The Huffington Post, LSAT: The Next "Wealth Test" of College Seniors, by Noah Berry (Class of 2011, Columbia University):
[W]hen I looked online to sign up for one of these lauded [LSAT] prep courses, I found that their cost ranged from $1200 to over $9000 — with in-class hours ranging from eighty-some to over three-hundred! This is very problematic on more than one level.
First, the vast majority of Americans (even the majority of American college students) cannot afford to blow $1,200 to $9,000 on a prep course. Many of us are already heavily saddled with debt, others simply do not have the cash on-hand. …
Second, of course, is the problem of the time needed to dedicate to these courses. In addition to the massive amount of cash college seniors are expected to fork over to Kaplan or Princeton Review, we must also dedicate hundreds upon hundreds of hours in order to get our money's worth! …
But even if a student has chosen not to take the expensive path of a prep course as his or her chosen path to law school, they still face the problem of the sheer amount of time required to prepare for the LSAT. One of these previously-mentioned books suggested that one to two hours of studying each and every day was insufficient — instead, the book suggested, try to study for four or more hours. What not-obscenely-rich student amongst us has four or more hours to study for the LSAT? Even if college students don't have to pay for the overpriced Kaplan courses, they may still be working to pay for college expenses. …
Meanwhile, these lower-class and middle-class students have to compete with those who have the time, effort, and money to not only spend on expensive one-on-one tutoring (exponentially more expensive than the classroom instruction offered) — but who also do not need to worry about a job to help them pay their bills. … [I]f any law school admissions officer is reading this article, I urge you: grade your applications on a socioeconomic curve, and remember that wealth should not be a precondition of acceptance.
Above the Law, LSAT: Testing Wealth, Not Logic, by Elie Mystal:
If the test is really going to be this important to our system of legal education, at the very least it should be fundamentally fair to all socioeconomic backgrounds.
Instead, the LSAT confers another privilege to those born into a middle-class or better family. It’s another benefit of winning the birth lottery. People should at least consider that aspect of the test before making sweeping judgments about others based on their LSAT scores.
Check out this comic strip.
