Splitters - shoot your shot

I hear every week from students concerned that their <25th GPA means that they will not get into (or get money from) a top law school. This is simply not true.

There are splitters at every school in the T25 and many schools have historically given away a lot of money for high LSAT scores. That includes scholarships to people with a GPA below a school’s 25th percentile. We don’t know what will happen during the 2021 admissions cycle, since there are many applicants with high scores in the applicant pool. But it’s very likely that if you get a bad outcome this year, it’s a fluke having to do with an unusually strong applicant pool.

This is not a phenomenon limited to URM / under-represented minority candidates. There are white students with these numbers in the top 25 (and likely within the T14). There are white and Asian students right now with 75th percentile LSATs and 25th percentile LSATs with scholarships over 50% at schools like Arizona State, Notre Dame, and Washington University of St. Louis (although it seems they’ve been less receptive to us lately).

Let’s be clear: anyone who is not currently working in admissions at the school you want to attend has no idea whether you will be admitted or how much scholarship money you will get.

People on Reddit don’t know what they’re talking about. People on Law School Numbers don’t know what they are talking about. Most admissions consultants do not know what they are talking about. (I had a top admissions consulting firm tell me that it was very unlikely that I would get a scholarship at Northwestern. They were mistaken.)

Yes, there are a few schools that are notoriously unfriendly to conventional splitters (high LSAT / low GPA). That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apply to them if you have the money. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

Here are the only important facts: people overperform their numbers. People underperform their numbers. People pay a lot of money for admissions consulting because a good personal statement can make a difference.

The LSAT is powerful and unless something radically changes with school rankings, it will continue to open doors for people who for whatever reason could not perform as undergraduates.

I think tutoring to max out your score is a good investment. You should get the highest score you can, and then you should apply to school everywhere you want to go.

So, do yourself a favor and stop Googling whether you can get into law school with a high LSAT and a low GPA. Follow us on Instagram, subscribe to our newsletter, book a free consultation with us to talk about your goals, and go study instead of listening to podcasts by people who have no idea what they’re talking about.

While you’re at it, subscribe to LSAC Prep Plus / LawHub instead of wasting your money on PowerScore or whatever else you’re considering. Buy yourself some time with one of our tutors instead to get on the right track. Our newest tutor, Leah, is just $35 an hour, and we have some of the most experienced tutors around for $80 an hour. Brad ($50/hr) is getting into great schools with a low GPA. He’s happy to talk about his experience. And if you want to talk to me, I’ll be back online next month with discounted rates over my winter break.

You can do this. It’s not easy, but we can help. Stay positive and hang in there.