Your law school admissions index (which varies from school to school) is made up of your undergraduate grade point average (GPA) and LSAT score, with the latter almost always given more weight. When you register with the Credential Assembly Service, you'll get access to formulas that will help you calculate your index for each school where you're applying.

Law School Admissions Index

While the index process differs from school to school, generally your index will put you into one of three categories:

(Probably) Accepted

If your index is very, very strong compared to the school's median or target number, you're in (unless you're a convicted felon or wrote your personal statement in crayon).

(Probably) Rejected

If your index is very weak compared to the schools' median or target number, you are probably not going to make the cut. When an admissions officer reads your application, they will be looking for something so outstanding or unique about you that they are willing to take a chance. Not many people in this category will receive that coveted acceptance.

Maybe

The majority of applicants fall into this category, which is comprised of people whose index number is right around the median or target number. People typically apply to schools that they think they have at least a shot of getting into based on their grades and LSAT scores.

Here is how decisions about “Maybe” applicants are made:

  1. First, the law school will look at the competitiveness of your undergraduate program.
  2. Second, admissions officers will look at the rest of the information in your application— personal statements, letters of recommendation, etc. — for any outstanding qualities.

Do grad school grades count towards my index?

Your grades in graduate school will not be included in the calculation of your GPA (the CAS reports only the UGPA ), but will be taken into account separately by an admissions committee if you make them available. Reporting grad school grades could be to your advantage, particularly if they are better than your college grades. That shows the admissions committee that your academic work has improved as you've matured.


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