Saturday, January 4, 2014

How A Law School Predictor Site Benefits Potential Law Students

After learning from a career counselor what the prerequisites for a career in law are, you have completed your undergraduate degree and have taken the "LSAT" Law School Aptitude Test. With your "GPA" Grade Point Average and LSAT score numbers in hand, you may now go to an online law program predictor site and enter your numbers to see what the probability is of your success in being accepted to the Top Law Schools you are considering for obtaining your law degree. Backed by solid research, these predictor engines can provide very helpful information to all potential law students.

There are currently four admission prediction calculators available online. They are the Hour University of Maryland Law School Probability Calculator, a University of Maryland website; Law School Probability Calculator (which is a standalone site); Law School Admission Council's Search for Schools Based on "UGPA" University Grade Point Average and LSAT scores (more commonly and simply known as the "LSAC" Law School Admissions Council Calculator); and "LSP" Law School Predictor. All four use the numbers from your LSAT score and your undergraduate "GPA" Grade Point Average as the data for determining your chances of achieving admission to various law programs.

How A Law School Predictor Site Benefits Potential Law Students

The Hour University of Maryland Probability Calculator is an academic web-based resource for University of Maryland students and others. It utilizes only "LSN" Law School Nationwide data (gathered from all the law degree schools) that is self-reported by applicants then generates chance results. This site aggregates this data to calculate the user's percentages when compared to all LSN applicants with similar scores who achieved admission to different specific law programs. The results are listed in a "Record" column. Also listed in another column are percentages of those who were accepted with worse scores than the user. Conversely, another column lists percentages of those with higher scores who did not get accepted. When reading the results, if the "In with Worse" stats are high, you stand a better chance of admission. If the "Rejected with Better" stats are low, you also stand a greater chance of admission. You may also tweak your comparison percentage according to applicants who are wait listed and by factoring in comparison to "URM" Under Reported Minorities candidates.

Law School Predictor (LSP) provides comparisons with the top 100 full-time school programs, full-time unranked law programs and schools with part-time law programs. It relies on all law studies' admissions index formulas (which each develops from their own students' data) plus the 75% and 25% GPA and LSAT data of students who matriculated from each school to develop chance percentages. This program also factors in information on URM status and its most unique component is the application of a hidden penalty or boost to the user's chances based on being a splitter, although this part of the program is still being developed. A splitter may have a high LSAT score when compared to his or her GPA, or a lower LSAT with a high GPA. The newest available predictor program available, it is also loads the most slowly of the four.

The Law School Probability Calculator is basically like the Hour University of Maryland choice, but with less incorporated features. It also generates a 95% interval of confidence using logistic regression to provide data the user can see at the site. The Law School Admission Council Calculator takes all the gathered data from applicants of the previous admission cycle at each school to generate its chance predictions. This site displays the results as colored bar graphs, with green for the applicant's prediction and purple for the college's comparative data. Because the prediction range can be very broad at times, a number of the very top law programs choose not to participate in this site's program, so predictions for you with those schools are not available.

The LSAT is a much researched testing device that yields consistently useful results. That is why any law studies admission committee is going to give great consideration to your LSAT score. When considered concurrently with your GPA, this data offers predictive validity to your chances of admission when compared to admission data of various law schools' previous candidates. Making use of one of these online school predictor sites can give you a fairly accurate picture of your chances of admission to the law schools of your choice.