Top Law Schools

Looking at various t14 schools it seems like a 163/3.5 is the 25th percentile for various schools (Cornell, gulc, a few others). Do these all go to URM students? Do they go to applicants with great softs or a great personal statement? Because a 25% chance is a relatively high number considering all the undergrads I got into has less than a 25% acceptance rate.

Generally splitters and URM's. From a rankings standpoint, if you're below a median it doesn't matter how much you're below that median. Depending on the school's goals you can get in hitting or being above one median. If you're a URM who hits a median you're only more valuable because you help in 2 areas while hurting in one. If you're a regular person below both medians you're likely out unless something special or something unique about you that indicates you have the personality/intangibles succeed (though what those are, are anyone's guess).

It is also worth noting that being at 25th percentile for a school does not neatly translate into a 25% chance of getting in.

HonestAdvice wrote:Generally splitters and URM's. From a rankings standpoint, if you're below a median it doesn't matter how much you're below that median. Depending on the school's goals you can get in hitting or being above one median. If you're a URM who hits a median you're only more valuable because you help in 2 areas while hurting in one. If you're a regular person below both medians you're likely out unless something special or something unique about you that indicates you have the personality/intangibles succeed (though what those are, are anyone's guess).

So your saying that more than likely people with 163 LSats have like 3.8+ GPAs at the t14 schools they get into????
Or vise versa

pleaseberkeley wrote:

HonestAdvice wrote:Generally splitters and URM's. From a rankings standpoint, if you're below a median it doesn't matter how much you're below that median. Depending on the school's goals you can get in hitting or being above one median. If you're a URM who hits a median you're only more valuable because you help in 2 areas while hurting in one. If you're a regular person below both medians you're likely out unless something special or something unique about you that indicates you have the personality/intangibles succeed (though what those are, are anyone's guess).

So your saying that more than likely people with 163 LSats have like 3.8+ GPAs at the t14 schools they get into????
Or vise versa

yes

It's unlikely anyone is at/below both 25th percentiles, since the given scores are independently calculated. As a previous poster said, you can expect many of those slots to be given to URM, a few individuals who have something special to offer, non-trad or grad students removed from their UG GPA. I find it extremely unlikely that the T-14 are going to fill their bottom 25% with otherwise ordinary, but subpar students. Sorry.

playersball wrote:It is also worth noting that being at 25th percentile for a school does not neatly translate into a 25% chance of getting in.

Yeah, this part of the OP made no sense.

dabigchina wrote:

pleaseberkeley wrote:

HonestAdvice wrote:Generally splitters and URM's. From a rankings standpoint, if you're below a median it doesn't matter how much you're below that median. Depending on the school's goals you can get in hitting or being above one median. If you're a URM who hits a median you're only more valuable because you help in 2 areas while hurting in one. If you're a regular person below both medians you're likely out unless something special or something unique about you that indicates you have the personality/intangibles succeed (though what those are, are anyone's guess).

So your saying that more than likely people with 163 LSats have like 3.8+ GPAs at the t14 schools they get into????
Or vise versa

yes

URM's are the exception, but the logic is the same - they help a #. The one caveat is that you may see URM applicants slightly below both medians get in over URM splitters/reverse splitters. The LS GPA's and bar passage rates of URM's have been a concern for some time, and the top schools in particular are concerned at making sure they're admitting people who won't get left behind. Because .2 differences in GPA's and 3-4 point LSAT discrepancies have little to no predictive value, schools may want to admit these applicants because at its core, the whole point of URM boosts is to generate lawyers who can mentor the next generation and combat the classism prevalent in the legal industry.

But don't want to derail the conversation - the goal should be to help as many #'s as possible. The LSAT is the only part of the process you have control over and unless you would have started school in 2003 instead of like 2004/2005 to have avoided the crash, it's hard to think of a situation where you'd be worse off by retaking.