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In making admission decisions, the Admissions Committee attempts to identify as best it can those applicants who have the ability to compete successfully in a rigorous academic environment, to contribute to a diverse intellectual community, and to engage successfully in the career of their choice in an increasingly diverse society. Because these characteristics are not always captured by an applicant’s LSAT score or overall grade point average, the Committee considers any upward or downward trend in the applicant’s academic performance over time, the quality of the applicant’s undergraduate institution, the applicant’s major and activities, letters of recommendation, personal statement, educational or economic disadvantages the applicant has overcome to obtain an undergraduate education, status as the first generation in a family to graduate from college or university or attend law school, commitment of future service to underserved communities, and any other information other than race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin supplied by the applicant.
Neither the Committee nor the College seeks to obtain any particular number or percentage of diverse candidates, but they do seek a diverse mix of students to ensure that the College has a sufficient range of background and experience in its student body to permit a deep, broad, and vigorous intellectual environment. As this description indicates, the admissions process is flexible, no particular factor in itself determines admission or non-admission, and the Committee has sufficient discretion to consider each applicant individually on the basis of the entire file.