Law school competitors

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

<p>From time-to-time it has ben suggested that Chicago applicants are hindered in their law school aspirations by their GPAs in comparison to their peers. At the end of an article posted on a different thread I came across these numbers which should be of interest to those thinking about pre-law at U of C. It doesn't appear that the "competition" has GPA scores out of reach for U of C students. </p>

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[quote]
In 2008, 74 Princeton seniors and 299 alumni applied to law schools nationwide, with an average LSAT score of 164 and an average GPA of 3.45. At Yale, the average LSAT score among law school applicants was 166, and the mean GPA was 3.58, compared to MIT applicants’ average 164 LSAT score and 3.32 GPA. The average GPA at Princeton was 3.28 in 2008, versus 3.51 at Yale. Recent data for MIT was not available.

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2

<p>You can find the full article here: [U&lt;/a&gt;. trails Yale in law school acceptance rates - The Daily Princetonian](<a href=“http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2009/12/04/24648/]U”>http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2009/12/04/24648/)</p>

<p>If anything, this article showed me how impressive Yale and Princeton are in law school admissions. (On another note, I just don’t know how big the sample size is at MIT to draw any good conclusions from the data.) At Yale, the average GPA seems to be in the 3.5-3.6 range, with a 166 LSAT average. At Princeton the numbers were 3.45 GPA and 164 for the LSAT. </p>

<p>I’m going to assume that both schools sport higher GPAs and significantly higher LSAT scores than the Chicago average. I’m assuming Chicago has probably a 3.3-3.4 GPA average, and then maybe a 161 LSAT average. That’s a slight gap in GPA, but more importantly, a BIG gap in LSAT score. </p>

<p>Most interestingly, this shows a significant disparity in placement between a Yale or a Chicago on the law school front. The article states that about 38% of yale applicants gain acceptance to a top 12 school. For Chicago, with a much lower LSAT average and a lower average GPA, I’d be surprised if the U of C saw much more than 20-25% of its applicants gain acceptance to a top law school. Also, while Chicago’s average GPA might not be that much lower than Princeton’s new “deflated” GPA, I’d be surprised if Chicago kids as a group ever got close to the 3.58 average GPA the yalies averaged a couple years ago. </p>

<p>Again, on threads like this, do any current students have data about this? I’ve asked this question many times before - the easiest way to put the argument to rest is to see Chicago’s actual placement numbers. For whatever reason, unlike yale or princeton or upenn, chicago does NOT release this information readily. </p>

<p>Again, I’d be very, very happy if about 25% of Chicago applicants were gaining admission to top law schools. I’d love to know what the average GPA is for U of C applicants, and I think other sources have already shown that the average LSAT score is around a 161 or 162 - below pretty much every single one of its peers.</p>

<p>What does this mean overall? I’m pretty sure that Chicago’s average GPA is lower than all of its peers, and is average lsat score is lower than all of its peers (and significantly lower than say, Yale or Harvard’s avg. LSAT score). This means that, overall, Chicago would probably be worse in its law school placement than all of its peers. </p>

<p>(One final note - Chicago’s class is at least somewhat comparable to Yale’s. How come Yalies outperform Chicagoans by like 4-5 points on the LSAT?!)</p>

3

<p>Also, here’s a thread breaking down the LSAT averages by undergrad:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/773083-pre-law-princeton.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/773083-pre-law-princeton.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>As I said, Chicago’s LSAT average falls below every single one of its peers (Yale, Stanford, Brown, etc.).</p>

4

<p>One final note, here’s a link to another thread I started that has the law school placement stats from places like Yale and Princeton and Georgetown:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/665606-law-placement-chicago-its-peers.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/665606-law-placement-chicago-its-peers.html&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>Again, if anyone knows or has current data on Chicago’s success on the law front, that would be great. Until we get that data, it’s pretty much all speculation. </p>

<p>My hope is that Chicago has improved considerably on this front since my time at the U of C. Again, with a much stronger overall student body, I’m hopeful this is the case. At the same time, given the lack of savvy amongst U of C applicants about the process, and perhaps not as much careful preparation for the LSAT, I’m being a bit reserved in my hope… </p>

<p>(I really wish Chicago had this data available on their website just as UPenn or Georgetown do. It’d put this debate to rest quite readily.)</p>

<p>One final note, here’s a breakdown of percentiles and specific LSAT scores:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.alpha-score.com/lsat-resources/lsat-scores-explained/[/url]”>http://www.alpha-score.com/lsat-resources/lsat-scores-explained/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>So, a 166 is in the 95%tile for all test takers, whereas a 162 (Chicago’s average) is only in the 89%percentile. That’s a significant gap between Chicago and Yale.</p>

5

<p>Cue7: What is the source for Chicago’s LSAT average? I haven’t seen recent numbers. Also, I have not seen the GPA for Chicago students applying to law school, is that available somewhere? If not, comparisons are simply speculation.</p>

6

<p>idad: The Chicago LSAT average was posted on several threads, started by ibclass06, but I can’t seem to find the actual source of that average. I also don’t know the average GPA for Chicago students applying to law school.</p>

<p>To answer your question, yes these numbers are absolutely available - in the pre-law advisors office. Chicago keeps these numbers and they are readily available to current students. Do any current students have these stats? I would love to hear the info.</p>