Sample Applicant Profile --
Bar Graph Style
Some schools choose not to present actual numbers; instead, they show boxes in back, white, and shades of gray. Three, like this, is the norm, although some schools add a fourth level, often called "virtually no chance."
This grid shows you that applicants with higher GPAs and LSAT scores had a better chance than those with lower numbers -- well, what a surprise!
Actually, to the skilled eye, it shows quite a bit more. It shows that if you have a GPA below a 3.25, you'd better be prepared to explain it. The long horizontal shape shows that LSAT score carries more weight than GPA; if the two were more evenly balanced, there'd be a stair-step look to the grid. And it shows that if you're a fairly mainstream applicant, that LSAT number is about 160. For all applicants, regardless of race, religion, disability or sexual preference, the LSAT score needs to be above 150.
| Will someone get in with an LSAT score below 150? Maybe -- but there had best be a great story: less than two years' speaking English, a blind person (you think you have trouble with logic games?), or a building on campus with the same last name as yours. |
Notice that this grid doesn't even give you any sense of how many people applied or how many were admitted. Fortunately, the ABA pages will give you that info.
Not every school has a bar profile; the Law School Description portion of the book is voluntary (unlike the ABA portion, which is mandated by you-know-who.) A school might choose to display a Numerical or Descriptive profile instead.