<p>When you see a school’s median LSAT, that means that if you took the LSAT scores of all the students and spread them out from lowest to highest, the median is the score in the exact middle, right? So my question is, is the median LSAT the score that you should be aiming for in order to gain admission to that particular school? IF you get a few points lower than the median, do you still have a shot of getting in? Same with the 25%-75%tile scores? The 25% score means that only 25% of the students got a lower LSAT score than that score. So if a 25%tile LSAT for a school is 158, does that mean an applicant with a score lower than 158, but not too much lower, would still have a chance of getting in, all other factors considered?</p>
<p>The ideal score you would aim for is above the 75th percentile. However, if you are in the median then they will begin to look over the other parts of your application to make a decision. (They would look over it even if you were in the 75th percentile, yet you would not need to be as stellar there to gain admission). A student below the median will presumably have to have very strong soft factors and an excellent GPA to gain admission. In short, if your LSAT isn’t above the 75th percentile then your other factors (GPA, LOR, Personal Statement and EC’s) come into play more.</p>