Sign up to star your favorites What Affects Your Chances of Getting Into Law School?

It’s Only Partly About the Numbers

Law school admissions is a holistic process. I’ll say it again in capital letters: LAW SCHOOL ADMISSIONS IS A HOLISTIC PROCESS. Your numbers matter, but they matter because they’re part of a larger argument. You’re working hard to get the highest LSAT score you can, but in order to maximize the value of that score, you need to understand why the LSAT matters to an admissions officer, and what else matters.

What Numbers?

When I say “numbers,” I’m talking about two numbers: your highest LSAT score and your undergraduate GPA. These are the numbers that law schools have to report to the American Bar Association.

The mean LSAT and GPA of each school’s incoming class affect that school’s US News & World Report (USNWR) ranking. The formula that USNWR uses to calculate these rankings is complex, and in a superficial sense, LSAT and GPA medians are among the least important factors, far less important than employment outcomes and bar passage rates. Critically, though, the decisions that admissions officers make have direct effects on those LSAT and GPA medians. Admit a bunch of 180 scorers and persuade them to come, and you raise your LSAT median. That means that LSAT and GPA weigh heavily in admissions officers’ minds. If a school is aggressively trying to boost its rank, the first thing they’ll do is set higher target medians and try to enroll a class of people with higher numbers.

This is the hard mathematical sense in which “numbers matter,” and you need to bear it in mind. Compare your undergraduate GPA and highest LSAT score to a law school’s medians. (See our handy chart of law school medians and our wonky explanation of medians.) Although you may be able to compensate for a below-median LSAT score with a stellar GPA and vice versa, admissions officers won’t damage their medians without a reason. If you’re aiming for a school where you’re below median, you need to give them that reason. But the fact is that even if you’re aiming for schools where you’re at or above median, you still need to give them a reason to admit you. Here’s why:

Beyond the Numbers

What are admissions officers actually trying to do? They aren’t thinking exclusively or even primarily about their school’s rank. They are trying to enroll a class of serious, smart, hard-working campus leaders who will bring a range of personal and professional experiences to law school, get good grades, pass the bar, get good jobs, and end up a credit to their institution. If they do that, the ranking will take care of itself, but more importantly they’ll have done their bit in creating a rigorous and supportive environment on campus.

This is where all the other stuff in an application comes into play. Let’s consider two applicants. Applicant A has an LSAT score of 180—you heard that right—and a GPA of 3.88. Applicant B has an LSAT score of 169 and a GPA of 3.80. Let’s say the school’s medians are 169 and 3.87. Applicant A is above both medians. Way above, in the case of that LSAT score. Applicant B is below. If an admissions officer had to choose between them, who should they pick?

Let’s look first at each applicant’s résumé:

First, we see that Applicant A has no work experience or undergraduate campus activities on their résumé. That’s a red flag. Applicant B, on the other hand, has been supporting themself since they were 16. They’ve also been involved in some campus advocacy organizations.

This may not be a hard choice after all. Applicant B has lower numbers, sure, but they are clearly employable and they have shown they can hold a job once they’ve gotten it. In fact, they’ve performed well academically while juggling a complex and demanding work schedule, so their numbers may mean more than Applicant A’s numbers. Applicant B is probably a better bet if I’m worried about employment outcomes and about the contribution each student will make to my law school’s community.

Essays

And let’s talk more about community. Some really unpleasant people do well in their careers, so even if I have an idea that Applicant B is more likely to be a successful lawyer, I want to get the clearest possible sense of what kind of people these applicants are.

And again, Applicant B distinguishes themself. Their personal statement is a warm, inviting, offbeat account of an engineering project they worked on the year after they graduated from college. They love engineering, but they love IP law even more, and that’s what they hope to pursue. Beyond the personal statement, there’s a lovely statement of perspective about a summer they spent with their Cherokee grandfather. And there’s a supplemental essay about making chocolate truffles.

Applicant A may have a 180, but their personal statement is only a page and a half, and it doesn’t mention law, and frankly… it’s unpleasant and self-important. It communicates a bad vibe, a lack of effort, a conviction that those high numbers speak for themselves.

What Are My Chances?

In a moment, I’ll link to our predictor, which will give you a sense of where you stand. But when you interact with the predictor, remember that you are interacting with a data set. Punch in your numbers and it will tell you roughly what percentage of numerically similar applicants got into School X.

You are not a data set. You are a data point. Either you will get into School X or you won't. You won't get 40% of the way in. Remember that. Admissions decisions really are decisions made by people about people. Your job, as you move through this process, is to make the best possible argument for your candidacy. The LSAT is a huge part of that, but don’t let yourself down by crushing the LSAT and then ignoring the rest of your application!

📌More on the admissions process:

• Admissions Behind the Scenes (🎧 podcast with transcript)
• Life on the Other Side of the Desk (▶️ webinar)