3 Reasons Why The Colleges of Law Doesn’t Require LSAT Scores

Updated on: March 4, 2026

No type of standardized test, including the LSAT, can predict who will become a skilled, competent, and ethical attorney.

During the law school admissions process, most institutions look at an applicant’s Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) scores. The LSAT is a type of exam that assesses an individual’s abilities to critically read and think analytically, which are skills expected of all law school students.

In spite of all the LSAT prep that takes place year-round, the American Bar Association (ABA), which accredits more than 200 law schools in the United States, is taking the first step to eliminating the requirement that law schools use the LSAT as part of the admissions process.

Unfortunately, most law schools will continue to use a standardized test – whether it’s the LSAT or the GRE – to measure an applicant’s aptitude for success.

At The Colleges of Law (COL), located in southern California, we do not require Juris Doctor or Hybrid Juris Doctor applicants to take the LSAT. Instead, we evaluate applicants on their character as presented in their work and academic history.

1. Using LSAT Scores is a Missed Chance for Self-Reflection

The ABA and the law schools that continue to rely on these exams are missing an opportunity to evaluate whether current admission practices are positively contributing to the legal profession.

Law schools are one of the gatekeepers to the profession and their admissions policies should reflect this function.  No standardized test can predict who will become a skilled, competent, and ethical attorney.

2. The LSAT Cannot Identify Professional Potential

Like most standardized tests, the LSAT is used to predict academic success in law school.  Unsurprisingly, researchers have found a correlation between LSAT scores and first-year law school GPA.

The LSAT is a three-hour timed test that measures reading comprehension along with logical and analytical reasoning. Most first-year law school exams are timed three-hour exams that measure reading comprehension and analytical reasoning.  So LSAT scores appear to simply measure cognitive test-taking ability rewarded in the first year of law school (and often beyond).

However, the LSAT’s predictive value diminishes greatly when students are assessed through LSAT prep via practice tests and sample questions or in courses that focus on lawyering skills, such as client interviewing, oral arguments, or trial practice. It simply cannot predict who will become a competent lawyer.

3. Research Supports Successful Legal Careers Despite LSAT Scores

After a long-term research project, Marjorie Schultz and Sheldon Zedeck established 26 lawyering competencies, only 12 of which were correlated with LSAT score with eight having a negative correlation. Likewise, the MacCrate Report identified 10 skills and values essential for practitioners only two of which overlap with the LSAT exam, with only two correspond with the LSAT.  Another study looked at the success of Michigan Law School alumni and found there was no correlation between LSAT scores and post-graduate accomplishments.

The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAAL) discovered that the number one trait new lawyers need to launch a successful career is character.  Well over half of the 24,000 lawyers who responded to the survey identified characteristics like integrity, work ethic, resilience, and teamwork as the most necessary right out of law school.  The LSAT does not measure any of these traits.

The Colleges of Law J.D. Programs

The Colleges of Law in Santa Barbara and Ventura doesn’t require the LSAT or any standardized test as part of our admissions process.  Unlike the ABA, the State Bar of California’s Committee of Bar Examiners (CBE), which accredits COL, does not mandate schools use a standardized exam score for their admissions.

Instead, The Colleges of Law has chosen a holistic approach to our admissions process. For nearly 50 years, the COL mission has been to create opportunities for prospective students to attend law school. Our Juris Doctor students are primarily working adults who have long delayed their dream to pursue a legal career. The COL law program ensures that our students study under working lawyers, judges, and elected officials, learning from those with firsthand experience of the legal system in preparation for their professional careers.

While we look to previous academic performance, we also look to work history, search for indicators of characteristics like grit, determination, passion, and frequently require an in-person interview prior to acceptance.

Our California law school has a rigorous curriculum with a grading system that alerts students early in the first year if they are unlikely to succeed.  Moreover, because we are committed to affordability, a student isn’t saddled with a triple-digit debt if they discover that working in law isn’t the right fit for them.

The Colleges of Law offers a non-ABA Juris Doctor and a Hybrid Juris Doctor program, both of which prepare students to take the California bar exam. Our on-campus J.D. program is designed for part-time law students, offering evening courses that allow students to continue their current work or family responsibilities. This law program takes three-and-a-half to four years to complete. The hybrid online J.D. program offers extra flexibility for law students, as all classes are online, with 30% of the program requiring in-person practice. Hybrid Juris Doctor students will attend a single 12-hour intensive on-site residency each month at the Ventura, California campus, where they will apply the theories they have learned.

Apply to Law School Without the LSAT

The Colleges of Law also provides Juris Doctor students with a multitude of tools to help them prepare for the California bar exam.

• Our J.D. curriculum includes every subject tested on the California bar exam.
• Students take mixed subject closed-book exams starting in the first year.
• Like the bar exam, every law school exam includes multiple-choice questions.
• Students take a bar diagnostic exam in their penultimate year that alerts them to their strengths and weaknesses.
• Law school students are required to take a Bar Studies course in their final semester.
• Our curriculum includes an elective course focused on Multistate Performance Test (MPT) preparation.
• As part of their tuition, Juris Doctor students at The Colleges of Law have access to BARBRI for every bar-tested subject starting in their first year.
• As part of their tuition, graduates have access to the BARBRI bar preparation course used by an overwhelming majority of former law school graduates.

The Colleges of Law recognizes that effective lawyering requires a blend of skills and character traits that cannot be easily measured in a standardized test.  The ABA has taken the first step in encouraging the law schools it accredits to reevaluate their admission policies but it’s uncertain how many law schools will actually do so. If they don’t, they have missed the opportunity to truly expand access to legal education and to the profession.

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Interested in pursuing your J.D.?  Explore our Traditional J.D. Program or our Hybrid J.D. Program. You can also request more information by filling out the form below.