Law schools: Look past the LSAT

Dear Penn Law Dean Derek Meeker, You recently chose to waitlist a good friend of mine, David. In doing so, you made a big mistake. But not to worry: There's still plenty of time to correct your error.

I mean, it had to have been a mistake. The guy has a 3.97 grade point average at Penn, and he has held official positions in three major groups on campus. And on top of that, he wears size 13 sneakers. What else could you want?

"When you have 240 or 250 kids in a class, you are really trying to put together a group with different experiences who will challenge and motivate each other," you said. "We want well-rounded people."

Perfect.

My friend has worked for Rick Reilly, arguably the most famous sportswriter in the nation. He interned with the National Football League, one of the premier undergraduate internships in the country. And he has the highest GPA on this side of 41st Street.

"We take a holistic approach at Penn," you said, dean. "We are fortunate to be able to be very selective."

Certainly, Penn Law should be selective in the students it admits. As the No. 7 law school in the country, according to U.S. News & World Report, it better be selective.

But how could an admissions dean in his right mind not admit David? He has everything: the grades, the extracurriculars, the work experience, the maturity and the best (and only) personal essay I've ever read.

What could he possibly be missing?

Oh, that's right. The LSAT score. He didn't break 170, so he must not be equipped with the skills necessary to excel in law school.

"The [Law School Admissions Council] has conducted tons of validity tests," you told me. "And we track it as well. There is definitely a correlation between the LSAT and students' performance in the first year of law school."

With all due respect, Dean Meeker, let me tell you something: David is going to kick law school's ass. He would dominate at Penn, at Harvard and even at Yale. (Note: He did not apply to Yale, but if Yale chooses to accept him based on this column, I get a free dinner at Buddakan.)

Allow me to explain. At a top undergraduate institution like Penn, everyone has to at least be somewhat smart. Surely, some students are smarter than others. But anyone who is accepted to Penn has the capability to do well. And yet, some students have 2.8 GPAs, and others have 3.97s.

Let's face it. We all know "geniuses" that slack off. And, in the same vein, we all have made fun of that girl who gets great grades because she's always in the library.

First of all, you're not dumb if you go to Penn. It's the No. 4 school in the country, again according to U.S. News. Therefore, GPA at Penn measures work ethic more so than intelligence. Everyone is smart. Some people just work harder than others do.

And if you ask any law student what the hardest part of the first year is, you'll get the same answer: "Adjusting to the workload," first-year Columbia law student Robby Tennenbaum said. "It's a lot more work than college."

David's work ethic is second to none, yet he's on the waitlist, while my other friend, Danielle -- who has a 3.3 GPA and a 178 LSAT -- is heading to New York University School of Law in the fall.

The trouble, you said, is that there are 6,000 students applying to Penn Law, and the majority have strong academic records.

But a 3.97? From Penn? How many applicants have that?

To be fair, you explained that your staff does take into account where you went to school. A 3.97 at Penn is not looked at as equivalent to a 3.97 from Saint Cloud State. But rather than admit David over average Minnesota Joe, admissions committees instead rely more heavily on the LSAT -- because it's standardized and GPA is not.

"Coursework at schools varies ... in terms of vigor and grade distribution," you said. "That's part of the reason for using the LSAT."

The LSAT is certainly a test you can study for, and in that sense it is standardized. But I would bet a dinner at Buddakan that David's work ethic will take him further in law school than Danielle's ability to study for one test.

You fairly counter that some students who score in the 99th percentile on the LSAT are not admitted.

"If we wanted to raise our median LSAT we could certainly do that," you said. But "every application gets read."

Read David's again; he'll prove there's more to law school success than the LSAT.

Josh Pollick is a senior political science major from Los Angeles. On Point appears on Mondays.

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