Exploring the Impact of GREAccepting Admissions on Law School Diversity and Selectivity

Reducing barriers to graduate and professional education may reduce racial inequities in high-status professions. In 2020, one-quarter of law schools accepted the GRE in place of the LSAT, reflecting an effort across educational domains to revisit standardized test requirements. We use a generalized difference-in-differences design to investigate the impact of GRE-accepting admissions on diversity and selectivity in legal education. We find some evidence of decreased racial diversity after policies have been in place a couple of years, along with increases in applications and decreases in acceptance rates. Findings indicate GRE-accepting admissions alone are unlikely to expand access to high-status fields.