An important part of the law school application that a law school applicant must understand, especially if the applicant is a minority, is how being an minority (URM) affects the application. Along those lines, here is a submitted question I received not too long ago:
- I graduated from (very good public school in California) with a 3.72 in philosophy. I recently took the
lsat and I am very disappointed with my score. I got a 158, I was
hoping to get at least in the 160’s. I am considering taking it again,
but I really don’t want to.
I have done a lot of community service and extracurricular activities.
I am also a member of an underrepresented ethnic group. Will I even
have a shot at a top 10 school with this LSAT score? The school that I
really want to go to is Columbia.
By the way, thanks for including your actual numbers. This makes it much easier for me to assess thie situation. For future readers with questions, know that including your LSAT and GPA numbers will make it more likely that I will answer because that lets me better understand where you are.
How being a URM affects an applicant:
First off, a little background. A landmark US Supreme Court decision in 2004 basically affirmed law schools are allowed to favor an applicant because of race or ethnicity. This is not affirmative action or a quota system. It is simply bumping a person's chances of acceptance up because that person would add diversity to the academic mix. The basic logic behind this is that a schools' diversity is a compelling interest that justifies using race or ethnicity in the admissions process.
It varies from school to school and most won't say exactly how, but it's no secret that your chances of acceptance if you are a member of an underrepresented minority is much better than if not . Just make sure in your application you bring to the forefront how being a minority gives you a diverse perspective and show how your status has affected you as a person. That said, being a minority doesn't write a person a ticket to any law school he/she wishes to attend.
Your chances:
I'm no expert, but in your shoes this is how I would approach your situation. I'm going to be using Columbia as an example since you mentioned it, but you can go through this process with similarly situated schools to get a better idea.
The first thing to do is find Columbia's data page from the Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools. A comparison of your GPA to that of last year's acceptances at Columbia shows that you are right near the top 25th percentile. And your GPA is from a pretty reputable/recognizable school. You're certainly not going to get rejected because of your GPA. In fact, your past scholarly success will surely help your chances.
For further guidance, some schools give more detailed applicant statistics at the bottom of the "Law School Description" sheet. Columbia, like a lot of top schools, chooses not to disclose applicant data in that kind of detail though (here's an example of what some schools do provide though).
Next compare the LSAT scores. As you can see, your 158 LSAT score does not surpass the lower 25 percentile for Columbia's accepted students last year. This is not good news for most applicants, but could being a URM put you over the edge?
Use Law School Numbers:
To break this down a little further, I would use one of my favorite websites for law school applicants: lawschoolnumbers.com. You can really play around with their search function and get a basic idea of how things shakeout for Columbia. You can even use the search tool so that only other URM applicants are included in the search.
Just remember two things about LSN: 1) these are self-reported numbers so they undoubtedly contain mistakes and accounts that have not been updated and 2) as you narrow down searches, the sample sizes are going to be too small and may not be a very accurate representation.
Based on what I know, with your URM status and great undergrad GPA, receiving an LSAT score that is average for Columbia would likely get you into Columbia 7 or 8 times out of 10. Doing a search on lawschoolnumbers of last year's minority Columbia applicants who scored between a 168 and 171 (50% of all Columbia acceptances LSAT scores fell into this category) helps confirm this by showing a pretty good majority of candidates fitting this criteria reporting themselves as accepted to Columbia (as opposed to rejected or waitlisted, you can assume the pending ones just didn't update their accounts).
Now a lawschoolnumbers search for last year's Columbia minority applicants with an LSAT score between 155 and 163, similar to yours, doesn't garner a lot of results so be weary of the small sample size problem. But most report either a rejection or a waitlist (can probably assume that most waitlist candidates eventually choose another school or were never accepted at Columbia). And the ones reporting being accepted in this group were generally 160 or better with a sparkling GPA.
My Advice:
I would have guessed your 158 LSAT score puts you at a less than 50% chance of acceptance at Columbia. The lawschoolnumbers search helps confirm this guess and maybe even paints a bleaker picture for your chances than I expected.
If you want a halfway decent shot at a school as reputable as Columbia, you're going to have to do better than a 158. You can take your shot with what you scored, but I wouldn't recommend it. I certainly wouldn't want to go through the LSAT twice, but you have to do what you have to do.
Not to be overly dramatic, but the LSAT is an extremely important test and can pretty much indirectly determine what career opportunities you might have or might not have. Do you really want to spend your life thinking "I could have done well on the LSAT and gotten into Columbia had I studied for and taken the LSAT again."
Based on my limited knowledge, I think you need to shoot for 165 or higher. Take a course or a tutor if you have to in order to get it.
Links:
This a description of how law schools use diversity on applications decisions as viewed from a person who is paid to help minority applicants through the application process. Website looks out of date but it still seems like a good description.
LSAC's (administrator of the LSAT) "Minority Perspectives" homepage with links to FAQ's for minority applicants and some relevant articles.
A pretty good "Guide to The Law School Application Process for People of Color." Pretty long but most of the length comes from an addendum with numerous sample resumes, personal statements, and letters of rec.
Blog written by a group of black professors called blackprof. It tackles a lot of relevant issues for minorities. Wish they posted more often though!
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*I am a law student. That means I don't have
all the answers. I may be lacking knowledge in certain areas, namely
the real world practice of law. But I have done a lot of research into
the law school process as a whole and I am currently living through law
school. I am also surrounded by a lot of smart and experienced people
with unique insight into the law school world who either work at CALI
or with whom CALI have close relationships. I hope that you seek others'
opinions and insights in addition to mine in order to make an informed
decision.
This question on fee waivers was submitted to me:
