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For law school I don't think it really matters at all. LSAT is what really matters everything else is just meh. I seriously doubt there would be a case of everything being equal ever though.
For law school I don't think it really matters at all. LSAT is what really matters everything else is just meh. I seriously doubt there would be a case of everything being equal ever though.
Was LSAT ever on an 800 scale? I've never understood that numerical system and the scores seem closely bunched together.
Up until the late 1990s, Boalt Hall (the law school at UC Berkeley) had an explicit procedure to adjust applicants' GPAs for the purpose of admission. Accordingly, the GPA of an applicant from, say, Harvard, was increased, whereas the GPA of an applicant from, say, NC Central was decreased. The faculty threw this out circa 1997, because they couldn't fudge the other factors relevant to admissions enough to meet the school's quota for minority students.
I think it most certainly matters for a couple of reasons:
1. Undergraduate is preparing you for graduate level education. You want a solid foundation. Better schools attract better faculty than can give you that solid foundation.
2. We learn from the people around us. You want to have the opportunity to learn from a group of higher quality students.
3. If you're going to graduate school for an academic degree, you want to start out at a school that has a lot of interesting research projects going on. This gives you an opportunity to explore different areas so you get an idea of what is out there. William Patt doesn't have as much going on as UCSD.
There's other criteria that comes into play. That's just touching some of it.
But it really doesn't matter a ton in most fields of graduate study, as long as you went somewhere "good enough" and made the most of your resources. That's why we have standardized tests to supplement undergraduate GPAs. A law school applicant with a 3.9 from Penn State certainly won't look as good as someone with an equivalent GPA from Penn, but throw in the Penn Stater's 170 LSAT in comparison to the Penn kid's 165, and your preferred choice in candidate becomes obvious.
People talk about "all things being equal" but that's an incredibly rare occurrence. Outside the uber-elite HYPS, which can give you a small though definitely noticeable boost, your other credentials are what matter first and foremost.
The LSAT did use to be on an 800 scale, and I believe was on some wacky double digit scale before that.
You are making me feel old. When I took it, the score was up to 45 (or was it 35?). With a 44, you were pretty much guaranteed admission anywhere except Stanford as long as your UG GPA was decent. However I believe they have always (since the advent of computers) adjusted GPAs based on school. Even with a phenominal LSAT, if your adjusted GPA does not make the minimum cut off and you are white/male, you will not be considered. Some schools give you a score based on some combination of points form LSAT and adjusted GPA. Miss the minimum score and not minority and you are done. Your application will not even make it out of the computer system at many schools.
It can be intimidating. I got in based on my LSAT score. I had a 3.6 GPA from a decent, but not great school. In my entire law school expereince I never met anyone who did not have a 4.0 in college. Sometimes I wondered if I belonged there.
No the LSAT is on a 120-180 scale. It is precisely calibrated after each examination to be a scaled score.
So what are good LSAT scores .... is 165 or 170 good enough for a great school ... or does one need a 175?
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