UG stat averages--what do they mean? Forum

[quishiclocus]

In another thread, it was mentioned that Harvard law-school-bound students average a 3.5 GPA and a 165 LSAT.

Let's say that my school averages a 3.2 GPA and a 149, because I'm going to a third-tier public undergrad where it's halfway surprising if graduates are actually literate.

Does this make a person with a totally-hypothetical-and-not-my-stats 3.8 and a 170 look better to admissions if they're coming from a school where everybody did almost that well, or where they're coming from a school where most people did considerably worse? I'm guessing these statistics are provided for a reason, but I'm not sure which direction the reasoning goes. I'm not sure how you could form any meaningful comparison between "this person is way smarter than a bunch of idiots" and "this other person is slightly smarter than a bunch of smart people"?

[Rand M.]

Nobody really cares where an applicant went to undergrad, so it doesn't matter either way. Outside of the very top schools (on both the UG and LS level), where you went to school will really not have all that great of an effect.

[D. H2Oman]

Does this make a person with a totally-hypothetical-and-not-my-stats 3.8 and a 170 look better to admissions if they're coming from a school where everybody did almost that well, or where they're coming from a school where most people did considerably worse?

Are you seriously asking if you'll look better because you came from a shitty UG?

[quishiclocus]

No, I'm mostly just asking why they bother with all those bits of this report. Or, I suppose, if it's going to be a serious hindrance to me, but I'm guessing from the first response that this is thankfully a no. But I don't even have an LSAT score to go on yet so I have no idea about me, I was just looking at all the numbers that came with my transcripts getting in, and trying to figure out what they all mean.

[Unemployed]

TBF, 166/3.5 is the average stat of applicants, not matriculants. Considering that more than half of the applicants - presumably the worse half - choose not go to to any law school, the average stat for H-grads in law schools should be considerably higher.

As for your question, most law schools won't care if your 3.8 is from a TTT or Harvard. Ideally, one's GPA should be calibrated according to UG student quality and then again by grade inflation, but law schools don't have much interest in this.