Why the LSAT Matters
Simply put: the LSAT is incredibly important in law school admissions. While almost every undergraduate and postgraduate admissions process includes some kind of standardized test, the law school admissions process is unique in how heavily its standardized test - the LSAT - is weighed in admissions. While admissions committees are made up of human beings, and the process is in some sense holistic, law school admissions is also largely a numbers game. Together with your GPA, your LSAT score will be the single most important factor that determines where you go to law school.
There are two main reasons for this:
This is a Law School Admissions Test. As obvious as that might sound, it has a number of important implications. First and foremost is that this test is going to be testing the skills that you are going to be using for the rest of your career, both in law school and as a lawyer. That means that it’s a reliable benchmark for the likelihood that you will be a successful student at their law school.
Don’t just take it from me: here’s a quotation directly from the Law School Admission Council: “Studies have consistently shown the LSAT is the single best predictor of first-year law school performance, even better than undergraduate grade-point average.”
The LSAT is the most important student-driven factor in the U.S. News Rankings. While the rankings shouldn’t be the only factor for you in deciding where you want to go, Law Schools Admissions committees care about it. A lot. Because law schools’ decisions are at least partially driven by their desire to move up in the rankings, your LSAT can easily be the most important part of your application.
And it’s not just about getting in, either: the LSAT can also help you go to law school at a massive discount, or even for free. Law school class sizes are small, and differences between median LSATs are razor-thin. For example: the difference in median LSAT between #2 ranked Stanford and #17 ranked WashU is just 2 points! That means that schools are willing to aggressively “bid” on students with LSAT scores that can bump up their medians by offering those students hefty scholarships.
If you’re someone with a score high enough to get into the top schools, the schools just below them in the rankings will pay top dollar for you to go to them instead. People rarely pay full tuition to go to law school - and the LSAT score is the main reason why.
I myself received nearly 1 million dollars in scholarship offers with my 179! So while LSAT prep can be a huge investment --- of time, in addition to money --- I can promise that there is nothing that will pay you back more than getting a good LSAT score (and that’s nothing to say of the savings you would get by not having to pay interest and having better career prospects).
In short, the LSAT can change your life, both in the long term, by setting you up to fulfill your dream of becoming a lawyer, and in the short term, by making it financially attainable.
