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William S. Richardson School of Law orientation session in August 2014. (credit: Spencer Kimura)

The University of Hawaiʻi William S. Richardson School of Law will be accepting the most widely used graduate school exam as an alternative to the LSAT for its law school admission process on a one-year trial basis.

The faculty’s decision to pilot the GRE® General Test followed the law school’s role as one of the first three law schools to have completed a validation study of the GRE® test in collaboration with Educational Testing Service. The 2016 School of Law data showed that GRE® scores were a better predictor of first year law school grades than were undergraduate grades.The pilot program analysis also noted that previous research had already shown that the GRE® General Test was a valid and reliable measure to predict academic performance in law school.

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William S. Richardson School of Law

The UH law school joins four other law schools across the country in now accepting the GRE® General Test. The other law schools are the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, Harvard Law School, Georgetown University Law Center and Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law.

Acting Dean Melody K. MacKenzie noted that she views this pilot program as an important first step in making the Law School more accessible to a wider range of excellent candidates.

“We are confident that there are graduate students and faculty and staff members on our campus who would succeed in law school, but may not have the time to prepare for another expensive entrance exam,” said Acting Dean Melody K. MacKenzie. “We recognize that potential law school applicants may also be considering other nonlegal graduate and professional programs that require or recommend the GRE® General Test. We’d like to make it easier for them to see themselves at Richardson in this coming year.”

The William S. Richardson School of Law admissions process begins October 1 for enrollment in both the day and evening programs for fall 2018. For more information about applying, please see admissions website.

For more, read the full story on the School of Law website.

—By Beverly Creamer

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