Is HLS a black box? Forum

[PopcornSeason555]

Is Harvard, being in the top three, considered a black-box as Stanford and Yale are black boxes?

I'm fortunate enough to get a 175. I also have a 3.88 GPA from NYU. (I'm a community college transfer, and that is averaged out after considering my community college transcript.) However, my softs are weak sauce. I work at a very small, no-name local law firm and did various club leaderships and volunteer roles. I'm thinking about applying next cycle for personal reasons.

[The Lsat Airbender]

None of them is a black box; they're just really competitive. You have a good shot at all of HYS with your numbers even with mediocre softs. Harvard is much more reliable than the other two by virtue of having a bigger class than Y and S combined.

[cavalier1138]

Agree with the above. Y/S are much less predictable once you have the numbers for admission, but Harvard has such a large class that your numbers basically predict your results.

[ksm6969]

No. A big part of the reason Y is a black box is because they do faculty review, and randomly assign your application to three faculty members (i.e., professors) . It is quite possible that whether you get in or not just randomly depends on which three professors got your application for review (assuming your numbers are there). One professor might love your bg and give you top scores, one prof might have a different viewpoint and might give you the lowest score possible. This adds a lot of uncertainty and randomness. H has a normal admissions office and actually tries to normalize the process by training its adcomms on what to look for. Much more predictable.