UM: Law School

Inside Higher Ed reports on UM’s apparently controversial decision to allow some students to skip the LSAT. “Many law school bloggers have jumped to the conclusion that the law school is trying to improve its rankings in U.S. News by attracting students with very high grades but perhaps those students who wouldn’t score well on the LSAT. In this scenario, Michigan gets more points for a higher GPA and its LSAT average could rise, too….(director of admissions Sarah) Zearfoss said there is no such strategy at work. The number of students who will be admitted this way is such a ‘fractional sliver’ of the class that ‘this couldn’t be a successful route for manipulating the rankings, even if we were so inclined,’ she said. Michigan has ‘well considered policy objectives’ for the program, she said, adding that the law school has never made decisions based on ‘blind obeisance to rankings.’ ” [Source]