0L: any law school applicant, meaning “zero years law school experience”
1L: a first year law student
2L: a second year law student
3L: a third year law student (note: traditionally law programs have been three years, excluding joint degree programs or part-time programs; however there has been a rising call to look into a two-year or two-year plus residency models)
$: approx. 1/4 tuition
$$: half tuition
$$$: 3/4 tuition
$$$$ full tuition or full tuition+
ABA: the American Bar Association
Adcomm/Adcom: admission application reader and decision maker (short for “admissions committee”)
ASD: Admitted Students' Day
ASW: Admitted Students' Weekend
ATL: Above The Law
Bar: (1) a professional membership organization (either national, the ABA, or state-specific) required to practice law in the United States; (2) the test required to be admitted to that organization; or (3) a place to purchase and imbibe alcoholic beverages, often after the LSAT
Bibles: PowerScore LSAT study guides
Calculated Median: 25th plus 75th percentiles divided by 2; hardly ever used anymore
CAS: LSAC’s Credential Assembly Service (formerly known as LSDAS, or Law School Data Assembly Service), which collects and interprets undergraduate transcripts from law school applicants and provides the admissions file reader with an analyzed snapshot of an applicant’s entire academic record, most notably, the CAS report will translate all undergraduate work into a cumulative GPA, otherwise known as the LSAC GPA, which is used for reporting to ABA and USNWR. Applicants can see most of this information on through their LSAC profile, but it is called the Grade Summary Report to the applicant. The CAS report also contains copies of the transcripts, the LSAT writing sample, Letters of Recommendation and any other notices from LSAC (misconduct reports, notices of LSAT testing conditions, etc.)
CCN: Columbia, Chicago, NYU
Counter Cycle A cycle in which it is more beneficial/applicants tend to do better when they apply late versus early. This is very rare, as usually an earlier application is more benefical, but it has happened. A counter cycle would be precipated by a majority of law aschools misdiagnosing and overly predicting how many applicants/applications they would receive for the cycle.
Cycle: admission period in which applications are submitted and decisions rendered; essentially your admissions calendar year (e.g. 2018-2019 cycle)
Dad: The law school admissions subreddit nickname for Mike Spivey.
Ding: rejected
Dong: rejected (new term circa 2018, thanks Reddit!)
DS: diversity statement
EA: Early Action; a non-binding application option where the applicant applies by a specific date and gets a decision by a specified date, in theory early in the cycle
ED: Early Decision; a binding application option generally by a certain date relatively early in the admissions cycle. "If accepted ED you are commiting to the school you will matriculate and withdraw applications to all other schools
Experimental Section: the one section, of five LSAT sections, that is not scored and is used instead by LSAC for data purposes; it is unknown which section is experimental and which are “real” at the time of the test
Gray/Grey Day: the day LSAT scores are released (referring to when the icons on the LSAC website turn from green to gray, which typically only happens on the day of score release)
GRE: the Graduate Record Examination; an alternate test to the LSAT that an increasing number of law schools are allowing for law school admissions
HTE: "hold tight" email
HYS: Harvard, Yale, Stanford
IP: intellectual property
JS1: term for the evaluative admissions interview, by invitation only, for Harvard Law School; based on this being the first contact from Jessica Soban (“JS”), HLS Dean of Admissions (formerly known as “KB1,” referring to HLS’ previous Director of Admissions, our own Karen Buttenbaum)
JS1a: a second, follow-up interview for some candidates -- usually candidates who were interviewed earlier in the cycle, but have been waitlisted. This interview is mainly to gauge current interest in the school from the WL
JS2: acceptance to Harvard Law School; the second contact from Jessica Soban (formerly known as “KB2”)
K-JD: one who is applying straight out of undergrad; one who went from “kindergarten to law school” without a break for full-time work experience after high school or, more often, college
Law Review: a publication, produced by law schools, that features law-related articles and research; typically membership is highly competitive and based on a writing competition, law school grades, or both
Law Revue: a comedy musical production put on by many students at law schools each spring
LG: the Logic Games (or Analytical Reasoning) section of the LSAT
LOCI: letter of continued interest, typically sent after being waitlisted at a law school
LOR: letter(s) of recommendation
LR: the Logical Reasoning section of the LSAT
LSAC: the Law School Admissions Council
LSAT: the Law School Admissions Test
LSN: lawschoolnumbers.com, a website where applicants enter their admissions data and results
LST: lawschooltransparency.com, a website and organization that houses a vast array of law school data, notably employment data
Medians: a school’s median UGPA and LSAT; a very important factor in law school admissions due to the USNWR rankings. 25th and 75th refer to a school’s 25th and 75th percentile UGPA and LSAT
OCI: on-campus interviews, which occur at the start of 2L year with law firms who interview on campus for summer associate positions which often lead to full-time associate positions after graduation; generally based on 1L performance
Non-Traditional or Non-Trad: an applicant who is at least several years out from undergrad when applying to law school; often one who has made significant career strides prior to attending law school
PI: public interest
PS: personal statement
PT: LSAT practice test
RC: the Reading Comprehension section of the LSAT
Reverse Splitter: an applicant who is above a school’s median GPA, but below that school’s LSAT (of note, applicants came up with this phrase and the accompanying term “splitter”)
SCG and “Spivey”: Spivey Consulting Group
Softs: “soft” factors; i.e. any component of a law school application apart from LSAT and GPA
Splitter: an applicant who is above a school’s LSAT and below a school’s GPA. “Splitter” historically meant splitting either LSAT or GPA until applicants created the term “reverse splitter.”
Stats: LSAT and Undergraduate GPA
T1: Tier one schools according to USNWR (1-50)
T2: Tier 2 (50-104)
T3: Tier 3 (105-139)
T4: Tier 4 (the rest)
T5: Top 5
T6: Top 6
T14: Top 14
Target Medians: LSAT and GPA goals that a school is aiming for throughout the cycle, e.g. even if a school's LSAT median for the previous class was a 168, you may still be below their "target median" with a 168 if they are aiming for a 169 this year.
TTT: derogatory reference to 3rd and 4th tier law schools
UG: undergrad
UGPA: undergraduate GPA
Unicorn: an applicant with exceptionally outstanding “softs” (see above), e.g. Olympic athlete, cured cancer, etc.
URM: underrepresented minority (for most schools, the following constitutes URM in law school admissions: American Indians/Alaskan Natives, African Americans/Blacks, Hispanic/Latino, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander; note that there are many other applicants that would be considered minority depending on the individual law school)
USNWR: US News and World Report, known for their annual law school rankings
V10/V100: the top 10/100 law firms in the country, as ranked by Vault
Why Statement/ Why X: generally one-page essay on why you have applied and would like to attend a certain school (an offspring of Yield Protection)
WL: waitlist/waitlisted
WS: writing sample
YP: yield protection, or the process by which admissions offices may WL, hold, or deny an application if it is lacking evidence that the applicant would matriculate to the school if admitted. This phenomenon grew popular during the seven year recession in application numbers from 2010 to 2017 and has remained in play for a number of law schools to date.
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