Finally, finally, there’s a nip in the air. The leaves are changing colors and the semester’s first solo cup pyramids have collapsed under the weight of mid-semester exam prep. You know what that means. It’s pumpkin spice season! Also, time to get working on those law school student applications.
“But, but … how do I know where to apply?” you might be saying. You may also be saying, “Actually, I’ve been dreaming of going to Harvard University Law School since I saw Legally Blonde as an impressionable youth. How hard could it be to get in?”
We can help answer both of those questions with one simple tool: the law school predictor. Let’s get into it.
Law school predictors — and I say predictors, plural, because there’s a few out there — are tools that curate admissions data from law schools about the statistical breakdowns of their accepted law students’ undergraduate GPAs and LSAT scores and allow users or potential applicants to plug their own info in to see how they might match up. Essentially, they let law school applicants get an idea of how likely it may be for them to be admitted to a series of different law schools, based on the raw numbers alone.
A note: Data gives guidelines to students of what might happen in the future, but statisticians are not unfailing oracles — ask any data analyst and they’ll say the same. Just because something is likely doesn’t mean that it’s guaranteed. (That’s something you should remember for Must Be True questions 😉) This is particularly true when you’re looking at top law schools, where towering Law Admission Test scores and near-perfect high GPAs are more of a necessary factor than a sufficient one. But when you’re first starting to seriously pull together a list of schools to consider applying to, a numbers-based approach is a good way to narrow your choices to a more manageable set.
Ahem. Back to predictors. Different predictors have slight differences between them. LSAC’s calculator bases its predictions on data from different 2017 law school admissions data. Blueprint’s law school predictor uses information from that latest U.S. News and World Reports rankings. Of course, not all predictors are created equal. Hourumd, another popular predictor, is on slightly shakier ground. They draw their information from largely self-reported data, which may lead to biases in results.
Perfect fortune-tellers or not, law school predictors are good tools to keep in your back pocket. Play around with some to see how your chances change if you switch up the numbers. If nothing else, they serve as reminders that even a few points on the (Law School Admission Test) LSAT can make a big difference to your application.
Once you find your LSAT score sweet spot, your next step is prepping for the LSAT to achieve that score. While we don’t have fairy godmothers on our payroll, we do have a team of Academic Managers who are skilled at helping students figure out how to reach their Law School Admission Test score goals be it through tried-and-true LSAT classes, private LSAT tutoring, or other personalized LSAT prep. Schedule a free LSAT consultation today!
