Go ahead and tell me the bad news.

[edalb007]

I've sent out a bunch of applications. More will be sent, and I think I've sent to a number of dream, fair chance and safety schools. I'm not a URM, but my stats are 2.6/163. I had some traumatic occurrences in my life in my first two years of college, aside from working near full time to support myself, and my GPA showed a constantly upward trend until I graduated. My last three semesters were 3.5+ gpa wise, but not enough to bring me over a 2.6 - Do I have a chance anywhere respectable? I emphasized all of my poor GPA reasons in my statements & essays, and I got a couple of AMAZING LORs from professors, very lucky. But I'm still VERY worried. My #1 realistic (i think) choice is Seattle University. Here are my other prospects:

Michigan State University (Safety, I'm from the area and have contacts in the office)
University of Michigan (Dream, dad's an alumni, worth a shot right? maybe they'll accidently put mine in the accept pile instead of the reject pile!)
Suffolk University (fair chance maybe?)
Lewis & Clark (fair chance, probably more of a reach?)
Oregon U (no clue)
Hamline U (fair chance)
William Mitchell (fair chance)
University of Washington (Dream)
Seattle U (hopefully fair chance, please!!!)

My index at Seattle is a 194. I calculated the 75/25 indexes at 199/189. Do I have a chance?

[burghblast]

My index at Seattle is a 194. I calculated the 75/25 indexes at 199/189. Do I have a chance?

This is strongest argument in favor of mandatory trig and calculus for all high school students, and the reason why Asians and Indians will take over the world - Because they are familiar with rudimentary mathematics. 

I have mentioned this about 982367598754 times before, but you cannot "calculate" 25/75 percentiles for a school's composite index unless you are looking at a list of LSAT/GPA for every matriculant.  Think about it, it should be common sense to anyone who didn't suffer through pre-algebra as a senior in high school.  The 25/75 LSAT/GPA values indicate the numbers at which 25% and 75% of all matriculants at that school scored lower.  The implied meaning of 25/75 index values would be the same thing.  But since almost everyone who is admitted with a 25% LSAT has at least a 75% GPA (And vice versa), the index value corresponding to someone with both 25% LSAT and GPA is going to be significantly below the 25% index value, which indicates the composite index below which 25% of matriculants scored.  In reality, 0-5% of all applicants with a 25% LSAT and 25% GPA will be admitted. 

[dr_draino]

and for the 982367598754 time I will reply with "no, these certainly are not the indexes of the 25th% and the 75%, but they are numbers that are useful for determining where the 'auto-admit' and 'auto-reject' boundaries lie and thus your chance of being admitted".

[waxman]

I think you are underestimating yourself. You seem like a strong applicant to me. I think you will get into several schools.

[eileen2004]

My index at Seattle is a 194. I calculated the 75/25 indexes at 199/189. Do I have a chance?

This is strongest argument in favor of mandatory trig and calculus for all high school students, and the reason why Asians and Indians will take over the world - Because they are familiar with rudimentary mathematics. 

I have mentioned this about 982367598754 times before, but you cannot "calculate" 25/75 percentiles for a school's composite index unless you are looking at a list of LSAT/GPA for every matriculant.  Think about it, it should be common sense to anyone who didn't suffer through pre-algebra as a senior in high school.  The 25/75 LSAT/GPA values indicate the numbers at which 25% and 75% of all matriculants at that school scored lower.  The implied meaning of 25/75 index values would be the same thing.  But since almost everyone who is admitted with a 25% LSAT has at least a 75% GPA (And vice versa), the index value corresponding to someone with both 25% LSAT and GPA is going to be significantly below the 25% index value, which indicates the composite index below which 25% of matriculants scored.  In reality, 0-5% of all applicants with a 25% LSAT and 25% GPA will be admitted. 

This is a valid point to consider and one that I hadn't really thought of before, but I think this was a really harsh response to someone's first post.  Chances are, this guy didn't catch your comments the other 982367598753 times.  

In response to the original poster:  I don't know much about these schools, but looking at the LSN data from last year, it seems like you would stand a better chance applying to Seattle U part-time.  Your GPA is going to make it a bit iffy for you (I have the same problem) but it seems that they weigh the LSAT pretty heavily which may help.  You can find the numbers here: http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com/search_schools.php?cycle=0304&code=4067&action=search
  

[edalb007]

This is strongest argument in favor of mandatory trig and calculus for all high school students, and the reason why Asians and Indians will take over the world - Because they are familiar with rudimentary mathematics. 

I have mentioned this about 982367598754 times before, but you cannot "calculate" 25/75 percentiles for a school's composite index unless you are looking at a list of LSAT/GPA for every matriculant.  Think about it, it should be common sense to anyone who didn't suffer through pre-algebra as a senior in high school.  The 25/75 LSAT/GPA values indicate the numbers at which 25% and 75% of all matriculants at that school scored lower.  The implied meaning of 25/75 index values would be the same thing.  But since almost everyone who is admitted with a 25% LSAT has at least a 75% GPA (And vice versa), the index value corresponding to someone with both 25% LSAT and GPA is going to be significantly below the 25% index value, which indicates the composite index below which 25% of matriculants scored.  In reality, 0-5% of all applicants with a 25% LSAT and 25% GPA will be admitted. 

What I meant was, I took a hypothetical applicant with a 158/3.6 and calculated that index vs. another hypothetical applicant with a 150/3.0 - Obviously they accept people in-between, above, and below those hypotheticals. And obviously a person with 25/25 is not the most common acceptance. It was a point of reference only since I fall below both GPAs but above both LSATs. And I must admit I'm a little put off by the harshness of your reply. But thanks for the information, I'll keep that in mind when considering my chances.

[edalb007]

This is a valid point to consider and one that I hadn't really thought of before, but I think this was a really harsh response to someone's first post.  Chances are, this guy didn't catch your comments the other 982367598753 times. 

In response to the original poster:  I don't know much about these schools, but looking at the LSN data from last year, it seems like you would stand a better chance applying to Seattle U part-time.  Your GPA is going to make it a bit iffy for you (I have the same problem) but it seems that they weigh the LSAT pretty heavily which may help.  You can find the numbers here: http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com/search_schools.php?cycle=0304&code=4067&action=search

Thanks for the constructive response. I'll have a look at that website. I appreciate it

[burghblast]

and for the 982367598754 time I will reply with "no, these certainly are not the indexes of the 25th% and the 75%, but they are numbers that are useful for determining where the 'auto-admit' and 'auto-reject' boundaries lie and thus your chance of being admitted".

I'll agree that anyone with 25/25 LSAT and GPA is probably an "auto reject" and anyone with 75/75 LSAT and GPA is probably an "auto admit", but I disagree that calculating an index value in this manner is useful, especially when you refer to the calculated numbers as "25/75 index values".  In reality the "25 index value" you just calculated is probably the 2nd or 3rd percentile, not the 25th.  This whole flawed process will only give a false sense of confidence, much like relying solely on Chiashu if you have a huge LSAT/GPA split.

[NYKnicks]

All of this is silly, if you think you have a chance, just apply.

[edalb007]

Already did. Just worried, that's all. Was hoping for something like what Eileen posted with specific cases of acceptances/rejections and what the particular scores were for each occurrence. Gives me some hope, but I guess it really doesn't matter. I hope I pull off something lucky!