LSAT vs GRE comes down to reach: LSAC says the LSAT is the only admission test accepted by all ABA-approved law schools, while ETS counts 130+ law schools that take the GRE.
Both are legitimate routes into law school, but they differ in where they can take you, how you schedule them and how schools read them.
Here is how to decide.
How many law schools accept the GRE?
The two test makers answer this differently, and both are right about their own test.
LSAC, which runs the LSAT, says it is the only admission test accepted by all ABA-approved law schools.
ETS, the company that writes the GRE, says 130+ ABA-approved law schools accept the GRE, including many of the nation's top-ranked programs, and that the ABA formally recognized the GRE as a valid admissions test in 2021.
A school's acceptance policy and its actual enrollment are different things, though.
In the ABA's fall 2025 Standard 509 data, 92 of 196 reporting law schools enrolled at least one first-year student admitted with a GRE score, and GRE-based enrollees totaled ~530 of 42,812 first-years — ~1.2%.
There is also a third option, at much smaller scale: JD-Next's own variance list names 68 ABA-accredited law schools approved to use it as an alternative admission test, and in fall 2025, 30 schools reported ~127 first-years admitted on it.
The practical takeaway: submit the LSAT and no ABA-approved school is off the table.
Submit the GRE and the schools that don't take it are off your list before anyone reads your application — so build your list school by school, from each admissions page, rather than from either test maker's marketing.
Is the GRE easier?
No source we read — ETS's and LSAC's own materials included — ranks one test as easier, so we won't either.
What the sources do establish is how differently the two tests are scheduled and taken.
The GRE can be taken at home or at a test center, year-round, according to ETS.
The LSAT went the other way: starting with the August 2026 administration, LSAC requires in-person testing at Prometric test centers, with remote testing only for limited medical or disability accommodations, or for test takers who live more than 180 miles or three hours from a test center.
The 2026–27 LSAT is offered in August, September, October, November, January, February, April and June — fixed windows rather than any day you choose.
The content differs too.
The LSAT's scored sections are Logical Reasoning — two of them — plus one scored Reading Comprehension section and an unscored experimental section of either type.
If you want the section-by-section breakdown, what the LSAT is covers the current format in detail.
And none of the sources we read converts scores between the two tests, so we can't tell you how a practice score on one maps onto the other's scale.
If "easier" is what decides this for you, the honest route is empirical: take a full practice test of each under timed conditions and compare your own results.
Then check whether the schools on your list accept both — because an easier test your target schools won't take is not actually easier.
Does the GRE hurt scholarships?
Our research can't confirm that it does — and it can't confirm that it doesn't.
None of the sources we read measures merit aid by admission test: not ETS's law school page, not LSAC's materials, not the ABA's fall 2025 Standard 509 compilation.
A specific "GRE scholarship penalty" number is not backed by anything we could verify.
What the data does show is scale: GRE use is small even where the test is accepted — ~530 of 42,812 fall 2025 first-years — so no broad scholarship pattern for GRE applicants emerges from what we read.
One documented difference in how schools read your record: per LSAC, law schools receive all reportable LSAT scores, and LSAC advises that the average score is the best predictor, though it notes some schools weigh the highest score more.
How each school receives and weighs GRE scores was not covered by the sources we read — ask.
If merit money drives your decision, put the question to each admissions and financial aid office before you register for either test: whether GRE applicants are considered for scholarships on the same terms as LSAT applicants, and how the school reads multiple scores.
Policies are school-specific, and they change.
Test and scholarship policies are school-by-school
When the GRE makes sense
The GRE is not a loophole — it is a narrower gate that pays off in specific situations.
Based on what our sources establish, these are the cases where it earns its place:
- Every school on your shortlist accepts it. ETS's 130+ figure is the test maker's own count; each school's admissions page is the authority. If every school you want takes the GRE, the LSAT buys you nothing extra.
- You are applying to other graduate programs at the same time. ETS says the ABA formally recognized the GRE as a valid admissions test for law school in 2021 — if a dual degree or another graduate program is part of your plan, confirm whether each of those programs accepts the GRE before you count on one test covering both.
- Scheduling or location makes in-person testing hard. The GRE runs year-round, at home or at a test center, per ETS. The LSAT is in person at Prometric centers as of August 2026, with remote testing only for limited medical or disability accommodations or if you live more than 180 miles or three hours from a center — if no exception applies to you, plan around the fixed test windows.
- A STEM or quantitative background does not decide it by itself. No source we read ties test choice to undergraduate major, and we found no data behind the difficulty claims that circulate. What matters is which score your target schools can use — and which format fits how you read and argue, which a practice test of each will show you faster than any comparison page.
For everyone else — applicants still choosing schools, or targeting any school that has not adopted the GRE — the LSAT keeps every ABA-approved school within reach, because per LSAC it is the one test no ABA-approved school rejects.
And whichever test you take, the score is only the first gate on a path that runs through law school and bar admission into practice: the attorney career guide covers what that work looks like at the other end.
Career information, not legal advice. The acceptance counts here are LSAC's and ETS's published statements; confirm each school's current admission-test and scholarship policy with its admissions office before you register.