Law school admissions people can be deceitful people. For the most part, they take into account two components of an application: the person’s undergraduate GPA and their LSAT score. I would assume that having above average grades in either would always be a good thing, but I would be wrong.
Law schools are very concerned about their statistics and their rankings. Some of the stats that go into these rankings are the class average GPA, which is pretty absurd considering the variety of undergraduate schools a law school class will come from (is a 3.5 at Harvard the same as a 3.5 at Alabama State?), and mean LSAT score. They also consider things like the acceptance rate, which measures the uniqueness of a law school, and the percentage of accepted applicants who choose to attend, which might say something about how desirable a law school is.
That final component of the rankings is the one that may be missed by applicants who think they are a “shoe” at a specific school because they have a higher GPA or LSAT than the median for that particular school. While it is safe to assume that any applicant above the 75th percentile in both GPA and LSAT will be accepted, those closer to the median could face a more bumpy road. An applicant with a GPA right in the median and an LSAT above the median might be surprised to receive a rejection letter, even though the statistics indicated that she was a better-than-average candidate. Why is this the case? Well, law schools want to avoid accepting applicants who are unlikely to choose to attend. That’s why they love early admissions so much; they can essentially force those applicants to attend by accepting them.
Let me give you an example of how this situation plays out in real life. Let’s say you have a median GPA and an LSAT above the 50th percentile from the University of Pennsylvania. His grades are average for NYU, generally considered a better law school than UPenn. Now the UPenn admissions folks review your application, decide you’ll probably get accepted to NYU, and decide to turn you down. Why? Well, UPenn and NYU are in the same region, so they think you’ve probably applied to both schools. They think if you get accepted to NYU, you won’t go to UPenn. Now you can see how those LSAT logic problems play out in real life if you ever decide to pursue a career in admissions. They may turn you down just because they think you’ll choose to attend somewhere else, which makes them seem less desirable.
So how can you avoid this situation if you really want to go to UPenn? The personal statement essay. Don’t just write about yourself and how you want to pursue a career in law, write about UPenn. Make a personal connection with that law school so they know you really want to go there, and that it’s not just one of your “backup” schools. If you have family or a strong support network in the UPenn area, mention it. Maybe you know some lawyers in that area who inspired you to go to law school, or maybe even alumni. Mention all of that. The more you can connect with UPenn, the better your chances of them overlooking the fact that you can get into higher ranked law schools.