When you start researching law school as a second-career applicant, there are certain decisions that quietly shape your entire future long before you realize it. The school you choose is not just about classes or rankings. It affects where you can work, how far your career can move, and how much freedom you will have when your life changes. And if you are reading this, your life has already changed a few times. Mine too.
As second-career applicants, every decision needs to be intentional. We are doing this to create options and secure the next chapter of our lives. Which means before we talk about the LSAT, the GRE, or JD Next, we need to talk about something most people skip right past.
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## ABA vs. Non-ABA Accreditation: This Is Not a Small Detail
A lot of people rush past the ABA versus non-ABA conversation because on the surface it sounds like a boring technical distinction. It is not. It is one of the most important decisions you will make before you ever take a test or submit an application. It determines how far your career can stretch and what doors will never open, no matter how talented you are.
If you are beginning to research law school, you have probably come across the fact that some schools have ABA accreditation while others do not. Many prospective students consider the non-ABA route because of its flexibility and the easier application process. But these two types of schools are not equal, and each one caters to a specific type of person.
The choice between an ABA accredited school and a non-ABA accredited school should start with your goals. For me, I wanted the flexibility of working in California but also retiring in a different state while continuing to practice law. I could not decide if I wanted to stay in the U.S. or maybe even work internationally for an American corporation. Those goals automatically ruled out non-ABA options before I ever looked at a single school.
Non-ABA accredited schools are state accredited. The rules vary state by state, so this is not a comprehensive breakdown of every state’s rules. But in general, non-ABA schools are approved by the state bar or state education authority, and bar eligibility is usually limited to just that state.
California, for example, has several state accredited and unaccredited schools. Graduates can normally sit for the California bar but usually nowhere else in the country. Other states like Alabama, Tennessee, and Massachusetts have very few state approved schools. And there are many states that will not allow non-ABA graduates to sit for the bar at all. Depending on where you live, an ABA accredited school may be your only real option.
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## Who Non-ABA Schools Are Actually For
Non-ABA accredited schools are designed for a very specific set of people. The first thing to consider is where you will practice and whether you are truly willing to stay in that location for the rest of your career.
This path can work well for people who want extreme flexibility in how they pursue legal education. People who want a legal background but not necessarily a lifelong legal career. People who are okay with limited geographic mobility and potentially lower earning potential. These schools are also a meaningful option for people who want to practice law but cannot get into ABA schools in their area.
Cost is another real factor. Most non-ABA programs cost only a fraction of what an ABA degree costs. They often attract working adults, career changers, people with lower GPAs or LSAT scores, or people who want a less expensive path into legal work.
But it is important to be clear about what you are trading. The work you are eligible to do after graduating can be significantly shaped by whether your degree came from an ABA school or not.
Take criminal law in California as an example. A graduate from a non-ABA school is still eligible to become a public defender or work as a deputy district attorney. They can practice criminal defense privately, appear in California state courts, handle misdemeanors, felonies, trials, and appeals, and even open their own firm. There is no restriction on criminal law practice for non-ABA graduates in California. But all of those cases must be in California. Even if a California attorney wanted to represent a California resident in a court in another state, they may not be able to. This becomes a real problem for people who live in communities that border other states, and even when reciprocity arrangements exist between states, they often come with significant hoops to jump through.
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## What ABA Accreditation Actually Gives You
ABA accredited schools do not carry those restrictions. If you want national mobility, ABA is the only real option.
Upon graduating from an ABA program, you are eligible to sit for the bar in all 50 states. You have immediate access to federal clerkships, federal jobs, and most major employers. ABA accredited schools also allow transfer options into other ABA programs, which means if you start at a lower ranked school but want to finish at a higher ranked one in your area, that door is open to you.
An ABA accredited degree is recognized everywhere. If you are like me and want the option to move states or practice broadly, an ABA accredited school is non-negotiable.
One more thing worth knowing. Applying to non-ABA schools can be significantly different and easier than applying to ABA schools, which always require LSAC registration. Non-accredited schools do not always require an LSAT or any standardized test at all. Sometimes an advanced degree is enough. One particular non-ABA school in Southern California markets heavily that if you already hold a PhD, they do not require an LSAT. Military experience can sometimes trigger a no-test option as well. Those non-standard acceptances are often what keep those schools flexible, but also what keeps them out of step with ABA standards.
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## LSAT, GRE, or JD Next: What You Actually Need to Know
Even though there are valid reasons to attend a non-ABA school, I want to caution anyone from choosing that path simply because they are afraid of taking the LSAT. Because the truth is, the LSAT is no longer the only way into an ABA accredited school.
For decades, it was the only entry path. Then in the mid-2010s, a major shift happened when schools like Harvard, Georgetown, and Arizona conducted studies showing the GRE could predict first-year law school performance. In the 2020s, the JD Next route appeared and is slowly being accepted by some programs. These alternatives have challenged the necessity of the LSAT.
Before accepting these alternatives at face value, though, it is worth understanding why they exist. Law schools did not expand their admissions testing options purely out of generosity to applicants. Enrollment at many ABA programs dropped significantly after 2010, and schools needed new pipelines of students to stabilize their finances. Accepting the GRE opened the door to applicants who were already pursuing other graduate programs and might be persuaded to add a law school application with minimal friction. JD Next was developed in part to reach applicants who might have been screened out by LSAT anxiety or limited test preparation resources.
These are not bad things. Broader access to legal education benefits everyone. But as a mature or second-career applicant, you should understand that these pathways were designed at least partly with institutional enrollment interests in mind, not just yours. Knowing that helps you evaluate them clearly.
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## The Case for the GRE
A lot of people believe the LSAT is outdated for modern legal practice. It carries a reputation for being high-stakes and high-anxiety. Critics argue it reinforces socioeconomic disparities because prep courses, tutors, and study time disproportionately benefit wealthier applicants. Even K-12 education quality affects performance. That fuels the argument that the test measures resources and preparation more than raw ability. Add cheating scandals, remote testing vulnerabilities, format changes, and the removal of logic games, and confidence in the LSAT gets shaken.
But none of that means I recommend taking the GRE or JD Next over the LSAT.
The GRE is accepted by 100 plus law schools, including all of the T14. Many mature and second-career candidates are drawn to it because it feels familiar. The test covers vocabulary, reading, math, and writing. If you are stronger in math and reading than in pure logic, it can feel less intimidating. These are skills we have built throughout our lives, and some of us have even taken the GRE for previous graduate degrees. That familiarity reduces anxiety.
The GRE is a strong alternative for people with high GPAs or a STEM background. It is also a smart choice if you are not completely certain law is where you want to land. If you are still weighing programs in business or education, the GRE keeps all of those options open. Scheduling is also much easier. The GRE is offered nearly every day, can be taken at home or at a test center, and can often be scheduled within a week. That is not the case with the LSAT.
When I first applied to law school, I went in with the GRE. To be honest, the thought of the LSAT filled me with anxiety. I had tried to take it multiple times throughout my life. When I finally decided I was going to law school, the LSAT was not available on a timeline that worked. My options were to take the GRE in less than a week or wait several months. Because I was dealing with the VA and being rushed to apply to schools, I went with the GRE.
The outcome was dramatically different from what I experienced later with the LSAT. The GRE can get you into law school. But it will rarely get you a full ride scholarship. That is the part people do not fully understand until it is too late.
Here is the principle worth holding onto before we go further. The pathway you choose into law school is not just an admissions decision. It is a financial decision. The test you submit shapes not only which schools will accept you but how much they are willing to pay to have you. For second-career students with compressed repayment timelines and limited margin for error, that distinction is not a footnote. It is the whole calculation.
In my own experience, the difference between submitting a GRE and submitting a strong LSAT score was a quarter million dollars. I will walk through exactly how that happened in a moment.
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## What JD Next Is and When It Makes Sense
JD Next is a newer option and it can be genuinely helpful for the right person. It is an online course that lasts about eight weeks and teaches core first-year law school skills: case briefing, legal reasoning, applying rules to hypotheticals, analytical writing, and doctrinal outlining. There is a final exam at the end, and some schools will accept that exam either as an alternative to the LSAT or as an addendum to strengthen your application.
There are real benefits here. The reduced anxiety alone is worth something. And because you spend two months going over core 1L skills, you can arrive slightly ahead of your classmates. It also gives you a low-stakes opportunity to gauge whether law school is actually for you before you commit.
This route can also be submitted alongside a lower LSAT score to show that a mediocre test result does not predict how you will actually perform in your first year. For mature and second-career applicants, it does a good job measuring grit and readiness rather than test-taking ability. It is a strong tool for holistic review when test scores miss the full picture.
The limitation is reach. At the time of this writing, JD Next is accepted by just around 60 schools. That significantly limits your options. And like the GRE, scholarship leverage through this route is extremely limited.
For those reasons, I view JD Next as complementary to the LSAT rather than a replacement. If you have already taken the LSAT and did not perform well, JD Next can supplement your application and demonstrate readiness. You can also submit a lower LSAT score alongside an essay explaining the circumstances to schools that do not accept JD Next at all, which keeps a much wider range of programs available to you. And if you are specifically targeting one of the 60 plus schools that accept JD Next in place of the LSAT, you even have the option of leaving the LSAT results out entirely.
It is an exceptional route and I hope it grows into a meaningful scholarship pathway. But until then, my recommendation remains to prepare for and take the LSAT. It is the key that opens every ABA door and gives you the best shot at significant financial aid.
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## My Story: How the LSAT Unlocked $200,000 in Scholarships
The LSAT is an unpopular choice for most nontraditional students. Students who go straight from high school through college and into law school often spend years preparing for it. But for those of us who have been living real life for twenty years, not breaking down logic puzzles, not reading dense academic material daily, and not having LSAT conversations leading up to graduation, the test feels daunting.
In my case, the LSAT opened doors the GRE simply could not.
When I applied with the GRE, only one school took a chance on me. And even that school told me directly that I was not competitive with their other students and they could not offer me any scholarships. I pushed hard to negotiate something because I was not willing to take on three years of one hundred thousand dollar annual loans, which was exactly what they quoted me for a low-ranked ABA school in Southern California. The GRE got me admitted. It also set me up to pay full price.
Two years later, I prepared for the LSAT with the commitment that I would take it exactly once. I did not want to do it. But since I had decided I was going to do it, I gave it everything I had for three months. At the end of it, I scored in the 86th percentile.
I thought that was a solid score, but I did not fully understand what it would unlock. Then the acceptances started coming in. And after almost every acceptance, a scholarship letter followed. Nobody had told me that performing well on the LSAT would translate directly into free money. I had assumed scholarships would be tied to things like military experience, work history, my MBA, or my PhD. None of that moved the needle. The LSAT changed everything.
Schools in certain ranking tiers admitted me. All of them reduced the cost through scholarships. One eliminated it completely.
Three months of studying made my law degree free. The total value of my scholarships was over two hundred thousand dollars across three years.
So let me ask you this directly. If someone told you that studying for three months and then sitting for one exam could put a quarter million dollars in your pocket, would you do it? Of course you would. But people who automatically rule out the LSAT for other options often do not realize that is exactly what they are walking away from.
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## Why the LSAT Carries So Much Weight With Schools
After receiving those scholarship offers, I did some research and learned something I had not understood before. A school’s median LSAT score is one of the most important drivers of their rankings. Every ABA school publishes its 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile LSAT scores for incoming students in what is called a 509 report. Independent ranking systems highlight those medians and allow sorting schools entirely by LSAT scores. These numbers are public and comparable, which makes them a de facto ranking system on their own.
Because of this, schools that are chasing the next ranking tier will spend real money to recruit students whose LSAT scores will boost their median. Those rankings in turn influence how employers perceive graduates, how much alumni donate, and how many applicants apply the following year.
What this means for you practically is that a student with a higher LSAT score will often notice that schools with medians close to their score may admit them but offer no scholarship. Meanwhile, schools with medians just below their score may be eager to offer scholarships to convince that student to enroll. The LSAT directly correlates to how much you will pay.
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## 13 Reasons to Take the LSAT Anyway
People avoid the LSAT for all kinds of reasons. Fear. A preference for a state-only program. A target school that accepts the GRE or JD Next. Not enough time to study. I understand all of it. But here is what I compiled during my own research on why the LSAT is worth taking for most adult applicants.
1. It unlocks significant scholarships and financial aid, which may be the single most important reason on this list.
2. It is the only test accepted by every single ABA accredited law school.
3. It is the most trusted predictor of first-year law school performance. Not the biggest predictor, but the most trusted.
4. It is the most transparent and predictable test, with fixed question types and a massive library of real practice tests.
5. It is the fairest option for people who are not strong in math.
6. It is the only test designed specifically for legal reasoning.
7. It is a respected signal to law schools, employers, and judges. Some highly competitive programs treat the score as meaningful well beyond admissions.
8. It is used as an initial screening tool. Very low scores can trigger near-automatic denials before anyone reads the rest of your application.
9. It gives long-term flexibility. If you reapply the following year, transfer into a new program, or pursue a later scholarship negotiation, LSAT scores are highly portable.
10. Law school is built around rankings, and the LSAT is central to navigating them. Knowing where you are competitive helps you choose wisely. And once you are enrolled at a school where you are competitive, you are more likely to maintain your scholarship through the curved GPA system.
11. The LSAT is hard, but it is learnable in a way the GRE is not. Boosting math or reading skills in a few weeks is genuinely difficult. The logic skills the LSAT tests can be built and sharpened relatively quickly with focused effort.
12. If you cannot make the time to study for the LSAT, that is worth paying attention to. The discipline required to prepare is a real preview of the discipline law school will demand.
13. You will likely do better than you expect.
That last point matters. I gave myself three months after being out of school for fifteen years, used a thirty dollar study strategy, did not take a single full-length practice test, and still scored in the 86th percentile. Imagine what a more invested preparation could have produced. The next post covers exactly how I studied, what worked, what did not, and what studying as a second-career student actually looks like when your life is already full.
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