Law.com, ABA Sees Surge in Variance Requests to Admit Students Without an Admissions Test:

Since the American Bar Association voted to allow law schools to submit a variance that would allow a school to admit up to 100% of its class without an admissions test late last year, several law schools were quick to take advantage of the option.

The ABA website lists 14 law schools that submitted requests for variances from Standard 503, which governs law school admissions testing requirements, in 2025: 10 were submitted in January and granted in March [Florida State,George Mason, Indiana-Bloomington, McGeorge, Mississippi College, South Dakota, Syracuse, Texas A&M, Utah, and University of Washington], and another four were submitted in April and granted in May [Arizona State, CUNY, Georgia, and Ohio State.

In comparison, in the past five years combined, only six schools applied for a variance from Standard 503, of which five were granted, according to the ABA’s website. This does not include more than 60 variances granted to use the JD-Next exam in lieu of the LSAT, which is a different process. Ten of the 14 schools granted a 503 variance this year had also previously been granted the JD-Next variance.

While the ABA declined to disclose the specifics of the requests beyond the information provided online due to confidentiality agreements with schools, several of the schools that were granted Standard 503 variances this year confirmed to Law.com that their requests were related to admitting a higher portion of students without a test. …

The Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar voted in November to accept variances to Standard 503, allowing schools to request the ability to admit up to 100% of its students without an admissions test—a significant shift from the prior rule, which only allowed up to 10% of students to be admitted without a test….

The council had been trying to make law schools test-optional since May 2022, but was met with much opposition, including the ABA House of Delegates voting down the resolution in February 2023. Thus, instead of trying to change Standard 503, it offered schools the variance.

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