Does your undergrad school matter? Can it help an applicant? Forum

[peterb0y]

I go to a pretty well ranked school, not top 5 or anything, but I think its pretty well regarded. Will my school benefit me in any way on my app? Just curious, thanks guys.

[Thomas Jefferson]

No, not really.

[2014]

If you were literally tied in every single other way with another applicant, they might take the one from the more highly regarded UG. That's about it.

[reasonable_man]

I go to a pretty well ranked school, not top 5 or anything, but I think its pretty well regarded. Will my school benefit me in any way on my app? Just curious, thanks guys.

Or, if you're applying to a super TTTT, with awful numbers, they may give you a small bump because of your school, just to have a student attending their TTTT that graduated from XYZ lay-prestige UG. This, aside from a tie-breaker situation, or attending HYP as an undergrad means nothing to adcoms.

[r6_philly]

I go to a pretty well ranked school, not top 5 or anything, but I think its pretty well regarded. Will my school benefit me in any way on my app? Just curious, thanks guys.

Or, if you're applying to a super TTTT, with awful numbers, they may give you a small bump because of your school, just to have a student attending their TTTT that graduated from XYZ lay-prestige UG. This, aside from a tie-breaker situation, or attending HYP as an undergrad means nothing to adcoms.

I wonder how much this comes into play... Many schools publish UG institutions represented, I can see a T3/4 school wanted to have a Columbia or Stanford or MIT grad on that list. It's really good for marketing and recruiting. It's just another diversity factor. I wonder if you go to a T20 UG and you focus on schools that your fellow students don't usually attend, would you get a bigger bump because of class diversity.

[reasonable_man]

I go to a pretty well ranked school, not top 5 or anything, but I think its pretty well regarded. Will my school benefit me in any way on my app? Just curious, thanks guys.

Or, if you're applying to a super TTTT, with awful numbers, they may give you a small bump because of your school, just to have a student attending their TTTT that graduated from XYZ lay-prestige UG. This, aside from a tie-breaker situation, or attending HYP as an undergrad means nothing to adcoms.

I wonder how much this comes into play... Many schools publish UG institutions represented, I can see a T3/4 school wanted to have a Columbia or Stanford or MIT grad on that list. It's really good for marketing and recruiting. It's just another diversity factor. I wonder if you go to a T20 UG and you focus on schools that your fellow students don't usually attend, would you get a bigger bump because of class diversity.

I subbed in as an adcom person from time to time while attending my TTT (which placed one or two students on the board to select the income 1L class)... i.e. my roommate got lazy and I would go through some of the applications with the criteria they used.. In reviewing files and looking at professors notes on the applications, I can tell you that at a lower ranked TTT, it matters if you went to NYU/BU or above, especially if the NYU/BU and above school is geographically diverse from the area where you are applying.

At top tier schools, I doubt it matters much, if at all.

[Spinozist21]

I agree with the above posters.

I agree that if you are applying to a middle tier school and you are diverse from their other applicant pool based on your school then yeah I think it would be helpful. However, applying to top schools it would only really be helpful as a tie-breaker. If, for instance, you apply to GTown...and you went to Vanderbilt and another person went to University of Georgia (just examples) and the GPA and LSAT are close I think you would get a slight bump...only because of the difficulty of your undergraduate school.

Again, it is really tough to tell specifically, but I would say it couldn't hurt you to have gone to a better school. And, yes, on the whole it does matter where you have gone.

[im_blue]

Some schools like HYS, Chicago, and Penn are known to prefer top UGs.

[lennonist]

Some schools like HYS, Chicago, and Penn are known to prefer top UGs.

Yup. Berkeley UG is a feeder school for Columbia, for instance.

[Ship87]

I wonder about this too because I go to a fairly average state school in PA. Not a bad school, but not a name brand by any means. I'm majoring in Physics and Economics so I'm hoping my majors will set me apart, and my numbers are in the middle for T14s (3.74, 171). Maybe, just maybe, going to a state school will actually be helpfull in a diversity sort of way, but I doubt it.

For Chicago and Penn specifically, how much of a difference would you estimate coming from a regular state school would count in admission? I'm thinking that in a tie breaker situation it would (and with my numbers, I'd assume theres lots of other applications with similar stats), but if you have other stuff on your app like interesting/difficult majors, good ps and grat reccomendations, the school wouldn't be so much of a factor.

[r6_philly]

I wonder about this too because I go to a fairly average state school in PA. Not a bad school, but not a name brand by any means. I'm majoring in Physics and Economics so I'm hoping my majors will set me apart, and my numbers are in the middle for T14s (3.74, 171). Maybe, just maybe, going to a state school will actually be helpfull in a diversity sort of way, but I doubt it.

For Chicago and Penn specifically, how much of a difference would you estimate coming from a regular state school would count in admission? I'm thinking that in a tie breaker situation it would (and with my numbers, I'd assume theres lots of other applications with similar stats), but if you have other stuff on your app like interesting/difficult majors, good ps and grat reccomendations, the school wouldn't be so much of a factor.

Which one? I went to wcu. I was waitlisted by Penn last year applying super late (March). I know my UG did me no favors. But Penn grad school took me and didn't seem to bother them too much, I have classmates from wcu, iup and shippensburg. I hope they will look past my ug now (if it's indeed a negative)

[Ship87]

mind if i ask what your stats were?

[xyzzzzzzzz]

ITT: pa state schools represent.

[r6_philly]

mind if i ask what your stats were?

It's in my profile too. 3.9/170. 4.0 at wcu. I'd recommend probably ED to Penn unless you like Chicago that much more.

[The Gentleman]

If your undergrad's rep plays a significant role, then I'm screwed. I just saw my school's stats in my Academic Summary Report on LSAC and it's ugly to say the least. I actually LOLd.

[im_blue]

If your undergrad's rep plays a significant role, then I'm screwed. I just saw my school's stats in my Academic Summary Report on LSAC and it's ugly to say the least. I actually LOLd.

Your 4.0 GPA will take you far despite your mediocre UG.

[sanetruth]

I go to a pretty well ranked school, not top 5 or anything, but I think its pretty well regarded. Will my school benefit me in any way on my app? Just curious, thanks guys.

a lot of people hate on this, but i think its pretty credited: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=119327

[The Gentleman]

The Gentleman wrote:
If your undergrad's rep plays a significant role, then I'm screwed. I just saw my school's stats in my Academic Summary Report on LSAC and it's ugly to say the least. I actually LOLd.

Your 4.0 GPA will take you far despite your mediocre UG.

Mediocre is generous. USNWR says its TTTT lol. But hey I got no UG debt!