Does percentile factor in decisions? Forum

[paperrev]

Hey, so I got my scores back and am honestly disappointed. I got a +2 increase to 169, which I guess is better than nothing, but I was expecting more Anyway, I do have a question though about percentiles: do they factor in the admission decision making at all?? Because while I only improved 2 points, I got bumped up from 94th % to the 97th % with this score. Do you think admissions officers will take that into consideration??

[ScottRiqui]

Never mind the percentiles; a two-point jump in your LSAT score is a solid improvement, especially at the mid-to-high 160s.

Think of it this way - the LSAT medians among the top twenty schools only vary by nine points, (from 164 to 173). Take Yale out of the equation, and the spread is only seven points. With so many good schools clustered so closely together, your two-point increase has just made you MUCH more attractive.

[notalobbyist]

Percentiles matter in terms of the applicant pool, not the distribution of the scores for the test. Law school is a business, and if the top 1% can't fill a classroom then schools dig deeper into the scores.

A 169 puts you in good territory relative to your fellow applicants, don't be discouraged.

[Nova]

Its the same thing so it doesn't make a difference

[LexLeon]

Never mind the percentiles; a two-point jump in your LSAT score is a solid improvement, especially at the mid-to-high 160s.

Think of it this way - the LSAT medians among the top twenty schools only vary by nine points, (from 164 to 173). Take Yale out of the equation, and the spread is only seven points. With so many good schools clustered so closely together, your two-point increase has just made you MUCH more attractive.

Isn't Harvard's median 173?

[LexLeon]

Percentiles matter in terms of the applicant pool, not the distribution of the scores for the test. Law school is a business, and if the top 1% can't fill a classroom then schools dig deeper into the scores.

A 169 puts you in good territory relative to your fellow applicants, don't be discouraged.

I don't understand how percentile rank can be irrelevant to "the distribution of the scores for the test."

Isn't the distribution of scores what determines one's percentile rank?

[ScottRiqui]

Never mind the percentiles; a two-point jump in your LSAT score is a solid improvement, especially at the mid-to-high 160s.

Think of it this way - the LSAT medians among the top twenty schools only vary by nine points, (from 164 to 173). Take Yale out of the equation, and the spread is only seven points. With so many good schools clustered so closely together, your two-point increase has just made you MUCH more attractive.

Isn't Harvard's median 173?

You're right - even with Yale out, the spread is still nine points. Still, two points is a nice improvement.

[LexLeon]

Its the same thing so it doesn't make a difference

Do you mean that a 167 is the same thing as a 169? Or do you mean that the combination of scores 167 and 169 is functionally equivalent to the single score 169?

[thsmthcrmnl]

Its the same thing so it doesn't make a difference

[mach9zero]

Its the same thing so it doesn't make a difference

Do you mean that a 167 is the same thing as a 169? Or do you mean that the combination of scores 167 and 169 is functionally equivalent to the single score 169?

Schools are only looking at highest score, so a combined 167 and a 169 is just going to be viewed as a 169.

[LexLeon]

Never mind the percentiles; a two-point jump in your LSAT score is a solid improvement, especially at the mid-to-high 160s.

Think of it this way - the LSAT medians among the top twenty schools only vary by nine points, (from 164 to 173). Take Yale out of the equation, and the spread is only seven points. With so many good schools clustered so closely together, your two-point increase has just made you MUCH more attractive.

Isn't Harvard's median 173?

You're right - even with Yale out, the spread is still nine points. Still, two points is a nice improvement.

I agree. Jumping ahead of 3% of test takers to the top 3% is certainly solid.

No school is out of the picture on the basis of your scores alone, Paperrev. In my opinion, the score is not what actually matters anyway: What makes a particular score appealing to admissions officers is just how much better it is that some quantity of other scores.

[LexLeon]

Its the same thing so it doesn't make a difference

Do you mean that a 167 is the same thing as a 169? Or do you mean that the combination of scores 167 and 169 is functionally equivalent to the single score 169?

Schools are only looking at highest score, so a combined 167 and a 169 is just going to be viewed as a 169.

I think that's true enough--especially because 167 is itself a respectable score.

[ScottRiqui]

Percentiles matter in terms of the applicant pool, not the distribution of the scores for the test. Law school is a business, and if the top 1% can't fill a classroom then schools dig deeper into the scores.

A 169 puts you in good territory relative to your fellow applicants, don't be discouraged.

I don't understand how percentile rank can be irrelevant to "the distribution of the scores for the test."

Isn't the distribution of scores what determines one's percentile rank?

Except for small shifts over time, percentiles and scores are pretty much interchangeable. For example, a 170 has been between the 98th percentile and 97th percentile for at least the past twelve years.

Percentiles are nice for telling you how you did compared to the entire pool of LSAT takers, but that's secondary, and of no great importance. What's important is how your score compares to the 25th/50th/75th for the school(s) you're interested in.

[Nova]

Its the same thing so it doesn't make a difference

Do you mean that a 167 is the same thing as a 169? Or do you mean that the combination of scores 167 and 169 is functionally equivalent to the single score 169?

Im responding to: "do percentiles factor in the admission decision making at all??"

Im saying it doesn't make a difference whether you look at it as 1XX or XX%ile. They mean the same thing.