Uncertainty hovers around JD-Next, the promising alternative law school admissions program that facilitated bypassing the LSAT and the GRE, following recent moves by the American Bar Association (ABA). As reported by Reuters, the ABA has concluded that JD-Next fails to measure up to the current standardized admission tests used for law school admissions.
The ABA’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar approved a recommendation that the JD-Next program is not yet considered a “valid and reliable” predictor of an applicant’s law school grades. This decision, however, does not mean a permanent halt to JD-Next. Instead, the ABA urges for more data to be collected and for further study on the new program, a call echoed by Daniel Thies, chair of the standards committee.
In the meantime, Law schools can still seek ABA’s approval to use JD-Next in admissions, albeit skepticism remains among law school admissions officers about the new alternative. Results from Kaplan’s 2023 law school admissions officers survey emphasized this uncertainty. When asked for their opinion about the JD-Next exam, a considerable fraction (39.7%) stated they didn’t know enough about it or were unsure.
The future of JD-Next’s adoption within the next one to two admissions cycles also stirred mixed responses, with 19.5% of the respondents deeming it “very unlikely”, 17.2% “somewhat unlikely”, whereas on the other hand, 18.3% found it “very likely”. The largest faction (37.9%) remained unsure, underlining the need for further exploration, dialogue and data.
For the scores of hopeful law school applicants, it appears, the specter of standardized tests like LSAT and GRE remains a stark reality, at least for now.