Why are schools lsat medians increasing?

[vtjas81]

I think I read somewhere in the forum it is because they have been decreasing class sizes and thus admitting people with higher lsat scores?  Could that and increasing applications be the main causes?  I believe a few years ago schools like BU and BC had lsat medians around 160-161.  Now it is 164-165.   What's the deal?  BC was ranked 23 back then so it can't be only due to a rise in rank.   Is there a decline in lsat medians for lower ranked schools to compensate?


It seems kind of unfair a student who could get into BC a few years ago is now competitive to schools 40 and below. 

[ndun]

As I posted in another thread, this appears to be the case for Fordham PT.

In my acceptance letter, they said there would be 120 students
entering the PT program this coming fall. Historically, Fordham
has had 160 students enter the PT program each year.

[gclemen1]

I think the new ABA rule about taking the highest score rather than the averaged school has a big part in the rising of the medians as well!

[Ender Wiggin]

Unfair?  All of the Yale, Harvard, Michigan, etc. grads I have spoken to who have been out of school for a significant number of years say that there is no way they would be admitted today.  Things change.

[dubsy]

Unfair?  All of the Yale, Harvard, Michigan, etc. grads I have spoken to who have been out of school for a significant number of years say that there is no way they would be admitted today.  Things change.

no KIDDING.

[ndun]

I think the new ABA rule about taking the highest score rather than the averaged school has a big part in the rising of the medians as well!

Credited.

While smaller class sizes definitely contribute,
I'm sure the reporting change from "average score"
to "highest score" has been the most significant factor.

Didn't this change go into effect last cycle?

[UNAS]

Unfair?  All of the Yale, Harvard, Michigan, etc. grads I have spoken to who have been out of school for a significant number of years say that there is no way they would be admitted today.  Things change.

no KIDDING.

I think the 50 percentile for harvard back in the day was 164. Correct me if i am wrong. And when I say back in the day I mean like 10 years ago

[vtjas81]

I think the 50 percentile for harvard back in the day was 164. Correct me if i am wrong. And when I say back in the day I mean like 10 years ago

I thought it was high 160s

[contrarian]

I took the LSAT the first time in 1991.  I was graduating college then, and was planning on going to law school.  I forget my exact score (it was before the 120-180 scale), but I remember where I scored in the percentile.  Interestingly, when I took it again in Sept this year I scored in the same percentile. 

I also took the GMAT in 1997, and scored significantly better on that percentile wise.  I wish I had a service like LSN in 1991 and 1997. I probably would have made some significantly different life choices with more information.

That said, I just finished reading 1L and, aside from thinking they were a bunch of drama queens, I couldn't help but be stricken by the thought of how much law school would have had to suck without modern information processing that we have.  I was reading another book and it had a case annotation that I was curious about - so I pulled over my laptop and typed it in and got the full opinion all from the comfy of my couch.  Imagine having to do all that *&^% for every single case in a law library with everyone else seeking the same.

(For a little bit of history comparing then to now... In 1988 I was the only kid on my dorm floor with a computer... a commodore 64 and a dot matrix printer. I loaned it out frequently enough to a few, many more would hand write or type up their reports.  I'm guessing that is a lot different now days.)

As for studying for the LSAT.  Books like powerscore etc. didn't exist then.  They were Princeton review quality - and Princeton review was the best at the time.  The concepts were all still the same however, but I do believe powerscore's methodology can, if fully utilized, really help boost your scores up.  In addition, you have resources like discussion groups online which didn't exist 10 or 20 years ago.  All of these probably have had a significant factor in upping the ante.

[bloomlaw]

That said, I just finished reading 1L and, aside from thinking they were a bunch of drama queens, I couldn't help but be stricken by the thought of how much law school would have had to suck without modern information processing that we have. 

I assume you mean the book by Turow, which I'm reading now, and I completely agree. I'm about 2/3 of the way through the book and I keep thinking the students are being such wusses, and that they are overdramatic about things. I read alot, and it is one of the most depressing books I have ever read. The scene where Perini yells at the kid for not being prepared was not even a big deal imo. The kid was at fault, and Perini was angry with him. Nothing more. I played high school and college sports, and I got ridiculed by well intentioned people in an aggressive manner all the time. To think that, of all the problems going on at HLS in that book, the students would come after a prof over that is absurd. Grow up, kids.

My mom got it for me for xmas and it has only made me secondguess my decision to go to lawschool. Thanks, mom.

Sorry for the OT rant.