Why are some higher ranked schools easier to get into? Forum

[BigA]

As I'm playing around with law school predictor I see how many higher ranked schools give you a better chance for admittance than lower ranked schools and vice versa. Like Indiana seems easier to get into than Colorado with any combination of decent stats. Can anyone explain why this happens? Is it just because Boulder is a cooler place than Bloomington? Is it a flaw in the site? Other factors?

I feel like I should know this, but I've been on here for a while and I still can't figure it out. So I just have to ask.

[booboo]

It could be that the type of applicants of a Colorado-type school are of a higher caliber of students, regardless of rank, due to regional preference and other factors where an institution such as Indiana, which may (or may not, USNWR rankings are not to die for, ;P) rank higher does not attract such applicants again from other factors that are not based on purported quality of school.

[of Benito Cereno]

schools have different formulas for weighing lsat and gpa; so it may be that a certain higher ranked school's formula is weighed more in your favor. Secondly, rank does not perfectly corlolalte to selectivity. Selectivity is one aspect ins UNWR's ranking but it may be that a school in a less than desirable location is highly ranked more on reputation scores, expenditures, etc than on selectivity (fewer applicants). Though students tend to apply more to higher schools, a lower school in a popular market may end up having stricter admissions criteria than a higher ranked regional school somewhere people are reluctant to live and practice (outside top-20).

[vanwinkle]

Rankings are based on more than just GPA and LSAT. It's possible for a school to be ranked above another school and still have lower GPA and LSAT medians than that other school. It's also possible that a school weights GPA a lot more than LSAT and then another school weights LSAT a lot more.

[BigA]

Thanks for the input. Another example is Indiana and Notre Dame. The schools are right next to each other in ranking and location but UND seems much harder to get into. I understand (as someone with no real knowledge of these two law programs) Notre Dame has a greater mystique. Is there more to it than that?

Basically I'm seeing that Indiana and some others are a good opportunity for someone with fairly mediocre stats to get into a higher ranked school

[im_blue]

Rank and selectivity are not the same thing, even though they are correlated. For example, law schools in desirable locations are often more selective than their similarly-ranked or even higher-ranked peers.

[Richie Tenenbaum]

Thanks for the input. Another example is Indiana and Notre Dame. The schools are right next to each other in ranking and location but UND seems much harder to get into. I understand (as someone with no real knowledge of these two law programs) Notre Dame has a greater mystique. Is there more to it than that?

Basically I'm seeing that Indiana and some others are a good opportunity for someone with fairly mediocre stats to get into a higher ranked school

Indiana made a big jump in the rankings. They are not as selective as similarly ranked schools and there is no guarantee they will be able to keep their new shiny rating.

Rankings can be gamed in other ways besides strength of incoming class.

Rankings can be a bit off on what schools are typically agreed on to provide better job prospects at the end of 3 years. i.e. Iowa vs most GW, BC, Fordham, ND, etc. (This can also be a reflection of desireability of location, since schools 20-30 are still mostly regional schools). You'll see a lot more people say CCN (columbia, chicago, and NYU) as opposed to CCNB or CNB, even last year when Berkeley was temporarily ranked ahead of Chicago. People typically refer to MVPB as the next tier, even though technically UVA is currently tied this year with Duke and Northwestern for the 10 spot.

Basing your decision on one year of rankings is bad idea. Basing your decision only on the rankings in general is a bad idea.