U Iowa Home Page

Political Science

Contact Info

347 Schaeffer Hall

319-335-2348

timothy-hagle@uiowa.edu

Twitter: @ProfHagle

Fall 2019 Office Hours

Tue & Th: 3:15-4:45

Mailing Address

Dept of Political Science

341 Schaeffer Hall

20 E. Washington Street

The University of Iowa

Iowa City, Iowa 52242

Posted Book Information for Spring 2020 Courses

Posted updated Prelaw FAQ

Posted course evaluations for POLI:3120 and POLI:3113 for Spring 2019

Posted two new books in What I'm Reading

Posted syllabi for Fall 2019 courses (POLI:3101 and POLI:3121)

Posted updates with 2018 election data to all 11 papers in the Iowa Voting Series

Posted course evaluations for POLI:3101 and POLI:3121 for Fall 2018

New book, Supreme Court Agenda Setting: The Vinson Court, published for Kindle devices and computers with Kindle reader.

My books

The list of formulas below was given to me by a student who obtained it as part of the materials sent to students who took the LSAT.  The sheet was dated 7/2/98.

There are seven columns in the table below.  Brief descriptions of each are as follows:

• Law School: The list contains 34 law schools.  The schools are listed alphabetically, with all "University of" schools listed under U.  Some abbreviations are: U = University, LS = Law School, SoL = School of Law, CoL = College of Law, LC = Law Center.
• X LSAT: This is the multiplier for the LSAT score used by the school.  (The formulas assume the LSAT score to be on the 10-48 scale.)
• X GPA: This is the multiplier for the GPA used by the school.  (The formulas assume the GPA to be on a 4.0 scale.)
• Constant: Most schools add a constant, positive or negative, to the formula. For a few schools this makes the total a round number.  
• Total: The total is constructed by multiplying the maximum LSAT score of 48 by the school's multiplier, adding the product of the GPA multiplier and the maximum GPA of 4.0, and adding the constant.  For example, the total for Brooklyn Law School is 0.372*48 + 2..822*4.0 + 61.992 = 91.136.
• %GPA: This is the weight given to the GPA relative to the LSAT in the formula.  This percentage ignores the constant.  In speculating on the meaning of the constant with some of my students, I wondered whether all applicants were automatically given the constant or if it might be based on things in the applicant's file, including such things as minority or economic status.  Because of this uncertainty, I chose to ignore it for present purposes.  To calculate the %GPA, I dropped the constant from the formula and determined what percent of the new total was accounted for by the GPA.  Using Brooklyn Law School as an example again, 0.372*48 + 2..822*4.0 = 29.144, and 11.228/29.144 = 38.73%.
• %GPAn: This is the %GPA of the formula the school uses for the new scale.  Notice the often large decrease in emphasis on the GPA as schools moved from the old to new scale.  Some discussion of the differences between %GPA and %GPAn can be found on the start and comments pages.