The short version

Here's the decision most applicants are actually making: you can get into a growing number of U.S. law schools with a GRE score instead of an LSAT score — but "can" and "should" are different questions. The LSAT is the traditional gatekeeper, accepted everywhere, purpose-built for legal reasoning, and deeply understood by admissions committees. The GRE is a general graduate-school test that a portion of law schools now accept, largely to widen their applicant pool and attract candidates from STEM and interdisciplinary backgrounds.

For the majority of people applying to law school and only law school, the LSAT is still the right call. The GRE is a niche play that makes sense under specific conditions. This guide walks through exactly what those conditions are so you can choose confidently.

What each test actually measures

Understanding the content difference is the fastest way to see why the LSAT dominates for law admissions.

The LSAT (current format)

As of August 2024, the LSAT consists of two scored Logical Reasoning sections and one scored Reading Comprehension section, plus one unscored section used to test future questions. There is also an unscored writing sample completed separately. The old Logic Games (Analytical Reasoning) section was removed and is no longer part of the test. The LSAT is scored on the familiar 120–180 scale.

Every question on the LSAT is designed around the reasoning skills law school and legal practice demand: parsing dense arguments, identifying assumptions and flaws, drawing valid inferences, and reading complex passages closely. There is no math. There is no vocabulary memorization. It is a pure reasoning-and-reading instrument.

The GRE General Test

The GRE is a general graduate admissions test used across many fields. It contains three question types across its sections: Verbal Reasoning (vocabulary-heavy reading and text completion), Quantitative Reasoning (arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and data interpretation — actual math), and Analytical Writing (essay). Verbal and Quantitative are each scored on a 130–170 scale; Analytical Writing is scored 0–6.

Notice the mismatch: roughly a third of the GRE (the Quant section) tests math skills that have little to do with legal reasoning, and the Verbal section leans on vocabulary breadth in a way the LSAT does not. If your goal is law school, a meaningful chunk of your GRE prep is spent on content that won't directly build the skills your target schools care about most.

Which schools accept the GRE?

This is the single most important logistics point, so treat it carefully.

• The LSAT is accepted by every ABA-accredited law school. There are no exceptions to worry about.
• The GRE is accepted by a subset of law schools — a list that has grown substantially in recent years and now includes many top programs, but is not universal. Some schools accept it fully; some accept it with caveats; some do not accept it at all.

Because this list changes every admissions cycle, do not rely on any third-party list — including this one — as authoritative. Build your school list first, then visit each school's official admissions page and confirm its current standardized-test policy. If even one school on your list requires the LSAT, and you're not willing to drop that school, your decision is made: take the LSAT.

How admissions committees read each score

This is where the GRE's newness works against you. Law schools have decades of LSAT data. They know precisely how an LSAT score maps to first-year performance, bar passage, and their own rankings metrics. When they see a 165 LSAT, they know exactly what it means relative to every other applicant.

GRE scores are harder for law committees to interpret. There's less historical data, fewer applicants to compare against, and no clean, universally accepted conversion between GRE and LSAT scores. Schools use rough concordance tools, but the translation is imperfect. If you're a strong applicant, a well-understood LSAT score often serves you better than a GRE score the committee has to squint at.

There's also a reporting reality: schools report LSAT medians to ranking bodies, and a strong LSAT can help a school's numbers in ways a GRE score may not. This is one reason some schools, even while accepting the GRE, quietly prefer LSAT takers.

When the GRE actually makes sense

The GRE is the right choice in a few specific situations:

1. You're applying to dual-degree or non-law programs too. If you're pursuing a JD/MBA, JD/PhD, or applying to graduate programs alongside law school, one GRE score can serve multiple applications. That's a genuine efficiency win — as long as your law schools accept it.
2. You've already taken the GRE and scored well. If you sat for the GRE for another purpose and have a strong, current score in hand, and your target schools accept it, retaking the LSAT from scratch may not be worth the months of additional prep.
3. Your strengths align with the GRE. Some applicants — particularly those with strong quantitative backgrounds — find the GRE's format more comfortable. If the LSAT's reasoning-under-time-pressure genuinely doesn't suit you and every target school accepts the GRE, it's a legitimate option.

Outside these cases, the default remains the LSAT.

When the LSAT is clearly the better choice

• You're applying to law school and only law school. There's no reason to prep for math and vocabulary you don't need.
• Any target school requires or clearly prefers the LSAT. Don't gamble your top-choice application on a test that school treats as second-tier.
• You want maximum comparability and the cleanest read from admissions. A known quantity beats a novel one.
• You're aiming for scholarship money. Merit aid at many schools is tightly linked to LSAT medians; a strong LSAT can translate directly into dollars.

Cost and logistics comparison

Both tests carry registration fees, both offer fee waivers for eligible candidates, and both are offered multiple times per year. The LSAT is administered by LSAC, and official practice material lives on LawHub — the authoritative source for real, current-format LSAT questions. The GRE is administered by ETS. For exact current fees, test dates, registration deadlines, and fee-waiver eligibility, go straight to the source: LSAC for the LSAT and ETS for the GRE. These figures change, so we won't quote numbers here that could go stale — confirm them directly.

One practical note: because law schools use the LSAT so heavily, high-quality LSAT prep resources are abundant and law-specific. GRE prep is plentiful too, but it's general-purpose — you'll spend time on content (especially Quant) that a law applicant doesn't need. Factor that into your total prep hours.

How to decide, step by step

1. Build your target school list. Reach, target, and safety schools you'd genuinely attend.
2. Check each school's official test policy. Note whether it accepts the GRE, and whether it expresses any preference for the LSAT.
3. Ask whether you're applying beyond law school. If yes, and your schools accept the GRE, weigh the efficiency of one test.
4. Take a timed diagnostic of each test. See where you naturally perform and where you'd have the most room to grow.
5. Default to the LSAT unless you have a specific, concrete reason not to. If any factor above pushes you clearly toward the GRE and every school on your list accepts it, take the GRE. Otherwise, take the LSAT.

Bottom line

The LSAT is the safe, universally accepted, well-understood choice — and for a law-only applicant, it's almost always the right one. The GRE is a real option that has opened doors, especially for dual-degree candidates and those already holding a strong score, but it comes with narrower acceptance and murkier interpretation. Confirm your target schools' current policies, weigh the specific situations above, and choose deliberately. When in doubt, prep for the LSAT.