Soft Factors: How much do they count? Forum

[BisonJJ21]

Hello all,

First time posting. Im looking to apply to various T-13 schools around November. I am an URM, Div. 1 athlete, with 3.7gpa. I attend T-30 Private liberal arts school where I am the founder and Pres. of a Community Service Org., a committee chair in the student athlete advisory committee and I have recently co-founded a startup company to promote social equity. I am also working this summer at a BB-IB in S&T.
(Not trying to sound braggadocios, just wanted to be transparent)

Im sort of freaking out about studying due to lack of time/general nervousness lol. Was wondering how much soft factors can actually help? majority of what I have seen is that LSAT + GPA are most important components (which makes sense) but if I underperform on test could soft factors make a significant difference in placement?

Any response would help! Was thinking IB/finance track, but realized law was better for me late in the game.

[The Lsat Airbender]

By definition, soft factors only matter at the margins. Think of it like collegiate sports recruiting. You might have a wide receiver who runs beautiful routes, is a captain on his high-school team, works hard in practice. Great football player. But if he's 5'8", 150 lbs and runs a slow 40-yard dash he's just not worth a roster spot.

If you underperform on the LSAT, you can take it again. As a URM with a decent GPA, you'll have good opportunities if you work to reach your full potential on the test.

[nixy]

Soft factors can make you a better candidate than someone with the same stats who doesn’t have your softs, but they don’t generally make up for any weaknesses in the numbers. You have leeway as a URM, and being a D1 athlete is a pretty good soft (especially with your GPA, which may be a little low for the very top schools but is still very good especially on top of the demands of a D1 sport). But you will still need to be within numerical range.

You have lots of time between now and November, which you should spend studying rather than worrying about what if. If October rolls around and you’re nowhere near where you want to be on your practice tests, then you can think about whether you need to study more/push back the test or change your goals/expectations. Right now, just study.

[hookem7]

Those are pretty good soft factors, but it is hard to put an exact value on what they will do for you. Most people perform in line with their GPA/LSAT combo and perhaps you will outperform a bit on the margins. A 3.7 GPA as a URM D-1 athlete means you should be able to get into just about any school if you do well on the LSAT. Focus all your effort on improving on what is, at the end of the day, a learnable test. Your soft factors demonstrate you have the aptitude and ability to work hard, so go show it on the test. Good luck!

[BisonJJ21]

Thank you! I genuinely appreciate all of your thoughtful responses. I will try to stop stressing and hunker down on what is in my control...The LSAT!