gap in the 170+ LSATS Forum

[TennesseeBob]

Looking at LSN it looks like there are pretty big gaps after you hit 170 at some top schools. For example, the graph for Harvard after 173 shows almost all admits while after 172 it shows about 50-50 admits and non-admits...but this only seemed to be the case in the last few cycles and before that was relatively even.

I thought this was odd for Harvard, especially, considering I didn't think that they were that numbers based due to how strong their applicant pool is. Whats the reason for the significant gap in just 1 question on the LSAT?

Sorry if this is a noob question, it just seemed surprising.

[2014]

It is bad business for your median LSAT to drop from year to year. As a result a school such as Harvard has great incentive to admit individuals at or above their median LSAT (173 I think).

While a someone scoring a 171 or 172 is statistically basically the same as a 173, for USNWR rankings that person is distinctly worse.

[bbsg]

Yeah. I mean in this case for USNWR purposes, for better or worse, a 180 LSAT = 174 LSAT; a 172 LSAT=120 LSAT. Obviously they're not going to accept someone with a 120 and the median isn't the *only* thing they care about, but you can see the rationale here.

[TennesseeBob]

hmm, so to stand a very good chance at some of the top schools (inc. Harvard) it's practically 173 or bust in that case? I didn't know one (or two) points could make that much of a difference given the variable expected by the test makers. Not questioning it, but it seems a bit odd.

[smaug_]

hmm, so to stand a very good chance at some of the top schools (inc. Harvard) it's practically 173 or bust in that case? I didn't know one (or two) points could make that much of a difference given the variable expected by the test makers. Not questioning it, but it seems a bit odd.

One or two points can make a huge difference if they push you over a threshold. If it bumps you over a median or over a 75, those points are very important, particularly if you're a splitter.