The ongoing discourse surrounding affirmative action in law school admissions, often focusing on arguments of entitlement versus merit, has recently taken an unusual – if not perplexing – turn. This contentious topic resurfaced in an incident involving an entitlement-claiming, LSAT-150-scoring law hopeful. Unable to accept rejection letters from sought-after law schools, the student blamed an imagined minority student for occupying their rightful place, before deleting their Twitter account in apparent shame.
The student’s assertions have sparked a wider discussion around the realities and misconceptions surrounding law school admissions and affirmative action. The traumatizing world of social media very little forgets or forgives such brashly foolish accusations, leading to a host of reactions to the student’s claim.
Following the student’s controversial tweet, legal academics pointed out that an LSAT score of 150 is generally not competitive. This score – not including the full application package – typically would not open the gateway to law schools of choice. If anything, this episode underscores how important it is for law school hopefuls to realistically evaluate their chances [Deborah U. Taunte].
Furthermore, reactions didn’t limit themselves to factual admissions data. Social media users took the opportunity to evaluate the student’s readiness for a legal career, given their lack of cogency in argumentation. If it couldn’t recognize the inherent flaws in blaming a fictional character for his disappointments, then perhaps it’s no surprise that law school wasn’t on the cards [Snappin Necks and Cashing Checks].
The discourse shift was also highlighted in how affirmative action is perceived. Affirmative action was intended to offer marginal advantages to minority students in close contests, not to dominate over merit-based considerations. The incident and similar ones illustrate the need to redress these misconceptions [I Love the Universe].
After all, is a 150 LSAT score inherently unqualified? No. For context, scores hover around that mark in many cases [Magoosh LSAT Scores]. But blaming underrepresented groups does everyone a disservice – not least of all the complainer. Ultimately, acceptance into law school will cover more than merely the academic metrics, aspects like GPA quality, personal statements, and the breadth of application.
Truth be told, there are schools that would have accepted the student had other parts of their application matched quality. For instance, schools such as Duke or even Drake could be possibilities. Therefore, it may serve the student better to reassess and potentially alter their law school admission strategy.
Complete coverage of this incident can be found at Above The Law.