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Lawschoolpredictor.com seems to be an awesome tool for giving you an idea of where you're competitive and where you're a lost cause, but I'm wondering people's experiences with the yellow "Consider" section: Out of your "consider schools" have you gotten into half and rejected from half? Really successful overall or dinged from all?

orangebluewhitered wrote:Lawschoolpredictor.com seems to be an awesome tool for giving you an idea of where you're competitive and where you're a lost cause, but I'm wondering people's experiences with the yellow "Consider" section: Out of your "consider schools" have you gotten into half and rejected from half? Really successful overall or dinged from all?

I don't have all my data in yet, but, out of two "considers": I was accepted by one (which I considered, and still consider, to be a reach) and I was waitlisted by another
Furthermore, I was waitlisted by a "weak consider"
However, I was outright rejected by a "strong consider" and waitlisted by an "admit" (although I was accepted by all my other "admits", so this was probably an outlier)
That said, it's an imperfect tool, and I think consider should be seen as 50/50 at best, which is what Evan says on LSP

I have gotten into almost every school it said I would be denied at...I think, if you have very average softs, it is a good tool. If you have an above average resume, etc., it is not a very good tool. I'd say, go on LSN, find people that have similar GPA/LSAT's as you, and see what schools they applied and got into. Use both of these tools to formulate your options

Yeah I agree it's a good tool to use in conjunction with law school numbers. It can at least give you an idea of what range of schools to apply to. But you shouldn't be afraid to apply to some schools that it tells you are DENY. I got waitlisted at two DENY schools. But I also got waitlisted at every consider and strong consider too. I think the predictor needs to learn how to take lateness of applications into account.

dp73816 wrote:I have gotten into almost every school it said I would be denied at.

So does that mean you got into most of HYSCCN?

I think LSP is much more accurate for early applicants (pre-Thanksgiving) than for Dec/Jan applicants. I applied December, and I've been admitted to only one school where I'm below 70%. I've been WL'd at every "Consider" school I've heard back from, and WL'd from one "Admit" (GULC). That said, it's still an enormously helpful tool.

It's a nice guideline if you want to have an idea of what schools are super reaches, reaches, targets and safeties. In this cycle it has been somewhat off for me as an admit (88%) has WL'd me and a strong consider admitted me with $$.

Once I get my new LSAT score I plan on using it to categorize schools as reaches, safeties, and the like and send out my application to a variety of schools.

Here are my decisions compared to LSP predictions:

"Deny" - 1 Acceptance, 1 Rejection, 1 Pending
"Weak Consider" - None
"Consider" - 0 Acceptances, 5 Rejections, 2 Waitlist
"Strong Consider" - 1 Acceptance
"Admit" - 10 Acceptance, 1 Waitlist, 2 Pending

I did not get into any of my "considers" or "weak consider". I was also waitlisted at one of my "strong considers". I'm thinking a lack of respect for my undergrad institution may have hurt . . . As numbers based as this is, its still not completely numbers based.

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Doesn't LSP base its predictions off LSN?

honestabe84 wrote:Doesn't LSP base its predictions off LSN?

Yes. And just like LSN, LSP is not a great indicator because its based on last year's data. Everything is just a bit more difficult this year, so what may have been an admit as recently as last year, is a WL or reject today.

"Weak Consider" - 1 admit
"Consider" - 2 admit, 1 haven't heard
"Strong Consider" - 2 admit, 1 WL, 1 withdrawal
"Admit" - 2 admit, 1 WL

Conclusion: pretty accurate, but not the be-all-end-all for admissions decisions.

As has been noted, this is an awkward year. That said:

Weak Consider: 4 rejections
Consider: 2 WL/holds, 2 rejections, 3 pending
Strong Consider: 3 pending
Admit: 2 admits but they were givens and 1 WL (American, YP)

And 1 reject and 1 pending from two reach schools (deny). Helluva a cycle for me so far

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Comment on this.

I was accepted at a "consider" and it seems most people with similar numbers were also at that school.

Law Schooler wrote:Comment on this.

Unless you somehow get into one of your top choices, waiting a year and retaking the LSAT could net you hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of your career, not to mention lots of scholly money.

Weak consider- 1 rejection, 1 waitlist
Consider- 2 waitlists, 1 rejection, 1 acceptance, 2 haven't heard
Strong consider- 1 waitlist, 1 acceptance
Admit- 1 admit

existenz wrote:

Law Schooler wrote:Comment on this.

Unless you somehow get into one of your top choices, waiting a year and retaking the LSAT could net you hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of your career, not to mention lots of scholly money.

I hear this a lot on this website; there must be some button on here that allows such sentiments to be automatically pasted right into the discussion. In the past, this might've been a realistic course of action - "just go work for a year!" or "join the military!" - but with the current economic climate, I think the best advice is do the best you can with what you have, or start a minor career, and come back in a 3-5 years. Not everyone can afford to simply sit it out for a year and study.

But anyways...back on topic. For me so far, its been

DENIED - 3 A, 2 W/L
STRONG CONSIDER - 2 W/L, 3 R (probably bc they are hoping to move up the rankings and are really focusing on numbers)
CONSIDER - 2 A, 2 R
ADMIT - 1 A

6 pending....

honestabe84 wrote:Doesn't LSP base its predictions off LSN?

As I understand it, LSP bases its predictions off of the LSAC-published admissions index formulas. I think LSN was only used to help fine tune the predictions, not create them.

LSP wrote:A number of information sources were used in compiling the data included in this model. These sources are: Internet Legal Research Group, Law School Admission Council: 2009-10 Index Formulas, Law School Numbers, and US News and World Report: 2010 Graduate Schools Edition.

Anyway:

Deny: 1 Reject, 1 WL
Weak Consider: 2 WL
Consider: 2 Reject, 3 WL
Strong Consider: 1 WL, 5 Admit
Admit: 2 Admit
Pending: 4

dp73816 wrote:For me so far, its been

DENIED - 3 A, 2 W/L
STRONG CONSIDER - 2 W/L, 3 R (probably bc they are hoping to move up the rankings and are really focusing on numbers)
CONSIDER - 2 A, 2 R
ADMIT - 1 A

6 pending....

That's pretty impressive, getting into 3 deny schools. Wow.

existenz wrote:

dp73816 wrote:For me so far, its been

DENIED - 3 A, 2 W/L
STRONG CONSIDER - 2 W/L, 3 R (probably bc they are hoping to move up the rankings and are really focusing on numbers)
CONSIDER - 2 A, 2 R
ADMIT - 1 A

6 pending....

That's pretty impressive, getting into 3 deny schools. Wow.

I had a pretty bad LSAT, so it said just about everyone would deny me...gave me a lot of schools to choose from to prove it wrong

Copying Law Schooler's format, here's my cycle as compared to LSP... so far. Make of this what you will. FWIW, I've gotten scholarships at pretty much all of my accepted schools.

LSP is as accurate as it is imprecise

LSN is much more useful than LSP IMO.

It told me I would be a DENY at NYU ED, but I got Accepted right away!

I do have above average softs though.

I would say that for early applicants it is a fairly reliable (and perhaps slightly pessimistic) tool.