Why do law schools care about your parents highest education Forum

[jdhopeful11]

Why do law schools care about your parents highest education?

[skynet]

small boost if they didn't go to college.

[jks289]

Because it is a bigger deal for you to go to law school if your parents didn't graduate from high school, than if you come from a family where everyone has graduate degrees. They use it to help determine socio-economic diversity.

Also, parents who went to grad school have children who are more sophisticated about applications (prep courses, knowing to write LOCI, edited personal statements, etc) then some kid who thinks you just send in the common app and few paragraphs on your grandmother and call it a day.

[jdhopeful11]

if neither parent went to college and only one parent graduated high school, would that only be considered a 'delicate' soft

[adameus]

if neither parent went to college and only one parent graduated high school, would that only be considered a 'delicate' soft

Depends what your parent's class rank in High School was.

[Cupidity]

Studies have shown that students who are either first generation college, or whose parents have graduate degrees are more likely to perform well in higher education.

[Aberzombie1892]

Studies have shown that students who are either first generation college, or whose parents have graduate degrees are more likely to perform well in higher education.

This is credited.

The higher education your parents have, the more likely you will stay in law school.

(Hey, they have to protection against the almighty 1L attrition rate).

I think it's funny that:
if your parents have grad degrees, you get an oh-so-slight boost.
if neither of your parents went to college, you get an oh-so-slight boost.
if your parents were were just "average" and only received a 4 year degree, you get nil.

[faceman9000]

Because it is a bigger deal for you to go to law school if your parents didn't graduate from high school, than if you come from a family where everyone has graduate degrees. They use it to help determine socio-economic diversity.

Also, parents who went to grad school have children who are more sophisticated about applications (prep courses, knowing to write LOCI, edited personal statements, etc) then some kid who thinks you just send in the common app and few paragraphs on your grandmother and call it a day.

You are a more sophisticated ignorant bag of shit.

[jks289]

Because it is a bigger deal for you to go to law school if your parents didn't graduate from high school, than if you come from a family where everyone has graduate degrees. They use it to help determine socio-economic diversity.

Also, parents who went to grad school have children who are more sophisticated about applications (prep courses, knowing to write LOCI, edited personal statements, etc) then some kid who thinks you just send in the common app and few paragraphs on your grandmother and call it a day.

You are a more sophisticated ignorant bag of shit.

Uuuuhhh, I think you may have read that wrong. Parents who have graduate degrees are more likely to have kids who can game the system and know how to do applications. So when they see someone put together an application that looks kind of random (especially with PS topics), they may know it is because they really are doing it on their own.... I think it is a knock against rich kids who aren't that smart but know how to look polished.

What's your problem??

[maks25]

Studies have shown that students who are either first generation college, or whose parents have graduate degrees are more likely to perform well in higher education.

This is credited.

The higher education your parents have, the more likely you will stay in law school.

(Hey, they have to protection against the almighty 1L attrition rate).

I think it's funny that:
if your parents have grad degrees, you get an oh-so-slight boost.
if neither of your parents went to college, you get an oh-so-slight boost.
if your parents were were just "average" and only received a 4 year degree, you get nil.

nice to know

[mps]

i don't think parents with grad degrees = game the system... my parents have grad degrees from about 50 bazillion years ago when anyone who wanted to go to harvard could... they have *no* clue about how competitive it is to get into any type of advanced degree program... (and no, they don't have money, it was thanks to the GI bill).

the world was an entirely different place for our parents. (and even for us! i could never get into my undergrad if i were to apply today!)

but yeah, good question. i wonder why they care.

and couldn't someone lie? like say their parents were HS dropouts to make themselves appear to be from a different class and look like they've overcome more obstacles, etc? (and dont say because then you won't pass the bar... i wonder how thoroughly they actually investigate. i bet it isnt that thoroughly.)

[mps]

but if adcoms see grad degrees and think that translates to gaming the system, boy do i wish i'd lied...

[faceman9000]

Because it is a bigger deal for you to go to law school if your parents didn't graduate from high school, than if you come from a family where everyone has graduate degrees. They use it to help determine socio-economic diversity.

Also, parents who went to grad school have children who are more sophisticated about applications (prep courses, knowing to write LOCI, edited personal statements, etc) then some kid who thinks you just send in the common app and few paragraphs on your grandmother and call it a day.

You are a more sophisticated ignorant bag of shit.

Uuuuhhh, I think you may have read that wrong. Parents who have graduate degrees are more likely to have kids who can game the system and know how to do applications. So when they see someone put together an application that looks kind of random (especially with PS topics), they may know it is because they really are doing it on their own.... I think it is a knock against rich kids who aren't that smart but know how to look polished.

What's your problem??

I highly doubt that whether or not an applicant's parents went to grad school has anything at all to do with the degree to which the applicant's application is polished. It is also absurd to think that adcomms would give somebody a boost for a poorly constructed application because their parents did not go to grad school.

Anyway, sorry for the brash remark, but I just felt like you made a sweeping generalization about a process that depends heavily on individual situations.

[jdhopeful11]

and couldn't someone lie? like say their parents were HS dropouts to make themselves appear to be from a different class and look like they've overcome more obstacles, etc?

my point exactly

[Breaker]

If I admitted that my dad is a doctor, would it possibly effect my chances at scholarship offers?

[Generic20101L]

Studies have shown that students who are either first generation college, or whose parents have graduate degrees are more likely to perform well in higher education.

What if one has a Masters and one didn't graduate college, is that some super soft then? Cause that would be pretty effing sweet.

[Lonagan]

Eh, I noted that I was raised by wolves. I assume adcoms gave me a lot of credit for being semi-literate. I just eat my meat rare, that's all.

[parker09]

Eh, I noted that I was raised by wolves. I assume adcoms gave me a lot of credit for being semi-literate. I just eat my meat rare, that's all.

!

[Fevsi]

Hey, someone named Foch even posted your PS about being raised by wolves

Ladies and gentlemen of the committee, without any further ado, allow me to present to you my Thomas M. Cooley Law School personal statement. It's a bit lengthy, but I think I'm right in inferring that the absence of a PS requirement indicates an absence of a PS length requirement.

When I was apprehended by the police at the age of sixteen, the media dubbed me the “Minnesota Wolf Child.” This moniker is only partially accurate. While my father was indeed a wolf, my human mother played a very significant role in my life during my childhood. Descended from an unbroken line of Norsemen going back to prehistoric times, my mother took especial care to steep me in the oral tradition of our people. It is this unique religious and cultural heritage that have made me the person I am today: a person intent on receiving a Juris Doctor degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School.

Life was challenging for my family when I was a child, but my parents carved out an honest life for us in the wilds of northern Minnesota. The hunters in our family couldn’t carry any meat back to our cave (being as they were wolves), but the pack never let us go hungry. Though it may surprise you, I often miss those simple times and the warm elk meat that my father vomited in order to feed my mother and I. It was a hard life, but we had each other. We had our freedom.

During the long, cold winters, my mother made my moral and religious education her top priority. Her sense of reverence for the old gods remains the most important guiding star in my life. Every spring equinox when I was a child, my mother and I trapped hikers and sportsmen to appease Odin. It was always a very busy time. You would be surprised how much work it takes to hang nine blood sacrifices of each species from trees! Even so, I always looked forward to the spring. Our family was never closer than at those times.

Whenever I misbehaved, my mother would tell me of the horrible punishments being suffered by Loki for offending the Aesir. Did you know that earthquakes are caused by Loki writhing against his bindings in the bowels of Midguard? You see, a serpent hangs above him and drips venom into his face, but his wife catches it in a bowl. Occasionally she must empty the bowl, and for a time Loki endures the agony of the venom. Now that I have integrated into American society I find that most of my peers are wholly unaware of this fact, but it is merely one example out of many. More vexing than the apparent ignorance of American society is its prejudice against Norse religious practices. It was precisely this violent, insensible prejudice which brought me into American society and which impelled me to apply to Thomas M. Cooley Law School.

The winter of 2003 was extremely harsh for my family. Deer and elk were scarce, and my father went to Valhalla at the ripe old age of sixteen. The rest of the pack headed north in search of better game, but my mother was aging and unable to maintain their grueling pace. With her last breath, my brave mother warned me never to forget Odin’s teachings, and never to bargain with a dwarf. I have carried those words in my heart to this very day.

Desperate for shelter, I set off into the wilderness. Miles and miles I trekked through the snow, until I alighted upon a church on the outskirts of Big Falls, Minnesota. My mother had spoken often of the Sign of the Cross, and of the genocidal war of the crusaders against our people. I knew what I had to do.

The church burned for fully two hours before the police arrived. Had I spoken English at that time, I am confident that I could have made clear to them the urgency of my need for warmth and the long history of crimes committed by the Christian overlords. They might well have had mercy on me if I had been able to explain the deaths of my parents and the religious significance of my arson. But, as words failed me, I bit an officer on the leg. Their tazers were painful, but nothing compared to the agonies of my subsequent integration into American society.

Imagine my shock and horror when I learned that U.S. law—in spite of constitutional guarantees for free exercise of religion—does not permit making blood sacrifices to Odin on the equinox! Like the bigoted proscription against razing churches, I learned of this onerous statutory burden the hard way. I had already hung the corpses of nine dogs and nine cats from my foster family’s trees and was beginning on gerbils when, once again, the heavy hand of the law struck down my religious freedoms.

This sort of intolerant legal regime has no place in American society. Though I remain Norse at heart, I am an ardent and patriotic son of these United States. It is precisely because of my love for both this nation and Odin that I wish to become a lawyer. After receiving my degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School, I intend to challenge the laws and judicial opinions which oppress and subjugate my people. I will immediately begin the fight to have Employment Division v. Smith overturned, then systematically roll back every law preventing us from performing our ancient acts of worship.

Help me keep America free. Help me in this great battle, Cooley, and I swear by the Hammer of Thor that bards will sing the wordfame of your school until the world’s ending.

Sincerely,

[Norwood]

wow...

[ScaredWorkedBored]

If I admitted that my dad is a doctor, would it possibly effect my chances at scholarship offers?

If you're being calculated independently of parents, it won't matter.

If you're not being treated as independent, I hope you're not planning on lying/omitting family income information to grab need-based aid. The consequences of that could be rather dire if it's ever discovered.

[Aberzombie1892]

If I admitted that my dad is a doctor, would it possibly effect my chances at scholarship offers?

If you're being calculated independently of parents, it won't matter.

If you're not being treated as independent, I hope you're not planning on lying/omitting family income information to grab need-based aid. The consequences of that could be rather dire if it's ever discovered.

I don't think it works that way.

If you say your dad has a Ph.D/MD/JD, you will be admitted over someone who had similar numbers and his/her parents only had four year degrees.

However, your scholarship money would likely still be based off of your LSAT/GPA combination.

It's amazing that all of the little things can give you a competitive advantage (although your numbers make you competitive to begin with).

Things like parental education, work experience (full time, part time, internships, externships), grad degrees, your awards/honors, hardships, etc.

But if you have an almighty 4.3/180 and no competitive advantages - I think Yale would have a tough time declining you (heck why not go overseas for law school?)