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Is there a method to gauge how much scholarship money a school may give based on your LSAT score?

HairyTurtleHairyTurtle Alum Member
in Law School Admissions 62 karma

These may be questions that can only be answered after applying to schools. Will a 165 get me a full ride to a school with average LSAT scores of 155 in the 75th percentile? Will it get me ~50% of tuition? Or perhaps even less? How much are other factors like GPA weighed when schools are considering scholarships for students?

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  • OhnoeshalpmeOhnoeshalpme Alum Member ⭐
    2531 karma

    A lot of schools use indices that factor both GPA and LSAT. If you are 10 points above 75th percentile, you will most of the time get a full-tuition scholarship if not close to full tuition, as long as your GPA is above the 25th percentile for that school. There is no specific function, however, that is reliable in predicting scholarship offers.

    For example, I was median at one school for LSAT and slightly above median for GPA and I was offered a full-tuition scholarship. And in the following week, I was wait-listed at a lower ranked school. So I think it's safe to say there is some luck involved.

    In general, when comparing GPA to LSAT, a single point on the LSAT is worth .1 for GPA. SO a student with a 170 LSAT and a 3.5 GPA is roughly equivalent to a 171 LSAT and a 3.4 GPA. This rule, however, is not fool-proof and breaks down when you consider 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile cut-off points. At a School with a 3.3 25th percentile GPA and a 3.7 50th percentile, the 171 with a 3.4 is a much more appealing candidate, because their 3.4 doesn't effect the numbers that they report to a significant degree. In the same respect, if a school has a 75th percentile LSAT of 165 and a 25th percentile GPA of 3.5, the 170 LSAT candidate is going to be more advantageous because he falls at or above the 25th percentile, and doesn't risk a 25th GPA decrease.

  • HairyTurtleHairyTurtle Alum Member
    62 karma

    Ohno,

    Thanks for the response. This is exactly the type of answer I was looking for. I often wonder if there is a strict formula for each and every school when deciding on how much scholarship money to give to an applicant. Also, if factors like geographic location and ethnicity of the applicant play a role as well.

  • LSAT_WreckerLSAT_Wrecker Member ⭐
    edited January 2019 4850 karma

    Some adcoms (two thus far, and I suspect its the case at a third) have told me initial scholarships are strictly based on your index score (LSAT / GPA weighted) for that school.

    In related news, when you are a splitter, acceptances are much easier to come by than scholarships :wink:

    ETA: Or, petty much exactly what @Ohnoeshalpme said in his first 2 paragraphs...

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