The LSAT is arguably the single most important factor in determining your admission to law school. Although most law schools will read your entire file before making an admissions decision, the "numbers," meaning the LSAT and the GPA, are often decisive. Why does the LSAT matter so much?

The LSAT was designed to give law schools a way to measure and compare the performance of all applicants. It is the only criterion for doing so, really, because it is hard to compare, say, a GPA from Northeastern Illinois University to a GPA from the University of Nebraska, or any other school.

The LSAT is designed to predict your success in the first year of law school. That's it. It doesn't mean that you will be a good or bad law student, or a good or bad lawyer. It only predicts first year performance. And, as standardized tests go, it is a rather good predictor of that.

Unfortunately, over the years, law schools have relied increasingly on the LSAT, using it not as a predictor of first year performance, but as a measure of an applicant's abilities generally. The law schools are relying on the test even though they know that it is not designed to predict very much. Why rely on the LSAT? The primary reason seems to be competition between law schools for students with high LSAT scores. This competition is driven by ranking services, most notoriously U.S. News and World Report, that rank a school in part by its median LSAT score. A school that wants to improve its national ranking can do so by attracting students with higher scores, thus shifting the school's median upward. In short, law schools target students with high scores because it makes them look good and improves their rank.

Is this fair? Not really, in my view. But the law schools would respond that they can not ignore U.S. News because, as much as they think that its rankings are foolish, people nonetheless respond to them. Students read the rankings and use them to select their schools. Alumni read the rankings and insist that their alma maters move up in the ranks. We end up with a vicious cycle: law schools pay attention to LSAT scores because they are pressured to pay attention to LSAT scores.

In an effort to decrease reliance on the LSAT, the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) is undertaking a pilot program to test other models for admission, some that rely on the LSAT, but to a lesser extent, and some that do not use the LSAT at all. These models have not yet been adopted by any U.S. law schools, but many schools are beginning to search for alternatives to the LSAT and numbers generally.

Given this fact, as an applicant, you still need to pay very close attention to the LSAT and prepare for it thoroughly. In general, the higher the LSAT score, the more opportunities you will have for admission to law school. THEREFORE, YOU MUST DO WELL ON THE LSAT. DO NOT TAKE IT UNTIL YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY READY.

In addition, though, you should spend time "personalizing" your application. Write a convincing personal statement that tells the admissions committee about you. Prepare and enclose a resume for them. Tell them who you are and convince them to consider factors other than the numbers. Remember, the application is a package, and many factors ultimately go into a decision to accept or reject an applicant.

Also, do yourself and others a favor: do not place credence in U.S. News or other organizations that rank. You need to select the law school that is right for you. That's an individual and highly subjective choice. You might attend a highly ranked school and be miserable, which will not do you any good as you try to pursue your academic and legal careers. Do your research and your homework; visit schools if you can. Apply broadly, so that you have many chances for admission and financial aid. Ultimately, choose the school that is the right "fit" for you, and be comfortable with the decision you make.