T14 Schools Scholarship Questions

[RyanM12]

Hello,

I was curious as to how law school scholarships operate within the Top 14 law schools. Do they sort applicants by competitiveness in terms of “below both medians”, “at or above GPA median/ below LSAT median”, “below GPA median/ at or above LSAT median”, “above both medians”?

The primary reason I was wondering was because from my research schools generally give scholarships to the most competitive applicants. For instance, due to the large weight added to the LSAT, a 3.3/ 170 applicant may get into a Top 14 law school on the weight of the LSAT (and other soft factors) compensating for a GPA that is well below median. However, while they may get in to a T14, often they will receive little scholarship money due to the lower GPA. While I would like to aim for a T14 school, I also would like some accompanying scholarship money

The tldr verison is in terms of scholarships, should I be worried that I am .05 or even .10 off a GPA median if I received an LSAT score at or above median for that specific school? 8 of the T14 schools have medians within the 3.7-3.8 range so being in the upper 3.6X-low 3.7X range, I am just a hair off being at these medians in a strict sense, but I was wondering if I would be lumped into the below median category for GPA even though I would be just a few decimal points off. I am a senior so I am hoping to finish strong!


( As an aside, I do understand the importance of the LSAT and what even one extra point can do to your applications in terms of winning in both the admissions and scholarships games...but i want to keep this conversation related to what (if any) difference in terms of scholarship money does being a few decimal points off median impact me)

Thanks for the insights!

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi Ryan,

While we can only speculate here, it seems highly unlikely that a GPA only slightly below a school's median would have a drastic impact on one's chances of receiving a scholarship. However, keep in mind that in the vast majority of cases, scholarships are awarded only to applicants whose numbers are well above both medians. Can a stellar LSAT compensate for lackluster GPA? Probably, in some cases it can. Ultimately, the way you get ranked alongside your fellow applicants is by index number, which is the weighed average of your GPA and LSAT. No two schools weigh these numbers in exactly the same way, so your chances of receiving a scholarship are probably higher at schools that place a much higher premium on the LSAT than on the GPA. So, don't hold your breath for Berkeley

I also doubt that schools sort applicants by competitiveness in terms of where they stand in comparison to either or both medians - it's hard to imagine an admissions officer using the medians of prior years as a yardstick to make such determinations.

As a senior, you have way more control over your LSAT than over your GPA. But, unlike most other applicants, you do have some control left over your GPA. If you're aiming for a scholarship, you absolutely need to push both numbers as high as possible.

Hope this helps a bit!

[RyanM12]

Thanks!

I had two follow up questions

Firstly, how are law school scholarships operating now with the decreased number of applications? Even more importantly than the decrease in overall applications, there is a more pronounced decrease in applications beginning in the 165 range (http://spiveyconsulting.com/blog/2014-2 ... cant-data/) which is important given that 165 is ( generally) the lower end of the range from where T14 schools select.

With significant decreases in applicants in the 165-169, 170-174, and 175-180... Due to this, does this make it harder for T14 schools to find applicants who are at or above both medians because for example there could be more admissions offers to either traditional splitters or reverse splitters who have one, but not both numbers that law schools desire because it is harder to find applicants having both numbers above medians. ( eg. in the T14 schools in Class of 2018 there were 8 schools that lost at least one LSAT point in the lower 25% and 4 T14 schools lost a point of their LSAT median)

Secondly, if any of the admins on this site have any knowledge the competitiveness about the Northwestern Law early decision 150K scholarship, I would be interested in knowing more as I find it an appealing option. The main reason I was wondering was because I have noticed in both the class of 2017 and class of 2018, it has become less splitter friendly than in the past ( new lower 25% GPA was near 3.55 in both years compared to the previous 3.3-3.4 range that used to be their lower 25% as they often admitted splitters, particularly with work experience)

I was wondering if a possible new Northwestern preference for GPAs the past two cycles had any bearing on their ED scholarship......or if even if they did change their preferences, it would likely not affect ED much at all because applicants would need to have both strong GPA/LSAT ( since with this type of somewhat unusual ED coming with nearly full tuition, ...this is not the typical scenario in which an applicant is applying to reach school with a binding commitment that generally results in a limited scholarships/financial aid package.


Lastly, thanks for that insight and I have looked at the admissions indexes on LSAC and have found the individual differences that you had mentioned, ( for instance Columbia law school has a high emphasis on the LSAT while UC Berkeley prefers high GPA's).... I was mostly curious about this topic because i had noticed an applicant on a forum that received a Hamilton scholarship from Columbia despite having a GPA at/below the lower 25% and was surprised ( I am not expecting a huge scholarship with a slightly below median GPA, but that gave me some hope )

I plan on aiming for a median GPA/75%LSAT combo for the schools I want, in order to be more competitive ( since in most cases the 75% LSAT is only a point or two above median....and I want to do well on the LSAT anyways to develop and strengthen reasoning skills that I know will be essential in law school)

Appreciate your advice on these forums!

[Dave Killoran]

Hey Ryan,

Thanks for the questions! Let me try to address as many parts as I can. I'll pull quotes from your last message and respond to those.

Firstly, how are law school scholarships operating now with the decreased number of applications? Even more importantly than the decrease in overall applications, there is a more pronounced decrease in applications beginning in the 165 range (http://spiveyconsulting.com/blog/2014-2 ... cant-data/) which is important given that 165 is ( generally) the lower end of the range from where T14 schools select.

There's been a big change this year, and the decrease in applicants appears to be over. It's been slowing, and then so far this year test taker numbers are up solidly: http://lsac.org/lsacresources/data/lsats-administered. Numbers are still going to be down relative to a few years ago, and while they were down, law schools competed more for top applicants. They'd make better scholarship offers, they were more prone to negotiating scholarships, and so on. This year, that competition will be a bit less fierce, which is less favorable for applicants. highly desirable students will still get scholarships and fast admits, but if you are on the border, it will be slightly more difficult to play schools against each other.

With significant decreases in applicants in the 165-169, 170-174, and 175-180... Due to this, does this make it harder for T14 schools to find applicants who are at or above both medians because for example there could be more admissions offers to either traditional splitters or reverse splitters who have one, but not both numbers that law schools desire because it is harder to find applicants having both numbers above medians. ( eg. in the T14 schools in Class of 2018 there were 8 schools that lost at least one LSAT point in the lower 25% and 4 T14 schools lost a point of their LSAT median)

It does, and law schools responded in one of two ways: accepting fewer students (which is what many top law schools did) and/or lower admissions standards (this was the primary strategy of lower-ranked law schools, but schools at just about all levels saw small decreases in medians.

Secondly, if any of the admins on this site have any knowledge the competitiveness about the Northwestern Law early decision 150K scholarship, I would be interested in knowing more as I find it an appealing option. The main reason I was wondering was because I have noticed in both the class of 2017 and class of 2018, it has become less splitter friendly than in the past ( new lower 25% GPA was near 3.55 in both years compared to the previous 3.3-3.4 range that used to be their lower 25% as they often admitted splitters, particularly with work experience)

I was wondering if a possible new Northwestern preference for GPAs the past two cycles had any bearing on their ED scholarship......or if even if they did change their preferences, it would likely not affect ED much at all because applicants would need to have both strong GPA/LSAT ( since with this type of somewhat unusual ED coming with nearly full tuition, ...this is not the typical scenario in which an applicant is applying to reach school with a binding commitment that generally results in a limited scholarships/financial aid package.

It's competitive, for sure. The ED option at Northwestern has always been a good route, though, because the ED pathway increases your admission chances compared to the non-ED path (which is surprising since, again, it has a full ride attached to it). I've seen numbers in the past that suggest that the ED increase at Northwestern is the strongest in the country among top schools. What does that mean for GPA this year? I don't know. With applicant numbers up, I expect the NW ED numbers to rise slightly as well. but beyond that, the only people who can tell you exactly what they are thinking are on the admissions committee there, and they unfortunately aren't talking

Lastly, thanks for that insight and I have looked at the admissions indexes on LSAC and have found the individual differences that you had mentioned, ( for instance Columbia law school has a high emphasis on the LSAT while UC Berkeley prefers high GPA's).... I was mostly curious about this topic because i had noticed an applicant on a forum that received a Hamilton scholarship from Columbia despite having a GPA at/below the lower 25% and was surprised ( I am not expecting a huge scholarship with a slightly below median GPA, but that gave me some hope )

What you say above is accurate, but I want to place it in context, mostly for other readers. Even though Berkeley has long been considered a "GPA school," that "preference" is relative. Your LSAT score is still weighted more heavily than your GPA at Berkeley, it's just that Berkeley gives the GPA more weight than other schools do. It's like the argument about climate change among scientists: they all agree temperatures are up (or, that the LSAT gets the most weight), but they disagree about how much temps are up (or, how much weight to give the GPA). At all these law schools, the LSAT is weighted more heavily than GPA, and within that set, some schools give more weight to the GPA than others. So, Berkeley's multiplier is GPA favorable, but only when compared to other schools. Overall, it is still LSAT heavy.

Second, the thing about individual cases is that they tell you very little. There are typically outliers in each data set, and so trying to draw conclusions from them is challenging. That person probably has something else in their application that is extraordinary or extremely compelling, and that overcame their GPA. That said, the fact that a case like that exists is proof of possibility. You never know what happens until you take a shot, and since they've accepted/scholarshipped students with that GPA, it could occur again.


Tough questions overall Ryan, but good ones. I hope the info above helps a little bit. Thanks!