Top Law Schools

They give quite different results. LSP shows a lot of promise with a 175+ LSAT even with a 3.15. LSAC's charts show me pretty fucked and needing luck even with 180 for any T14 school. What gives? Which would you trust more?

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TheodoreKGB wrote:Take both with a grain of salt

Do they tend to by overly optimistic, overly pessimistic, or unpredictably either?

mylsn is the best

FloridaCoastalorbust wrote:mylsn is the best

Ut oh

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TheodoreKGB wrote:Mylsn isn't bad, but the overall sample size is notoriously small. Still a decent tool though.

The shortcomings of predictors are compounded by the fact that each cycle (post-crisis) is different than the last to a varying degree. I'd recommend simply looking at a chosen school's 25/50/75 for GPA/LSAT, class size, and acceptance rate. That should give you a rough idea about your chances. (Of course, slightly more optimistic if URM.)

Thanks. Thing is, as a 75%+, -25% splitter, I don't know what to make of it

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The lsac one is garbage. I liked lawschoolnumbers.com because of the graph and the fact that you could see individual candidates and how much money they got, etc.

But as a splitter your cycle will be unpredictable, which kinda defeats the purpose of a rudimentary online predictor. Apply broadly.

NoBladesNoBows wrote:I'm a pretty heavy splitter and all three of them were pretty much worthless. My actual results were wildly different from all three in terms of both acceptances and denials.

I'd be very curious to know your stats and acceptances/rejections. I'm 3.15, 175 at the moment.

TheodoreKGB wrote:Mylsn isn't bad

highest compliment among law students

FloridaCoastalorbust wrote:mylsn is the best

I like you...

Mylsn takes all of its data from lawschoolnumbers IIRC

anyway, my cycle, with a few caveats, went very very similar to how mylsn predicted it would.

lawschoolpredictor was very doom and gloom

http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 2&t=224962
http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 9&t=222907

ETA: Apparently bananatopia deleted his useful answer from my thread for some reason. Welp.

The one on LSAC.org is the only one that includes all applicants every year. All others will suffer from the insanely small (relatively speaking) sample sizes and self-selection bias that others mentioned.

Like TeddyKGB said (presumably without the thick non-specific Eastern European accent), it really doesn't matter. Any of those tools are just meant to be really broad starting points. If you're a splitter, then they will be even less helpful. (Most helpful in that case would be visiting each law school's actual LSAC.org guide page. At the bottom of most there will be a detailed breakdown of apps/admits for all the LSAT/GPA range combinations. Not every school does them, but most do.) He is also correct that when it comes to any particular school every year is different from the one before due to a multitude of factors, none of which you have any control over. (Not just the pool, but any one school could have way more/less scholarship money, decide to shrink/grow the class, have an increase/drop in their medians that impacts who they take the next year, have a new adcom that decides to do wacky stuff, etc.)

Just look at the 25/median/75 and take it with a grain of salt. Don't treat it as gospel and something that is set in stone, forever and ever amen. If you know your LSAT already, that's enough to figure reach/middle/safety choices. The rest of the decision will likely come down to geography, as it does for most people. If you do actually have a 175, I say go ahead and aim for T14, but it's not like taking a full ride at a 20-40 will somehow leave you destitute living in a van down by the river.

Dean Perez