Minimum LSAT for T14 Forum

[Lofty Goals]

Hello,

What is the lowest I could score on the LSAT and have a higher than 50% chance of being accepted at a T14 law school? Feel free to analyze the minimum score for each school if you feel compelled to do so. Thank you in advance for any insight that you are able to provide.

Background:

• Bachelor of Science in Accounting, Legal Studies Minor: 3.90 GPA

• Certified Public Accountant /w 3 years of full-time work experience in assurance services at PricewaterhouseCoopers

• Non-URM

[Tanicius]

Hello,

What is the lowest I could score on the LSAT and have a higher than 50% chance of being accepted at a T14 law school? Feel free to analyze the minimum score for each school if you feel compelled to do so. Thank you in advance for any insight that you are able to provide.

Background:

• BS in Accounting, Legal Studies Minor: 3.90 GPA

• Certified Public Accountant /w 3 years of full-time work experience in assurance services at PricewaterhouseCoopers

• Non-URM

With the qualification of having a "higher than 50%" shot, a 168. Maybe 167 given your work experience and GPA.

[09042014]

http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com

[D. H2Oman]

If you want to fire an ED at UVA you could probably get in with a score in the lower 160's. (has to be ED)

[jks289]

At least a 167 for higher then 50% at Cornell (which has lowest LSAT/GPA combo). I think 167 hold for UVA ED as well (they love GPAs) but someone who knows more about it may think lower. Let me preempt all the advice right now: Do the best you possible can. Fixating on a specific number will not help you do your best, it is just a distraction.

[reverendt]

I think Berkeley tends to favor gpa, and you've got a real nice one. They also like work experience.
Maybe 165-166 if they like your softs...?

[rayiner]

Get a 173+ and go to Yale.

[Lofty Goals]

Get a 173+ and go to Yale.

I will do my best

I appreciate all of the responses thus far. I will definitely shoot for a 180 regardless, but it's nice to know what I could "scrape by with" in your various opinions.

[pre-law]

Had a non-URM friend who had a 3.9 gpa and a 166 LSAT who got into Cornell (attending) and Virginia.

[vanwinkle]

Had a non-URM friend who had a 3.9 gpa and a 166 LSAT who got into Cornell (attending) and Virginia.

I call flame. Nobody turns down Charlottesville for Ithaca.

[hiromoto45]

Had a non-URM friend who had a 3.9 gpa and a 166 LSAT who got into Cornell (attending) and Virginia.

I call flame. Nobody turns down Charlottesville for Ithaca.

Ivy vs. State School some will.

[sumus romani]

Forget T14, a 166 is Berk's median in the T10

[thickfreakness]

168 should make you a lock for a t14 acceptance with that GPA. 170-171 gets you a scholarship at T10 schools and one or two CCN acceptances. 172-173 gets you into all of CCN and maybe Harvard or Stanford. 174+ makes you about as close to a lock as you can get at Harvard, with Stanford and Yale being tossups, albeit more likely tossups than before.

[los blancos]

Forget T14, a 166 is Berk's median in the T10

The numbers don't mean [nearly as] much at Berkeley. Many people with 170+ and 3.9 got dinged there this year. They look for a very specific type of applicant. Just look at the LSN graph.

[clintonius]

Forget T14, a 166 is Berk's median in the T10

The numbers don't mean [nearly as] much at Berkeley. Many people with 170+ and 3.9 got dinged there this year. They look for [strike]a very specific type of applicant[/strike] patchouli-redolent trust-fund babies. Just look at [strike]the LSN graph[/strike] the Californian economy.

[khanvalescent]

I'm not going to disagree with any of the above posts, but you should aim for a 170+. This would give you a better than 50% chance at at least half of the t14.

[Lofty Goals]

Thanks again for all the input.

Obtaining a 170+ seems daunting to say the least, but I guess that I will never know unless I try. Hopefully, studying for 3-4 months without external distractions (work, school, kids, etc.) will make a score in the 170s possible.

[OneKnight]

I think Berkeley tends to favor gpa, and you've got a real nice one. They also like work experience.
Maybe 165-166 if they like your softs...?

This is extremely misleading. Even with a 170 and a 3.9 you can't be confident of an acceptance at Boalt.
Yeah, Berkeley likes people with high GPAs, but a high GPA and a decent LSAT is not sufficient to get in.
Looking at the LSN, most of the "anomalies" are explained by softs that caught Dean Tom's attention: combat veteran experience, multiple award winning theses, published papers, etc. "Mere" work experience or graduate work doesn't appear to be enough. Because Boalt has such a unique (read: black box) style of admission, the only people who can be reasonably confident of an acceptance based on numbers alone are those few people out there with the killer 175/3.95+ combination.

Back to the OP's question. If you score above a 165 (combined with your GPA) and pull the ED trigger at UVA, you probably have around a 50% chance. With a 166, your chances at Cornell are less than 50%. With a 167, I'd say 50%. With a 168, you've got a golden ticket to Ithaca. Georgetown's line is drawn at 169. I could go on, but you should just look at http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com and http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com/