LS.ca UofA 2021 cycle recap

[Renerik]

Continuing my work looking through archives of the 2021 acceptance threads from LS.ca. Got flack from someone I know IRL for calling the other two I've done "Accepted 2021" so y'all get this. Here is the summary data:

Most applicants did not report index scores however LS.ca UofA users generally accepted that it was a valid metric to assess an applicant's profile. I went ahead and calculated the index for each applicant. See this thread to read up on the calculation.

• Only the applicant's highest LSAT score was included in the above summary, around 1/5 applicants reported that they wrote the LSAT more than once.
• The average applicant that reported had a GPA of 3.77 and an LSAT of 163.4.
• Acceptances were sent in waves, sometimes twice a month. The month with the most acceptances was February with 27.  All accepted applicants in May were accepted off the waitlist.
• One applicant with a GPA ~3 was excluded from the above summary due to being an outlier. 
• A considerable (10+) applicants with an index over 250 indicated that they were likely to be declining their offer.
• No applicant who was accepted past December had an LSAT over 169. December was the 170+ club.
• One applicant who scored on the higher end of their wave in March reported receiving a scholarship with an index in the top 10% of reporting acceptances. 

My analysis: LSAT scores seemed to gate-keep acceptances, similarly to previous years. Want to be one of 5 people admitted before XMAS? Score a 170+ LSAT (or save yourself the heartbreak and wait for Jan/Feb). Applicants with LSAT scores significantly greater than their "wave's" averages reported applying late in the cycle. A cursory view of a partial archive of the 2020 Accepted thread demonstrates that reported LSAT scores were no different on average between years. The (10+) applicants mentioned earlier who withdrew all had LSATs significantly above the accepted average. In addition to the belief that those who report on LS.ca tend to be on the higher end of the applicant spectrum, I'd bet that the student profile this year will show an average LSAT lower than 163, and closer to last year's 160. How the new top LSAT policy will effect the LSAT average going forward is uncertain, however given that a considerable amount of UofA applicants reported writing it twice this cycle, and that LSAC is re-adjusting the exam this august to lower the curve, I'd suspect the average will not significantly rise from this year's.

Send me a DM if you want a specific query run or a look at the data.

Edited June 12, 2021 by Renerik

[maybemaybe]

God, I hope it doesn't get more competitve. I feel as long as they revert to the old lsat policy, the competitiveness will go down for sure but its hard to say. In an email I received from them, they did specifically note that the new policy was made specifically for COVID and strongly hinted that they cannot confirm it for next year. So there's that. I'm hoping we get more info soon. I agree that lsat scores are a gatekeeper to success. There were people with high gpas and low lsats who got rejected but I don't think I saw anyone with a high lsat get rejected.