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From an ad comm's prespective - is it is a huge difference?

It's approximately a 1 point difference

its a huge difference at schools that have a 170 LSAT median

BlueDiamond wrote:its a huge difference at schools that have a 170 LSAT median

TCR

All depends on what the median is

TMC116 wrote:It's approximately a 1 point difference

Lol. Credited.


@OP
http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com/wp-co ... ograms.htm
Type in GPA
Try with 169
Try with 170
...
Profit

yeah, completely depends on the school's numbers. If that 170 either pulls it up or down, then yeah, it's a big deal. But if there numbers are 174 or 165, then no, 169-170 isn't any bigger difference than 168-169 is.

170 sounds "cool." But really, its just 1 point. Dont worry.

I think that first-glance image (ie - 160s v 170s) might edge it to a "let's consider" or "let's not consider" kinda thing before all other stuff, even great softs, is looked into.

justbubbles wrote:I think that first-glance image (ie - 160s v 170s) might edge it to a "let's consider" or "let's not consider" kinda thing before all other stuff, even great softs, is looked into.

Incorrect. No law school is going to auto-reject an applicant with a reported 169 LSAT score or be biased against admitting them before considering the entire application. To believe a LS admission committee would operate that way is silly.

Jeffort wrote:

justbubbles wrote:I think that first-glance image (ie - 160s v 170s) might edge it to a "let's consider" or "let's not consider" kinda thing before all other stuff, even great softs, is looked into.

Incorrect. No law school is going to auto-reject an applicant with a reported 169 LSAT score or be biased against admitting them before considering the entire application. To believe a LS admission committee would operate that way is silly.

+1

Retaking with a 169 just to break 170 is rather far reached. If the OP realistically thinks they can improve their score by 3+ points then a retake is much more desirable. Anything below that is a wasted effort that may backfire with a lower score. Some of the most prestigious schools average LSAT scores.

kapital98 wrote:

Jeffort wrote:

justbubbles wrote:I think that first-glance image (ie - 160s v 170s) might edge it to a "let's consider" or "let's not consider" kinda thing before all other stuff, even great softs, is looked into.

Incorrect. No law school is going to auto-reject an applicant with a reported 169 LSAT score or be biased against admitting them before considering the entire application. To believe a LS admission committee would operate that way is silly.

+1

Retaking with a 169 just to break 170 is rather far reached. If the OP realistically thinks they can improve their score by 3+ points then a retake is much more desirable. Anything below that is a wasted effort that may backfire with a lower score.

Some of the most prestigious schools average LSAT scores.

Yes, and they do for good reason. Even though few schools have ever cared about it or paid much attention to it, there is a lot of statistical merit and value in taking score bands into consideration and believing what the various LSAC research reports and recommendations have to say about score bands and interpreting test scores.

Without even going into the many detailed documents LSAC has published about score bands and interpreting test scores, just the self reported practice test score ranges of TLS users as well as their actual reported scores is enough to show that there is something to the score band idea as well as a good basis to average multiple scores. Unfortunately USNWR rankings and all the related fun stuff trumps real, actually informative, statistical data in the minds of most admission committees.

That's simply not true. HYS and quite few of the T14s no longer average scores. They only take the highest.

The ABA has come out against this.

Of course, there is no sure-fire way to confirm this (ad comms can do whatever they want behind closed doors), but I'm just going by what the recent ABA policy is.

People with scores in the 150s have gotten into Yale and people with the same have gotten into to Harvard (although unlike Yale, Harvard doesn't publish their lowest applicant score accepted).

justbubbles wrote:That's simply not true. HYS and quite few of the T14s no longer average scores. They only take the highest.

The ABA has come out against this.

Of course, there is no sure-fire way to confirm this (ad comms can do whatever they want behind closed doors), but I'm just going by what the recent ABA policy is.

People with scores in the 150s have gotten into Yale and people with the same have gotten into to Harvard (although unlike Yale, Harvard doesn't publish their lowest applicant score accepted).

Dude, kapital98 said SOME prestigious schools average LSAT scores. It is true. Some of them even still state it as policy in their admission guide(s)/info for prospective students.

You are also incorrect about the position of the ABA. They did not come out 'against' admission committees averaging multiple test scores when making admission decisions. In 2006 the ABA changed the requirements about the information law schools have to report about students they admit that matriculate. Prior to 2006 law schools had to report the average reported LSAT score of admitted students that decided to attend. After the change, for statistical data/transparency/what have you, schools are now only required to report the highest LSAT score of their students. The ABA did not take a stance on whether or not admission committees should or should not consider applicants average LSAT score when making admission decisions.

The few exceptions to the 25% - 75% stats about students admitted to particular highly ranked schools with low LSAT scores does not change anything. Those exceptions are few and far in between. Also, all ABA schools are REQUIRED to report the highest LSAT score of each admitted student that attends, whether or not it is a low or high score. Not all schools report the complete data about admitted students in their materials made directly available to prospective students, but they still have to report all of it.

At some schools the difference is huge and at others there is almost no difference.