Lots of shake ups going on in law school. As More Top Law Schools Boycott Rankings, Others Say They Can’t Afford to Leave For more than 30 years, roughly the same 14 law schools have been the most highly rated by U.S. News, fluctuating only slightly. The list has been so set in amber that people refer to it as the T14. Graduating from schools on this list can make a material difference in careers, from salary to Supreme Court clerkships. Now there is a growing movement to no longer cooperate with the U.S. News & World Report rankings. At least four more members of the T14 — Stanford, Georgetown, Columbia and Berkeley — have joined Yale and Harvard’s move this week to withdraw and not submit their data for judgment. Their concerns were about ethics, equity and mission. The rankings, with their focus on test scores, grades and employment, created a perverse incentive to downgrade public service law careers and to award merit aid rather than need-based aid, they said. Their boycott is part of a broader movement to increase access to law school. On Friday, a panel of the American Bar Association voted to stop requiring accredited law schools to mandate the Law School Admission Test or Graduate Record Examination, making standardized testing optional for students applying in the fall of 2025. Critics say the tests hinder diversity, and the association’s decision comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is reconsidering affirmative action in higher education.
It’s a very fascinating issue of the current moment, and I can’t say I feel fully in command of all the aspects. It seems to me that 1) the best barriers to entry in a field would be those most like the actual job in the field, and 2) all exams will fall short of perfection in this measure. That said, what is better? To complicate matters, the behavior geneticist Paige Harden makes the argument that standardized tests actually increase diversity. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/04/mit-admissions-reinstates-sat-act-tests/629455/
how soon before med schools drop their standards, a match made in heave, inept doctors and lawyers ready to sue.
This site is junk. What’s up with the tirade half way through the article on white professors being fired for diversity? Here is a story from a credible source. With LSAT in limbo, Yale Law students divided on test’s merits
Our fire department followed the path of many central Florida departments and lowered the physical standards to apply for employment. We used to utilize a custom physical assessment test but will now use a one size fits all standardized test for the expressed purpose of hiring more diversity. Many if not all of our minority employees have openly stated they are against this. Not exactly central to the topic at hand but I thought somewhat pertinent to the discussion.
Just one more incidence of removing achievement from the decision criteria. Math “Obstacles”; Good Riddance Aptitude Evaluation; We don’t need that shit! We are on the fast track to mediocrity if we are lucky.
It appears that: - the change won’t be fully voted on until February - law schools would still be free to require the LSAT or GRE ABA panel moves to make law school admission tests optional
In a previous role I hired quite a few kids straight out of school, mostly from UF. While there are always exceptions, the kids with the best grades usually performed better and have had more successful careers. It’s no different than recruiting, you have great examples of low ranked players becoming great, but for the most part, those 4 and 5 star players will outperform the 2 and 3 star players. The cream always rises to the top.
Tampa fire made some adjustments in 1978. The people hired afterwards who couldn’t cut it in fire suppression were transferred to prevention and became fire inspectors. It was that or go home.
I took the Tampa assessment 15 years ago fresh out of school to see what it was like and maybe move to the Westcoast. It was not physically arduous at all. Of course after passing it I had my first interview panel....which I bombed.
I retired in September 2007. Started at TPD then transferred to TFR where I spent most of my time as a fire investigator. That interview panel were and still are good friends of mine. The interview was not easy.
