Glossary
Plain definitions for the terms in this book. Each one is also explained where it first comes up; this is the backstop.
GPA (cumulative). Your grade point average across everything you take, weighted by credits. It does not reset by year, and it freezes when you graduate.
LSAC GPA. The version of your GPA that law schools use, recalculated by the Law School Admission Council from your transcripts under its own rules. It can differ from your school’s GPA, so check yours rather than assume.
LSAT. The reasoning test law schools use, scored from 120 to 180. Not a knowledge test.
Logical Reasoning (LR). Short-argument questions. Two of the three scored LSAT sections are LR, so it’s two-thirds of your score.
Reading Comprehension (RC). Dense-passage questions read for structure and argument. The remaining third of the scored test.
Median. The middle value. Schools publish their entering class’s median GPA and median LSAT, and those two numbers drive a lot of how you’re read and whether you’re offered money.
Softs. Everything that isn’t your GPA or LSAT: experience, recommendations, essays, background. They decide close calls; they don’t outweigh the numbers.
Splitter. An applicant whose two numbers disagree, a high LSAT with a lower GPA, or the reverse (a “reverse splitter”). Splitters get read case by case.
Rolling admissions. Schools review and decide as applications arrive, rather than all at once after a deadline. Applying earlier in the cycle generally means more open seats and more scholarship money.
CAS (Credential Assembly Service). The LSAC service that collects your transcripts and recommendations and packages them for schools. It’s the plumbing your record flows through at application time.
Addendum. A short, factual note in an application that explains a specific issue (a bad semester, a test history). Explains; never makes excuses.
Merit aid / scholarship. Money a school offers to attract you, usually because your numbers lift its medians. Distinct from need-based aid.
Sticker price vs. net price. Sticker is the published cost. Net is what you pay after scholarships. Strong candidates rarely pay sticker.
509 report. A standardized disclosure each ABA-accredited law school publishes, with admissions and outcome data. The receipts behind a school’s marketing.
Cycle. One admissions season, roughly fall through spring. Applying early in the cycle generally helps.
Conditional scholarship. Aid you keep only if you hit a set law school GPA, which the forced curve makes harder than it sounds.
Personal statement. The main essay in your application, built from your record. Owned by the admissions book.
Trend. The direction your grades move over time. A rising trend helps you, and a reader sees it.
T14. Informal shorthand for the long-stable top group of law schools. Matters most for a few specific career paths, less than people think for everyone else.
Index. A school’s internal formula that combines your GPA and LSAT into one number to sort applicants. The exact weighting varies by school; the takeaway is that the two numbers get read together.
Yield. The share of admitted students who enroll. Schools care about it, which is part of why a clear reason you’d attend can help.
Waitlist. Not a yes or a no, a maybe held in reserve. How to handle one is the admissions book’s territory; for now, just know it’s a real, common outcome, not a rejection.
Net price. What you pay after scholarships, as opposed to the published sticker. The only cost number that matters for a decision.
