Page 1 of 1

George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 3:35 pm
by dreamflower
Does George Mason have an LSAT floor? Looking on LSN, in the past 2 years it looks like most people with a 164 were accepted, but almost no one with a 163 or lower was accepted without a very high GPA. Anyone know?

Re: George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 3:36 pm
by tennisking88
Their median for 2011 was a 164. That means half the class had an LSAT below 164.

Re: George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 3:37 pm
by Samara
dreamflower wrote:Does George Mason have an LSAT floor? Looking on LSN, in the past 2 years it looks like most people with a 164 were accepted, but almost no one with a 163 or lower was accepted without a very high GPA. Anyone know?
Sounds like you answered your own question.

Re: George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 3:37 pm
by tennisking88
I'm fairly certain that LSN is NOT representative of most schools' applicant pools.

Re: George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 3:38 pm
by Samara
tennisking88 wrote:I'm fairly certain that LSN is NOT representative of most schools' applicant pools.
How so?

Re: George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 3:39 pm
by 20130312
Samara wrote:
tennisking88 wrote:I'm fairly certain that LSN is NOT representative of most schools' applicant pools.
How so?
Because thousands apply and only one or two hundred post on LSN?

Re: George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 3:40 pm
by Samara
InGoodFaith wrote:
Samara wrote:
tennisking88 wrote:I'm fairly certain that LSN is NOT representative of most schools' applicant pools.
How so?
Because thousands apply and only one or two hundred post on LSN?
But what reason do you have to believe that the acceptances aren't representative of your chances? That's what you're using it for.

Re: George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 3:44 pm
by tennisking88
Samara wrote:
tennisking88 wrote:I'm fairly certain that LSN is NOT representative of most schools' applicant pools.
How so?
Those posting their scores publicly tend to be quite confident with their scores. Second, if you look at an LSN graph of Cornell from 2010-2011 (http://cornell.lawschoolnumbers.com/stats/1011/), but also a ton of schools outside the top 10 I'd say, you'll see that the vast, vast majority of those admitted* on LSN had LSAT's higher than Cornell's actual median (167).

Re: George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 3:44 pm
by 20130312
Perhaps students who are accepted are more likely to post than those who are rejected.

We could definitely make this a LR question. What's the assumption, future law students?

Re: George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 3:45 pm
by tennisking88
Samara wrote:
InGoodFaith wrote:
Samara wrote:
tennisking88 wrote:I'm fairly certain that LSN is NOT representative of most schools' applicant pools.
How so?
Because thousands apply and only one or two hundred post on LSN?
But what reason do you have to believe that the acceptances aren't representative of your chances? That's what you're using it for.
That's a different question. OP asked if there was a 164 floor based on LSN, not what his chances were.

Re: George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 3:46 pm
by Davidbentley
tennisking88 wrote:Their median for 2011 was a 164. That means half the class had an LSAT below 164.
No. That means at least half of the class had an lsat that was not higher than 164.

Re: George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 3:48 pm
by tennisking88
Davidbentley wrote:
tennisking88 wrote:Their median for 2011 was a 164. That means half the class had an LSAT below 164.
No. That means at least half of the class had an lsat that was not higher than 164.
Right, sorry, 164 median means half the class had an lsat of 164 OR below.

Re: George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 3:49 pm
by Samara
InGoodFaith wrote:Perhaps students who are accepted are more likely to post than those who are rejected.

We could definitely make this a LR question. What's the assumption, future law students?
I'm sure there are a lot of apps to schools (especially in the T14) from people with super low numbers and whatnot. But who cares if that is not represented in the graph? You only want to know who was accepted. If your numbers don't have a green spot over the past few cycles, I think you can assume with some confidence that your chances are pretty darn low. Lower-ranked schools tend to have less data, so it can be difficult to make too strong of an assumption, but it's still pretty useful.

Re: George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 3:50 pm
by Samara
tennisking88 wrote:
Samara wrote:
tennisking88 wrote:I'm fairly certain that LSN is NOT representative of most schools' applicant pools.
How so?
Those posting their scores publicly tend to be quite confident with their scores. Second, if you look at an LSN graph of Cornell from 2010-2011 (http://cornell.lawschoolnumbers.com/stats/1011/), but also a ton of schools outside the top 10 I'd say, you'll see that the vast, vast majority of those admitted* on LSN had LSAT's higher than Cornell's actual median (167).
Obviously. Quite a few applicants apply to Cornell as a safety school, are admitted and then attend a higher ranked school. Medians are based on matriculants, not accepted applicants.

Re: George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 3:53 pm
by tennisking88
Samara wrote:
InGoodFaith wrote:Perhaps students who are accepted are more likely to post than those who are rejected.

We could definitely make this a LR question. What's the assumption, future law students?
I'm sure there are a lot of apps to schools (especially in the T14) from people with super low numbers and whatnot. But who cares if that is not represented in the graph? You only want to know who was accepted. If your numbers don't have a green spot over the past few cycles, I think you can assume with some confidence that your chances are pretty darn low. Lower-ranked schools tend to have less data, so it can be difficult to make too strong of an assumption, but it's still pretty useful.
Same question: who cares if you have a graph showing the people above both medians got into a school? Why is that graph (which happens to be the vast majority of LSN graphs) any more necessary than the graphs that show ppl rejected with numbers below both medians?

Re: George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 3:58 pm
by tennisking88
Your original question was why LSN was not representative of most applicant pools. And it is presicely because we don't see the people that actually end up matriculating, just the people that show they are admitted. So the graphs tell you relatively little except for the fact that if you're above both medians, you have a great shot, and that if you're a splitter you have an OK shot. Do we really need graphs for this?

Edit: for example, if you look at the people that actually COMMITTED to going to Cornell (http://cornell.lawschoolnumbers.com/applicants/1011/), it's only 11 out of like 600 applicants that year. Also, even if you average the stats of those 11, it should bring you close to their 3.6/167 median than the actual LSN graph.

Re: George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 3:59 pm
by Samara
tennisking88 wrote:
Samara wrote:
InGoodFaith wrote:Perhaps students who are accepted are more likely to post than those who are rejected.

We could definitely make this a LR question. What's the assumption, future law students?
I'm sure there are a lot of apps to schools (especially in the T14) from people with super low numbers and whatnot. But who cares if that is not represented in the graph? You only want to know who was accepted. If your numbers don't have a green spot over the past few cycles, I think you can assume with some confidence that your chances are pretty darn low. Lower-ranked schools tend to have less data, so it can be difficult to make too strong of an assumption, but it's still pretty useful.
Same question: who cares if you have a graph showing the people above both medians got into a school? Why is that graph (which happens to be the vast majority of LSN graphs) any more necessary than the graphs that show ppl rejected with numbers below both medians?
wut? LSN gives you a (ostensibly) representative sample of admitted applicants. If your numbers aren't represented as admitted, assume they were rejected. You want a comprehensive sample of admitted students, but why would you care about a comprehensive sample of rejected students? I don't understand why you think LSN is a poor tool.

Re: George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 4:01 pm
by Samara
tennisking88 wrote:Your original question was why LSN was not representative of most applicant pools. And it is presicely because we don't see the people that actually end up matriculating, just the people that show they are admitted. So the graphs tell you relatively little except for the fact that if you're above both medians, you have a great shot, and that if you're a splitter you have an OK shot. Do we really need graphs for this?
Yes, because some schools are more splitter-friendly than others, which the graphs show. Different schools have different LSAT and GPA floors, which the graphs show. Matriculating is your choice, so they information you are looking for is whether or not you will be admitted. Why would you use LSN to get a profile of matriculants applications? What would be the point of that information?

Re: George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 4:02 pm
by Samara
tennisking88 wrote:Edit: for example, if you look at the people that actually COMMITTED to going to Cornell (http://cornell.lawschoolnumbers.com/applicants/1011/), it's only 11 out of like 600 applicants that year. Also, even if you average the stats of those 11, it should bring you close to their 3.6/167 median than the actual LSN graph.
Right. So how is it unrepresentative?

Re: George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 4:12 pm
by tennisking88
Samara wrote:
tennisking88 wrote:Edit: for example, if you look at the people that actually COMMITTED to going to Cornell (http://cornell.lawschoolnumbers.com/applicants/1011/), it's only 11 out of like 600 applicants that year. Also, even if you average the stats of those 11, it should bring you close to their 3.6/167 median than the actual LSN graph.
Right. So how is it unrepresentative?
Because Cornell has to accept people with lower numbers than the vast majority of those accepted on LSN, yet those numbers aren't shown on the graph. I think they're not shown on the graph because a) the sample is too small, and b) the people willing to show their numbers tend to be really confident in them, thus they are inflated.

Re: George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 4:24 pm
by Samara
tennisking88 wrote:
Samara wrote:
tennisking88 wrote:Edit: for example, if you look at the people that actually COMMITTED to going to Cornell (http://cornell.lawschoolnumbers.com/applicants/1011/), it's only 11 out of like 600 applicants that year. Also, even if you average the stats of those 11, it should bring you close to their 3.6/167 median than the actual LSN graph.
Right. So how is it unrepresentative?
Because Cornell has to accept people with lower numbers than the vast majority of those accepted on LSN, yet those numbers aren't shown on the graph. I think they're not shown on the graph because a) the sample is too small, and b) the people willing to show their numbers tend to be really confident in them, thus they are inflated.
The LSN medians (assuming equalitylaw14 has good numbers) for Cornell last cycle are 3.69/168. The actual medians for Cornell last cycle are 3.68/168. That sounds pretty darn accurate to me.

Re: George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 5:20 pm
by BiglawOrBust
Samara wrote:
tennisking88 wrote:
Samara wrote:
tennisking88 wrote:Edit: for example, if you look at the people that actually COMMITTED to going to Cornell (http://cornell.lawschoolnumbers.com/applicants/1011/), it's only 11 out of like 600 applicants that year. Also, even if you average the stats of those 11, it should bring you close to their 3.6/167 median than the actual LSN graph.
Right. So how is it unrepresentative?
Because Cornell has to accept people with lower numbers than the vast majority of those accepted on LSN, yet those numbers aren't shown on the graph. I think they're not shown on the graph because a) the sample is too small, and b) the people willing to show their numbers tend to be really confident in them, thus they are inflated.
The LSN medians (assuming equalitylaw14 has good numbers) for Cornell last cycle are 3.69/168. The actual medians for Cornell last cycle are 3.68/168. That sounds pretty darn accurate to me.
Good job. Now try that exercise with the other 186 ABA-approved US law schools.

Re: George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2011 2:12 pm
by ggibelli
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... t#p4706589

that has a useful chart with GPA floors

Re: George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2011 4:04 pm
by JDizzle2015
Samara wrote: The LSN medians (assuming equalitylaw14 has good numbers) for Cornell last cycle are 3.69/168. The actual medians for Cornell last cycle are 3.68/168. That sounds pretty darn accurate to me.
Is that LSN median for people who matriculated or for people who were accepted?

Re: George Mason LSAT floor

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2011 4:19 pm
by Samara
JDizzle2015 wrote:
Samara wrote: The LSN medians (assuming equalitylaw14 has good numbers) for Cornell last cycle are 3.69/168. The actual medians for Cornell last cycle are 3.68/168. That sounds pretty darn accurate to me.
Is that LSN median for people who matriculated or for people who were accepted?
That's the LSN median for matriculants. The acceptance medians would be much higher, obviously.