thing you did if you were serious about attending law school. Now there’s a lot more wiggle room. The ABA recently voted to create a process that will let law schools bypass evaluating standardized testing scores altogether. That said, law school applicants may find it beneficial to still take a standardized test in case the score strengthens their resume. The LSAT is still the tried and true evaluator, but competing test options like the GRE and JD-Next may one day usurp the top spot. But these experimental options aren’t just changing what applying for law school looks like, they’re also changing hands. JD-Next is, at least. Reuters has coverage:
Aspen Publishing has bought alternative law school admissions program JD-Next from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, the company said on Tuesday.
Aspen purchased the program, developed at the Arizona law school in 2019 as an alternative to the widely used Law School Admission Test, for an undisclosed amount. So far, 56 law schools—more than a quarter of all American Bar Association-accredited campuses—have received ABA permission to use JD-Next test scores when admitting students.
The change in ownership may be the push Aspen needs to grow JD-Next as a competitor to the LSAT. It is also happening at a time that the importance of standardized testing may be on the decline.
LSAT Competitor Sold Amid Push For Alternative Law School Admissions [Reuters]
Earlier: And Then There Were 57: 5 More Schools Accept JD-Next
Got Good Grades? You Might Not Even Have To Bother With The LSAT Anymore!
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.