Hi crankyoldman:
I graduated from HLS in the '90s and was in the middle of the class. I have no problem sharing that. Dean Clark was dean, Langdell han’t been renovated when I arrived, Loker Commons in Memorial Hall was new, etc. The good old days!
Demosthenes’ numbers certainly don’t tell the whole story, and they are certainly 100% not supportive of his or her thesis. To the contrary, they support mine: that there is a range of GPA/LSAT scores that is “acceptable” for getting into a top-10 law school, and within that range, “soft” factors will result in an admissions decision one way or the other.
If all that mattered was the GPA/LSAT information of an applicant, then everyone meeting a law school’s GPA/LSAT cutoff for a law school would get in, and everyone who didn’t wouldn’t get in. The numbers, however, show that people above an alleged cutoff don’t get in, but those below do. The numbers even show that there is no clear cutoff.
Demostehenes’ background (and lack of detail about background) goes to credibility. If Demosthenes turns out to be a YLS SCOTUS clerk who is a partner at Davis Polk and worked in YLS admissions during law school, then I’d certainly be inclined to hush up. If Demosthenes turns out to be a millworker who just loves law school admissions data and is just bitter about never having gone to law school–which is what I assume he or she is until he or she shows otherwise–than his or her posts should be taken in the context of the source.
Would anyone pay any attention to a legal scholar who never attended law school? No. Would anyone pay lots of attention to a legal scholar who was a SCOTUS clerk and who teaches at Yale? Yes.