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Hello, everyone. I may be applying to Michigan Law for admission next cycle (for fall 2021 entry).

My LSAC GPA is 3.86. I graduated from a private T20 university (which has a T20 law school).

I haven't taken the LSAT yet, but my practice exams seem to end up in the mid-high 160s (164-169).

I'm also a Michigan resident. If I were to ED, would I have pretty solid chances, even if my LSAT ends up nearer their 25th (163)?

No, doing well on the LSAT is generally going to be dispositive. For law-school apps ED is mainly a way of forfeiting scholarship money and opportunities at other schools.

The Lsat Airbender wrote:No, doing well on the LSAT is generally going to be dispositive. For law-school apps ED is mainly a way of forfeiting scholarship money and opportunities at other schools.

Since my GPA is between Michigan's 50th and 75th (nearer 75th), would that mean I might have a chance with an LSAT between their 25th and 50th (163 and 169)? Would my residency and/or ED help here at all?

It's hard to feel awesome about your chances at any law school with a below-median LSAT but yeah, with a 167-168 you'd probably be more likely than not to get in. In the 163-166 range you still have a chance but you're in a very crowded pipeline of reverse splitters trying to get in.

Residency is nice but they're already giving you a $3k/year tuition discount, and UMichigan prides itself on recruiting nationally, so I wouldn't expect to substantially outperform your numbers.

Again, ED doesn't make your application stronger in a meaningful way. I'm curious why you think otherwise. They emphatically say so themselves:

https://www.law.umich.edu/prospectivest ... ption.aspx