The panel of the American Bar Association (ABA) voted 15-1 for the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) to be optional. 

This vote resides heavily with the students of John Jay College.

According to John Jay’s demographics, nearly a quarter of John Jay College graduates attend law school, over 30% are immigrant students, and 48% are first-generation students. 

Upon receiving criticisms for lack of diversity within admissions, the ABA disclosed that the law schools of Columbia, Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, and Georgetown will no longer be participating in those ranking systems. 

T-14 (the law schools in the United States thank rank in the top 14) law schools claim they aim to promote diversity among applicants in upcoming years. 

Making the LSAT optional would progress the goal of incorporating representation into a profession that is too costly for many.

Shanea Soumakis, a law & society major at John Jay, shared her thoughts on this ruling.

“The LSAT was basically created to gate keep law school,” she said. “One test should not be required to determine whether or not you deserve to go to law school, the work you put in for the past 4 years should be enough,” said Soumakis.

Some students wonder if declaring the LSAT optional could be a poor long-term decision in terms of admissions. 

Andrew Cerbone, also a law & society major at John Jay, expressed his views on the standardized test.

“I think it’s a useful litmus test for who has the capabilities for law school,” he said. “People may get in without having what it takes to be in law school, let alone a lawyer,” said Cerbone.

The LSAT was not structured to test knowledge on topics, it trains students to think in a logical and analytical manner. The LSAT is also constantly being updated. For example, there is an ungraded variable component of the exam that is purely used by test makers to evaluate the current format’s efficacy.

On Monday, February 6th, 2023, a second vote was administered. The ABA’s House of Delegates did not vote in favor of the resolution that would have made standardized testing optional for applicants.

There will be other votes administered in the future, but for now, law school hopefuls should continue studying for the LSAT.