UVA c/o 2015 Applicants (2011-2012 cycle) Forum

[so_fetch]

very weird.....sent UVA a withdrawal email friday, got a reply today thanking me for applying...except it also said,

"i hope they have nice tennis courts wherever you end up going to law school"...

i wrote about tennis in my ps...

..it appeared to be a very specific email directed to me, not a form email at all.....

i guess that means they already read my file and somehow remembered me???

Haha wow. Almost creepy, but kinda cool I suppose.

Agreed. While we are on the topic, do you know if they have nice tennis courts at UVA? I have toured only the law school itself.

[barneytrouble]

rofl tennis courts. hilarious email line.

sofetch, im pretty sure like every large state school has super nice athletic facilities.

[so_fetch]

rofl tennis courts. hilarious email line.

sofetch, im pretty sure like every large state school has super nice athletic facilities.

don't want to reveal my large state school but we did not have very nice tennis courts

[theduffman]

Waitlisted :/

Sorry to hear that. Were you RD or ED? How and when did they let you know?

ED and via email. It's alright - nice to know I still have some control over my future now lol. Does anyone have an opinion on how being waitlisted at UVA should indicate the rest of my cycle? Or does being waitlisted ED at UVA make the rest of the T14 look pretty bad?

EDITED for grammar

[so_fetch]

Waitlisted :/

Sorry to hear that. Were you RD or ED? How and when did they let you know?

ED and via email. It's alright - nice to know I still have some control over my future now lol. Does anyone have an opinion on how being waitlisted at UVA should indicate the rest of my cycle? Or is being waitlisted ED at UVA make the rest of the T14 look pretty bad?

stay positive! It's not like the schools are all conspiring against you and making a joint decision! One waitlist doesn't mean anything for the rest of your cycle. Your weakness, as I am sure you are already aware, is your GPA. It seems like UVA is pickier about GPAs than a lot of other schools. This decision (well, i guess a waitlist is a semi-decision) from UVA doesn't change your chances at the rest of the t14. Before, and now, I think you will have the best chances at places where your lsat is >75%, since your GPA is <25%.

[theduffman]

Waitlisted :/

Sorry to hear that. Were you RD or ED? How and when did they let you know?

ED and via email. It's alright - nice to know I still have some control over my future now lol. Does anyone have an opinion on how being waitlisted at UVA should indicate the rest of my cycle? Or is being waitlisted ED at UVA make the rest of the T14 look pretty bad?

stay positive! It's not like the schools are all conspiring against you and making a joint decision! One waitlist doesn't mean anything for the rest of your cycle. Your weakness, as I am sure you are already aware, is your GPA. It seems like UVA is pickier about GPAs than a lot of other schools. This decision (well, i guess a waitlist is a semi-decision) from UVA doesn't change your chances at the rest of the t14. Before, and now, I think you will have the best chances at places where your lsat is >75%, since your GPA is <25%.

thank you for the encouraging words. I actually had a question about that - so the consensus is that you are a "splitter" if your GPA is at or below the 25% and LSAT is at or above the 75%. By this logic, wouldn't an application to Berkeley seem like a good shot for someone like me, even though by traditional knowledge Berkeley is very grade-heavy? I feel like there is some logic to saying that the people with higher LSAT medians are actually more likely to accept me, since it should indicate that they place a greater emphasis on the LSAT.

[Samara]

thank you for the encouraging words. I actually had a question about that - so the consensus is that you are a "splitter" if your GPA is at or below the 25% and LSAT is at or above the 75%. By this logic, wouldn't an application to Berkeley seem like a good shot for someone like me, even though by traditional knowledge Berkeley is very grade-heavy? I feel like there is some logic to saying that the people with higher LSAT medians are actually more likely to accept me, since it should indicate that they place a greater emphasis on the LSAT.

No, Berkeley has a very tough 3.5 GPA floor. If a school emphasizes GPA, a splitter is probably not going to see a favorable admissions cycle there, regardless of their LSAT.

[thederangedwang]

very weird.....sent UVA a withdrawal email friday, got a reply today thanking me for applying...except it also said,

"i hope they have nice tennis courts wherever you end up going to law school"...

i wrote about tennis in my ps...

..it appeared to be a very specific email directed to me, not a form email at all.....

i guess that means they already read my file and somehow remembered me???

Haha wow. Almost creepy, but kinda cool I suppose.

Agreed. While we are on the topic, do you know if they have nice tennis courts at UVA? I have toured only the law school itself.

uva has the number 1 ranked men's tennis team in the entire country...they have amazing tennis facilities..unfortunately, they lost to USC (california, not carolina) in the NCAA finals last year 4-3..very close match.

[so_fetch]

thank you for the encouraging words. I actually had a question about that - so the consensus is that you are a "splitter" if your GPA is at or below the 25% and LSAT is at or above the 75%. By this logic, wouldn't an application to Berkeley seem like a good shot for someone like me, even though by traditional knowledge Berkeley is very grade-heavy? I feel like there is some logic to saying that the people with higher LSAT medians are actually more likely to accept me, since it should indicate that they place a greater emphasis on the LSAT.

I do see your point in the last sentence. I guess I was thinking, why would a school be willing to accept your GPA (which is dragging them down statistically) unless your LSAT is going to really bring them up statistically? I agree this theory would put Berkeley in range for you. The question is: Who makes up that bottom 25% for GPA? is it people with 170s or people with 178s? maybe some URMs as well? Who knows? That's why I think you should stay positive, because no one really knows who will be a part of that lower 25%. I have a similar situation at, for example, harvard, where I am at/above 75% gpa but below 25% lsat. Could I be part of the 25% lsat? Maybe. we shall see. who knows! disclaimer: i am a lot more positive than the general TLS population so take this all with a grain of salt

[so_fetch]

No, Berkeley has a very tough 3.5 GPA floor. If a school emphasizes GPA, a splitter is probably not going to see a favorable admissions cycle there, regardless of their LSAT.

ok so I take back what I said about "no one knows" what makes up the bottom 25%. I guess at berkeley it's all people between 3.5 and 3.64

[theduffman]

thank you for the encouraging words. I actually had a question about that - so the consensus is that you are a "splitter" if your GPA is at or below the 25% and LSAT is at or above the 75%. By this logic, wouldn't an application to Berkeley seem like a good shot for someone like me, even though by traditional knowledge Berkeley is very grade-heavy? I feel like there is some logic to saying that the people with higher LSAT medians are actually more likely to accept me, since it should indicate that they place a greater emphasis on the LSAT.

I do see your point in the last sentence. I guess I was thinking, why would a school be willing to accept your GPA (which is dragging them down statistically) unless your LSAT is going to really bring them up statistically? I agree this theory would put Berkeley in range for you. The question is: Who makes up that bottom 25% for GPA? is it people with 170s or people with 178s? maybe some URMs as well? Who knows? That's why I think you should stay positive, because no one really knows who will be a part of that lower 25%. I have a similar situation at, for example, harvard, where I am at/above 75% gpa but below 25% lsat. Could I be part of the 25% lsat? Maybe. we shall see. who knows! disclaimer: i am a lot more positive than the general TLS population so take this all with a grain of salt

haha your elevated positivity in relation to the rest of TLS probably just puts you in closer line with the general populace... we seem to be a very cynical group here

[theduffman]

thank you for the encouraging words. I actually had a question about that - so the consensus is that you are a "splitter" if your GPA is at or below the 25% and LSAT is at or above the 75%. By this logic, wouldn't an application to Berkeley seem like a good shot for someone like me, even though by traditional knowledge Berkeley is very grade-heavy? I feel like there is some logic to saying that the people with higher LSAT medians are actually more likely to accept me, since it should indicate that they place a greater emphasis on the LSAT.

No, Berkeley has a very tough 3.5 GPA floor. If a school emphasizes GPA, a splitter is probably not going to see a favorable admissions cycle there, regardless of their LSAT.

right, that was my point. That the traditional logic of where splitters get admitted is not consistent with observed trends, like the fact that "Berkeley is very grade-heavy". I feel like it is Berkeley's emphasis on grades which have brought it's LSAT median and percentiles down, so it might make sense that splitters would actually do better at schools with high LSAT medians (for example, I have heard NYU is not particularly splitter friendly, but more so than some of the other T14's, even though they have very high LSAT percentiles).

[so_fetch]

haha your elevated positivity in relation to the rest of TLS probably just puts you in closer line with the general populace... we seem to be a very cynical group here

its not "elevated positivity." I think here it is considered not being in touch with reality. Which is a valid point I suppose but personally staying positive gets me through the waiting period better than the "don't expect a lot and then be surprised" mentality that seems to work for others

[JoeMo]

ED and via email. It's alright - nice to know I still have some control over my future now lol. Does anyone have an opinion on how being waitlisted at UVA should indicate the rest of my cycle? Or does being waitlisted ED at UVA make the rest of the T14 look pretty bad?

I applied to UVA ED as well, included a Why UVA, I'm a reverse splitter. High GPA, below 25th LSAT.

I found out this week that I'm in at Michigan. So that being said, being waitlisted at UVA does not mean a thing for the rest of your cycle. Just keep positive and something good will come.

[FloridaCoastalorbust]

ED and via email. It's alright - nice to know I still have some control over my future now lol. Does anyone have an opinion on how being waitlisted at UVA should indicate the rest of my cycle? Or does being waitlisted ED at UVA make the rest of the T14 look pretty bad?

I applied to UVA ED as well, included a Why UVA, I'm a reverse splitter. High GPA, below 25th LSAT.

I found out this week that I'm in at Michigan. So that being said, being waitlisted at UVA does not mean a thing for the rest of your cycle. Just keep positive and something good will come.

That's great news on Mich! So stoked for you after the UVA WL

[JoeMo]

ED and via email. It's alright - nice to know I still have some control over my future now lol. Does anyone have an opinion on how being waitlisted at UVA should indicate the rest of my cycle? Or does being waitlisted ED at UVA make the rest of the T14 look pretty bad?

I applied to UVA ED as well, included a Why UVA, I'm a reverse splitter. High GPA, below 25th LSAT.

I found out this week that I'm in at Michigan. So that being said, being waitlisted at UVA does not mean a thing for the rest of your cycle. Just keep positive and something good will come.

That's great news on Mich! So stoked for you after the UVA WL

Thank you so much, I'm so excited! I had my heart set on AA.

[theduffman]

haha your elevated positivity in relation to the rest of TLS probably just puts you in closer line with the general populace... we seem to be a very cynical group here

its not "elevated positivity." I think here it is considered not being in touch with reality. Which is a valid point I suppose but personally staying positive gets me through the waiting period better than the "don't expect a lot and then be surprised" mentality that seems to work for others

Just to clarify I meant it as a good thing if it was interpreted otherwise

[theduffman]

ED and via email. It's alright - nice to know I still have some control over my future now lol. Does anyone have an opinion on how being waitlisted at UVA should indicate the rest of my cycle? Or does being waitlisted ED at UVA make the rest of the T14 look pretty bad?

I applied to UVA ED as well, included a Why UVA, I'm a reverse splitter. High GPA, below 25th LSAT.

I found out this week that I'm in at Michigan. So that being said, being waitlisted at UVA does not mean a thing for the rest of your cycle. Just keep positive and something good will come.

that's awesome to hear - congratulations on getting in to Mich!

[amc987]

thank you for the encouraging words. I actually had a question about that - so the consensus is that you are a "splitter" if your GPA is at or below the 25% and LSAT is at or above the 75%. By this logic, wouldn't an application to Berkeley seem like a good shot for someone like me, even though by traditional knowledge Berkeley is very grade-heavy? I feel like there is some logic to saying that the people with higher LSAT medians are actually more likely to accept me, since it should indicate that they place a greater emphasis on the LSAT.

I do see your point in the last sentence. I guess I was thinking, why would a school be willing to accept your GPA (which is dragging them down statistically) unless your LSAT is going to really bring them up statistically? I agree this theory would put Berkeley in range for you. The question is: Who makes up that bottom 25% for GPA? is it people with 170s or people with 178s? maybe some URMs as well? Who knows? That's why I think you should stay positive, because no one really knows who will be a part of that lower 25%. I have a similar situation at, for example, harvard, where I am at/above 75% gpa but below 25% lsat. Could I be part of the 25% lsat? Maybe. we shall see. who knows! disclaimer: i am a lot more positive than the general TLS population so take this all with a grain of salt

Your optimism is refreshing, so_fetch. You give me hope. In other news, I think that I am in the RD batch that will hear from UVA no sooner than January. Maybe they'll have lots of good news to disperse at that time?! Because goodness knows they've held enough people's applications to this point.

[005618502]

Looks like UVA is trying to move their GPA median up. Last year 3.85+ with a 160+ was a shoe in at UVA ED. This year that is not the case. I wonder......

[EMZE]

thank you for the encouraging words. I actually had a question about that - so the consensus is that you are a "splitter" if your GPA is at or below the 25% and LSAT is at or above the 75%. By this logic, wouldn't an application to Berkeley seem like a good shot for someone like me, even though by traditional knowledge Berkeley is very grade-heavy? I feel like there is some logic to saying that the people with higher LSAT medians are actually more likely to accept me, since it should indicate that they place a greater emphasis on the LSAT.

I do see your point in the last sentence. I guess I was thinking, why would a school be willing to accept your GPA (which is dragging them down statistically) unless your LSAT is going to really bring them up statistically? I agree this theory would put Berkeley in range for you. The question is: Who makes up that bottom 25% for GPA? is it people with 170s or people with 178s? maybe some URMs as well? Who knows? That's why I think you should stay positive, because no one really knows who will be a part of that lower 25%. I have a similar situation at, for example, harvard, where I am at/above 75% gpa but below 25% lsat. Could I be part of the 25% lsat? Maybe. we shall see. who knows! disclaimer: i am a lot more positive than the general TLS population so take this all with a grain of salt

Your optimism is refreshing, so_fetch. You give me hope. In other news, I think that I am in the RD batch that will hear from UVA no sooner than January. Maybe they'll have lots of good news to disperse at that time?! Because goodness knows they've held enough people's applications to this point.

Just to add to the optimism, in the case of HLS, where the incoming class is something like 500, that leaves 125 accepted applicants with at least one number below the 25% for each of the statistics. Whether that is a 170 or a 162 doesn't affect the median range, so long as there are 375 above that number. So I would have to guess that at that point, schools will assess whether you can a) contribute something substantially worthwhile to the incoming class, and b) if your numbers indicate that you can succeed at said school. The difference between a 169 and a 173 is 4-5 questions on the LSAT, a.k.a. the difference between a good and bad day, so I don't think they can discount an applicant on my case b just because you fall a few points below their median.

And, obviously that doesn't mean that there are 125 applicants below both medians. But 125 is not an insignificant number for a population of people that would typically get told, especially on TLS, that they are auto dings because they arent above both medians.

If I knew the UVA incoming class size off hand I would have used those numbers, so I apologize for the specificity of my exampble being in the wrong place. But I trust everyones ability to do math, at least on the level required to figure out the specifics in UVAs case.

Good luck!

[citykitty]

thank you for the encouraging words. I actually had a question about that - so the consensus is that you are a "splitter" if your GPA is at or below the 25% and LSAT is at or above the 75%. By this logic, wouldn't an application to Berkeley seem like a good shot for someone like me, even though by traditional knowledge Berkeley is very grade-heavy? I feel like there is some logic to saying that the people with higher LSAT medians are actually more likely to accept me, since it should indicate that they place a greater emphasis on the LSAT.

I do see your point in the last sentence. I guess I was thinking, why would a school be willing to accept your GPA (which is dragging them down statistically) unless your LSAT is going to really bring them up statistically? I agree this theory would put Berkeley in range for you. The question is: Who makes up that bottom 25% for GPA? is it people with 170s or people with 178s? maybe some URMs as well? Who knows? That's why I think you should stay positive, because no one really knows who will be a part of that lower 25%. I have a similar situation at, for example, harvard, where I am at/above 75% gpa but below 25% lsat. Could I be part of the 25% lsat? Maybe. we shall see. who knows! disclaimer: i am a lot more positive than the general TLS population so take this all with a grain of salt

Your optimism is refreshing, so_fetch. You give me hope. In other news, I think that I am in the RD batch that will hear from UVA no sooner than January. Maybe they'll have lots of good news to disperse at that time?! Because goodness knows they've held enough people's applications to this point.

Just to add to the optimism, in the case of HLS, where the incoming class is something like 500, that leaves 125 accepted applicants with at least one number below the 25% for each of the statistics. Whether that is a 170 or a 162 doesn't affect the median range, so long as there are 375 above that number. So I would have to guess that at that point, schools will assess whether you can a) contribute something substantially worthwhile to the incoming class, and b) if your numbers indicate that you can succeed at said school. The difference between a 169 and a 173 is 4-5 questions on the LSAT, a.k.a. the difference between a good and bad day, so I don't think they can discount an applicant on my case b just because you fall a few points below their median.

And, obviously that doesn't mean that there are 125 applicants below both medians. But 125 is not an insignificant number for a population of people that would typically get told, especially on TLS, that they are auto dings because they arent above both medians.

If I knew the UVA incoming class size off hand I would have used those numbers, so I apologize for the specificity of my exampble being in the wrong place. But I trust everyones ability to do math, at least on the level required to figure out the specifics in UVAs case.

Good luck!

I think UVA is about 360, so 90 people below the 25th percentile.

[005618502]

thank you for the encouraging words. I actually had a question about that - so the consensus is that you are a "splitter" if your GPA is at or below the 25% and LSAT is at or above the 75%. By this logic, wouldn't an application to Berkeley seem like a good shot for someone like me, even though by traditional knowledge Berkeley is very grade-heavy? I feel like there is some logic to saying that the people with higher LSAT medians are actually more likely to accept me, since it should indicate that they place a greater emphasis on the LSAT.

I do see your point in the last sentence. I guess I was thinking, why would a school be willing to accept your GPA (which is dragging them down statistically) unless your LSAT is going to really bring them up statistically? I agree this theory would put Berkeley in range for you. The question is: Who makes up that bottom 25% for GPA? is it people with 170s or people with 178s? maybe some URMs as well? Who knows? That's why I think you should stay positive, because no one really knows who will be a part of that lower 25%. I have a similar situation at, for example, harvard, where I am at/above 75% gpa but below 25% lsat. Could I be part of the 25% lsat? Maybe. we shall see. who knows! disclaimer: i am a lot more positive than the general TLS population so take this all with a grain of salt

Your optimism is refreshing, so_fetch. You give me hope. In other news, I think that I am in the RD batch that will hear from UVA no sooner than January. Maybe they'll have lots of good news to disperse at that time?! Because goodness knows they've held enough people's applications to this point.

Just to add to the optimism, in the case of HLS, where the incoming class is something like 500, that leaves 125 accepted applicants with at least one number below the 25% for each of the statistics. Whether that is a 170 or a 162 doesn't affect the median range, so long as there are 375 above that number. So I would have to guess that at that point, schools will assess whether you can a) contribute something substantially worthwhile to the incoming class, and b) if your numbers indicate that you can succeed at said school. The difference between a 169 and a 173 is 4-5 questions on the LSAT, a.k.a. the difference between a good and bad day, so I don't think they can discount an applicant on my case b just because you fall a few points below their median.

And, obviously that doesn't mean that there are 125 applicants below both medians. But 125 is not an insignificant number for a population of people that would typically get told, especially on TLS, that they are auto dings because they arent above both medians.

If I knew the UVA incoming class size off hand I would have used those numbers, so I apologize for the specificity of my exampble being in the wrong place. But I trust everyones ability to do math, at least on the level required to figure out the specifics in UVAs case.

Good luck!

Those are the spots that they save for URMs or people who have extradinary experiences. But there is still a difference between a 169 and 162 even though neither will help their median. Thats why they seem to have a GPA floor.

[ThomasMN]

Your thinking on the 25th percentile numbers is slightly off. It is certainly the case that the people at the 25th percentile and below have numbers at or below the 25th percentile, but it could also be the case that many of those between the 25th percentile and the median have similar numbers. It would be interesting to see what LSAT score is the mode at a place like UVA and exactly how "deep" the median score goes.

[tener]

Your thinking on the 25th percentile numbers is slightly off. It is certainly the case that the people at the 25th percentile and below have numbers at or below the 25th percentile, but it could also be the case that many of those between the 25th percentile and the median have similar numbers. It would be interesting to see what LSAT score is the mode at a place like UVA and exactly how "deep" the median score goes.

The LSAT mode would be interesting, but I'd be more interested in just means. But this is something law schools will never provide, and probably rightly so. With some limitations, you can find a statistic to back up most arguments about populations.

So many people imagine this bell curve with the median and mean for LSAT matching, but in reality, I could imagine hundreds of plausible scenarios. And I'm sure some schools are even, some skew left and some skew right, and invariably that changes from year to year. That's why we apply! Yay!