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Percentile Pick...

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 3:07 pm
by JDHopeful
If you are right at a school's median LSAT and slightly above their 75% GPA, and received a fee waiver from them, what are your chances of admission there?

Re: Percentile Pick...

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 3:08 pm
by TommyK
Try not to throw up on the application and you should be fine.

Re: Percentile Pick...

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 3:10 pm
by im_blue
I'd say at least 80-90% unless that school is HYS/Columbia/Chicago/Berkeley (holistic) or MVP (YP).

Re: Percentile Pick...

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 3:11 pm
by JDHopeful
Yea, its not.. it (well, they're) each closer to 50-70 ranger.

Re: Percentile Pick...

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 3:12 pm
by im_blue
Then consider it a safety.

Re: Percentile Pick...

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 3:22 pm
by JDHopeful
thanks; so, you think i have a great shot at getting in? additionally, i have a letter of rec from an extremely high official in one of the schools' systems.

Re: Percentile Pick...

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 3:34 pm
by HeavenWood
JDHopeful wrote:If you are right at a school's median LSAT and slightly above their 75% GPA, and received a fee waiver from them, what are your chances of admission there?
Fee waivers are sent pretty erratically. I just got one from Duke. Why did they send me a fee waiver?

A) They are scrambling to admit more white, upper-middle class Jews
B) They are intrigued by my most original desire to practice as a public interest attorney
C) I have only a small chance at admission, but Duke sees people like me as a chance to increase their volume of applications (and hence, further reduce their already low acceptance rate).

I'm not saying this situation directly applies to you. If you're at/above a school's medians, you stand a good shot at being admitted. I am saying this is most likely independent of you receiving a merit-based fee waiver.

Re: Percentile Pick...

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 3:59 pm
by JDHopeful
yea, i'm pretty familiar with their goal of compelling people who would get rejected to apply who otherwise wouldn't, in hopes of boosting their "selectivity" statistics. But, would they do this to an applicant who meets their higher standards?

Re: Percentile Pick...

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 4:41 pm
by TommyK
JDHopeful wrote:yea, i'm pretty familiar with their goal of compelling people who would get rejected to apply who otherwise wouldn't, in hopes of boosting their "selectivity" statistics. But, would they do this to an applicant who meets their higher standards?
Yeah, your fee waiver probably has little to do with your chance of being accepted and everything to do with you being a candidate with a higher index score than 50% of their current student population.

Re: Percentile Pick...

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 4:42 pm
by JDHopeful
TommyK wrote:
JDHopeful wrote:yea, i'm pretty familiar with their goal of compelling people who would get rejected to apply who otherwise wouldn't, in hopes of boosting their "selectivity" statistics. But, would they do this to an applicant who meets their higher standards?
Yeah, your fee waiver probably has little to do with your chance of being accepted and everything to do with you being a candidate with a higher index score than 50% of their current student population.
What does this mean?

Re: Percentile Pick...

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 4:49 pm
by HeavenWood
JDHopeful wrote:
TommyK wrote:
JDHopeful wrote:yea, i'm pretty familiar with their goal of compelling people who would get rejected to apply who otherwise wouldn't, in hopes of boosting their "selectivity" statistics. But, would they do this to an applicant who meets their higher standards?
Yeah, your fee waiver probably has little to do with your chance of being accepted and everything to do with you being a candidate with a higher index score than 50% of their current student population.
What does this mean?
I don't think that's necessarily true. I doubt my 3.94 and 166 place my admissions index above 50% of the current student populations at UVA or Duke.

Re: Percentile Pick...

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 4:55 pm
by TommyK
HeavenWood wrote:
JDHopeful wrote:
TommyK wrote:
JDHopeful wrote:yea, i'm pretty familiar with their goal of compelling people who would get rejected to apply who otherwise wouldn't, in hopes of boosting their "selectivity" statistics. But, would they do this to an applicant who meets their higher standards?
Yeah, your fee waiver probably has little to do with your chance of being accepted and everything to do with you being a candidate with a higher index score than 50% of their current student population.
What does this mean?
I don't think that's necessarily true. I doubt my 3.94 and 166 place my admissions index above 50% of the current student populations at UVA or Duke.
Yeah, but you're not in a comparable situation as the OP. The OP has a LSAT that's at the median and a GPA above the 75th percentile. I would imagine that would mean that his index score is above the median of metriculating students.

OP - An index score is something that most schools use to determine if students make the initial cut. INDEX_SCORE = LSAT*lsatMULTIPLIER + GPA * gpaMULTIPLIER

Re: Percentile Pick...

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 4:57 pm
by TommyK
crap, i meant that his acceptance has little to do with his waiver and all to do with his index score... not the other way around.

That's what I get for wasting my time on the TLS boards while working.

My bad for any confusion.

Re: Percentile Pick...

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 4:58 pm
by JDHopeful
Got it. So does getting the fee waiver and having a good index score mean I have a good shot at being admitted?

Re: Percentile Pick...

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 4:59 pm
by HeavenWood
JDHopeful wrote:Got it. So does getting the fee waiver and having a good index score mean I have a good shot at being admitted?
Yes, but primarily because of the good index score.

Re: Percentile Pick...

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 5:00 pm
by JDHopeful
awesome; thanks for the clarity

Re: Percentile Pick...

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 6:19 pm
by TommyK
JDHopeful wrote:awesome; thanks for the clarity
Yeah, i wouldn't really give any credence to the waiver. Just feel good that you're better than most of the matriculating students on numbers alone, so just don't spout racial epithets in your personal statement and you should be in solid shape.