Beware the mismatch effect

[AdmissionsConsultantsKeymaster]

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to draw your attention to an article by Eugene Volokh, a professor at UCLA Law, that discusses the “mismatch effect.” The mismatch effect occurs when an applicant gets admitted to a school where the majority of students have better predictors, i.e. LSAT scores and undergraduate grades.

Research has shown that students who graduate in the bottom of their class would often have performed better on the bar exam and in career placement if they had simply graduated from a lower ranked law school with a higher class rank. The author goes on to suggest a bit more transparency with admitted applicants:

I offer a modest proposal: informing students of their individual likelihood of success, as predicted with some strength by LSAT scores. With little effort, law schools could disclose their individual bar-passage rates broken down by LSAT scores on an annual basis. This would permit far more meaningful decision-making by students: it would allow prospective students to have a much better sense of where they stand before they attend law school.

What do you guys think? Is this a sound idea? Do you think such a disclosure would influence your acceptance decision? It could potentially lower the gap between the 25th and 75th percentiles at the law schools and it may result in the bottom tier law schools seeing a larger decline in enrollment.

Best of luck with your applications!

Sincerely,

David Petersam
President
AdmissionsConsultants, Inc.
DPetersam@admissionsconsultants.com

AdmissionsConsultants
1.800.809.0800

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[kitty bParticipant]

I’d rather be bottom at a top school than top at a bottom school. The mismatch effect would help the bottom tier schools though and raise their LSATs.

[Author]

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