jnwa wrote:I know you have a shit GPA as well and have a vested interest in believing that it wont disqualify you from Harvard, in which case more power to you. But the statistical and anecdotal evidence(check lawschoolnumbers) point to the fact that HYS are much more accepting of high GPAs even when they come with sub sub sub 25th LSATs than the other way around. Theres still lots of great outcomes available for OP.MyNameIsntJames wrote:jnwa wrote:Feel free to continue to shoot down claims that are counter to yours as anecdotes while not supporting any of the claims you make. Where did you discover that the "established" floor for H is a 3.2.MyNameIsntJames wrote: Another anecdotal story. So because you didn't get in, every single AA with a 3.2 and 173+ wouldn't have gotten in? That's dumb logic. There have been AA with a 3.6 and 170+ dinged from Harvard and there are 4.0 Non-URM that get dinged every year.
You just got dinged, period. There's no guarantee range for HYS, it's just not an auto-no. Conditional situation.
I said a "soft" floor of 3.2 & this is an educated guess that was made in the "URM Admissions" sticky in the URM section, so I didn't just pull it out of my ass.
By soft floor, that means maybe, maybe not. Pretty much they might bend there for some, maybe not for others. Once again this is HLS.. No one really knows what's going through their admissions' committee's heads. Hard floor implies that there's a 0% chance in any universe someone gets in at that GPA point & below, and data has proven that that mark is not 3.2 for Harvard. They HAVE admitted 3.2 applicants before & there's not enough URM splitters w sub 3.2 GPA & 175+ LSATs for us to even know if that's the absolute floor or not.
I hope that cleared up some of the discrepancy.
Edit: You also are assuming your GPA screwed you. Who's to say a 175+ wouldn't have gotten you in?
Harvard's median is 173. The average URM they accept is significantly below that. The 173 wasnt what disqualified me. Im not bitter about it, i just want to give other people accurate advice because i was in the same situation a year ago but youre here, having never gone through the process, spreading bad info.
When you realize you lost an argument absolutely, try ad hominem. It was probably a blessing you didn't get into Harvard. If an online board makes you lose your cool this quickly, imagine what the stresses and rigors of Harvard would've done.
Nonetheless, I'll entertain you for a bit because I'm in a good mood today:
-I have no 'vested interest' in anything. If I get into Harvard that will be amazing. If not, I'm sure I'll do just fine at other T-14 schools I get into. I want to go into public interest, not work in BigLaw, so I'm perfectly content with any school that accepts me. It seems you feel differently, which is a shame.
-I know what Harvard's median is. We all do. They do accept URMs with lower scores than you. That's not a point of contention. However, those URMs also have higher GPAs than you did when you applied, so their situation isn't comparable to yours. I said that a higher LSAT score may have helped off set your GPA to a higher extent and granted you acceptance and, truthfully, unless Harvard wrote you a letter saying "We wouldn't have let you in even if you scored a 180" or you actually scored a 180, applied and still got rejected, you can't say that your GPA is the sole factor that stopped you from getting in or that there was no possible scenario in which you could've received admittance.
It sounds like you're angry that you didn't get in and you're determined to let everyone else in a similar position know that they can't do it either and that's really sad. You should know their admissions' boards have let URMs in with a 3.2 before (documented) and they have a holistic approach to this process. His PS, LOR, and softs and time of application submittal will all be different than yours and if he scores 175+ instead of 173, then his statistics will be a bit higher as well. I don't see how being rejected from Harvard qualifies you to claim that everyone else in a similar position is guaranteed rejection. This statement shouldn't make you angry.
Your anger clearly stems from something a lot deeper than whatever I said to you. You didn't get into Harvard. Get over it. Don't tell this kid he has 0 shot at getting in though because you don't know that. You don't know what he's gonna score, you don't know what crazy admirable accomplishments he has outside of school and you don't know his story or a single admissions officer at Harvard. Your best answer is a 'unlikely/likely', but no one here is in a position to tell this man no. And hell yeah I'm going to defend that to the grave. Not because I need to 'believe' I'll get into Harvard; I have enough self-confidence. I don't want people aiming any lower than the best because a bunch of bitter ass TLSers on here want to crush this kid's dreams. And honestly bro, as a black dude you should be uplifting this guy and encouraging him to prosper as another brother like you and me instead of shitting on him and me like we're your enemies.