hopefulundergrad wrote:
Does a 3.1 and 3.76 even average to a 3.69?
If a school has admitted 50 students and then 26th highest GPA (roughly median, I don't know whether schools average the two middle GPAs if they have an even number of students) is 3.76 and then the school admits one more person with a 3.1 and now the 26th highest (and true median) GPA is a 3.69.
That was the point I was trying to make.
I didn't mean to imply that you were averaging, but that your scenario is:
A) a pretty extreme drop from 3.76 to 3.69. You're telling me there isn't 1 student in the class within that range?
B) Misleading, because it has nothing to do with the 3.1. The applicant in your scenario could be rocking a 3.68 and your median still comes to 3.69. Or if it is anything between 3.69 and 3.76 it becomes the median.
C) Your scenario only strikes me as believable if the admissions office doesn't have room left in the class, or doesn't expect yield from numbers that will bring the median back to where it was before your applicant was admitted.
Bottom line is this: schools absolutely need the 99% LSAT scores, that's why splitters have a chance at good schools. It becomes a balance the admissions office must strike between admitting splitters (who will most likely have a very high yield, depending on how high ranked the school is) v. other applicants who will, perhaps, have more options at peer schools (thus driving yield down). If a school admitted too many of the splitters, and lost too many of the well rounded applicants, they would see a drastic drop in one of their medians, and this is why the splitter cycle is unpredicable, IMO.
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