Minority Admissions to Law School: More Trouble Ahead, and Two Solutions

Abstract:     
U.S. News and World Report (USNAWR) rankings have created incentives that have changed law school admissions. The rankings pressure schools to admit applicants with high numbers rather than those who would do the most to improve the admitting law school or the bar to which it sends its graduates. Much attention has already been paid to decreased minority admissions stemming from increased weight on the LSAT. The shoe that has not dropped, but will soon fall, is the undergraduate grade point average (UGPA). When law schools give this the attention that USNAWR mandates, the diversity of law school classes will suffer further erosion. The best hope for the future is for 1) the LSAC to create a Universal Index (UI) combining each student's LSAT and UGPA and report that to all admissions offices, 2) the ABA to collect the UI median, P25, and P75, and 3) USNAWR to use the UI median in its ranking formula instead of the LSAT and UGPA medians.

Keywords: Law school, Rankings, USN&WR, minority admissions, universal index

Accepted Paper Series