Do law schools really care what school you attended for UG? Forum

[legaleagle9]

Hey folks!

Im currently attending community college and looking to transfer pretty soon! I want to still live at home, and the only schools that are really reasonable driving distances from my home town are San Francisco State University and San Jose State University. I know those schools do not have elite reputations or anything, so my question is, does the UG university/college really make a huge difference when applying to Law School?

Thank you very much in advance for the responses!

[northwood]

not really. Keep your Undergrad Costs low- and your GPA as high as you can. Choose whatever major you like- and start studying for the lsat after your junior year at least. best of luck

[zozin]

No.

[legaleagle9]

Thank you so much for the replies! I am definitely focusing on maintaining my GPA, and as a freshman, I've already started some studying for the LSAT, just so it can become like second nature to me.

Once again, sorry for all these random questions. But I'm sure you all know how important our future/current law careers are to us, and I just want to make sure I'm doing it right!

Thanks again!

[Veyron]

Only in rare cases does it make a difference.

[Dany]

I think it only matters in the most extreme cases. An elite UG like Harvard or Princeton might help slightly, and an unaccredited online university would probably raise eyebrows, but other than that you are fine. Just keep your GPA up!

[bhan87]

Thank you so much for the replies! I am definitely focusing on maintaining my GPA, and as a freshman, I've already started some studying for the LSAT, just so it can become like second nature to me.

Once again, sorry for all these random questions. But I'm sure you all know how important our
future/current law careers are to us, and I just want to make sure I'm doing it right!

Thanks again!

Please don't worry about studying for the LSAT for now... Focus on getting straight A's. It's a much more productive use of your time. When you graduate you want to have less than 1/5 of your classes as B's to be competitive for the T14

ALso, start getting to know some your professors to build a list of potential candidates for LORs. Both my letters came from profs I've known since freshman year and had a personal relationship with.

[dpk711]

Unless it's HYP it really doesn't matter. Even HYP will give you only a minimal boost.

[yngblkgifted]

No.

[dooood]

No. Some elite firms will care come OCI, but besides that it doesn't matter much

[thecynic69]

People are right to give the short answer as "no", especially since you have plenty of time to study for the LSAT. In short, don't worry about this feature of your app now (especially since it seems you have matriculated, and there isn't much you can do except transfer and risk your gpa adjusting to a new school). If you end up with a bad LSAT score (and for whatever reason refuse to retake), or end up with median numbers at your target school, ask this question again (bad LSAT score means you want the adcom to focus on your GPA, and a GPA from a low ranked school might not carry the day for you; median numbers mean you can expect a lot of people with identical/similar stats, and adcoms have intimated that ugrad rank can serve as a tie breaker where there are not many other distinguishing features); in situations such as these (and possibly others I haven't run into), the answer can be somewhat more complicated and it can affect how you write your PS/addenda (i.e., it is worth asking the people here on TLS who actually know stuff in situations such as these).

[tea_drinker]

Unless it's HYP it really doesn't matter. Even HYP will give you only a minimal boost.

Not trying to convince OP to transfer to Stanford, but do you think Stanford could give as similar a boost in admission as HYP (however small this boost may be)?

[Cupidity]

Unless it's HYP it really doesn't matter. Even HYP will give you only a minimal boost.

Not trying to convince OP to transfer to Stanford, but do you think Stanford could give as similar a boost in admission as HYP (however small this boost may be)?

Yeah, but the boost is negligible. Not worth 0.1 GPA

[Veyron]

Unless it's HYP it really doesn't matter. Even HYP will give you only a minimal boost.

Not trying to convince OP to transfer to Stanford, but do you think Stanford could give as similar a boost in admission as HYP (however small this boost may be)?

Yeah, but the boost is negligible. Not worth 0.1 GPA

Depends on what the other school is, what the law school is, and what your numbers are. If you are a high GPA, low LSAT splitter it might matter the most. A 3.8/166 from Stanford would probably be admitted to Penn, a 3.8/166 from Drexel probably not.

[tea_drinker]

Unless it's HYP it really doesn't matter. Even HYP will give you only a minimal boost.

Not trying to convince OP to transfer to Stanford, but do you think Stanford could give as similar a boost in admission as HYP (however small this boost may be)?

Yeah, but the boost is negligible. Not worth 0.1 GPA

Depends on what the other school is, what the law school is, and what your numbers are. If you are a high GPA, low LSAT splitter it might matter the most. A 3.8/166 from Stanford would probably be admitted to Penn, a 3.8/166 from Drexel probably not.

Yup, and throw in the URM status, things can be interesting.

[abl]

Not trying to convince OP to transfer to Stanford, but do you think Stanford could give as similar a boost in admission as HYP (however small this boost may be)?


Yeah, but the boost is negligible. Not worth 0.1 GPA

That's not true as an absolute rule; it entirely depends on the circumstances. In the right circumstances (aka: high LSAT and great softs give the adcoms a reason to want to take you), an elite undergrad (HYPS, WAS) can make a huge difference (.2-.3 bump in GPA). On the other hand, if you're a totally vanilla candidate from Harvard with a 3.5, don't expect to be treated like a 3.8 out of Penn State. If you look at LSN carefully enough you'll see this play out--plenty of HYPS/WAS undergrad students without much going for them performing about where their GPAs/LSATs would indicate, and plenty of HYPS/WAS undergrads with an interesting story over-performing people non-flagship state schools with similarly interesting stories. Also, if you walk around HYS law schools, you'll see people from elite undergrads incredibly over-represented...there's a reason for that beyond people from elite undergrads scoring better on the LSATs.

[dkt4]

Also, if you walk around HYS law schools, you'll see people from elite undergrads incredibly over-represented...there's a reason for that beyond people from elite undergrads scoring better on the LSATs.

this. it always surprises me that folks continually say that UG "doesn't matter." there are certainly a lot of factors that contribute to the end result, but the top law schools are overwhelmingly filled with people who attended very good, to great, undergraduate institutions.

[powerlawyer06]

I think it only matters in the most extreme cases. An elite UG like Harvard or Princeton might help slightly, and an unaccredited online university would probably raise eyebrows, but other than that you are fine. Just keep your GPA up!

TITCR

[zozin]

Also, if you walk around HYS law schools, you'll see people from elite undergrads incredibly over-represented...there's a reason for that beyond people from elite undergrads scoring better on the LSATs.

this. it always surprises me that folks continually say that UG "doesn't matter." there are certainly a lot of factors that contribute to the end result, but the top law schools are overwhelmingly filled with people who attended very good, to great, undergraduate institutions.

Once a gunner, always a gunner?

[FiveSermon]

Also, if you walk around HYS law schools, you'll see people from elite undergrads incredibly over-represented...there's a reason for that beyond people from elite undergrads scoring better on the LSATs.

this. it always surprises me that folks continually say that UG "doesn't matter." there are certainly a lot of factors that contribute to the end result, but the top law schools are overwhelmingly filled with people who attended very good, to great, undergraduate institutions.

I really doubt for schools other than HYS, it would be a significant boost to have gone to...lets say Johns Hopkins vs. some SUNY school.

[Non-Chalant1]

Also, if you walk around HYS law schools, you'll see people from elite undergrads incredibly over-represented...there's a reason for that beyond people from elite undergrads scoring better on the LSATs.

this. it always surprises me that folks continually say that UG "doesn't matter." there are certainly a lot of factors that contribute to the end result, but the top law schools are overwhelmingly filled with people who attended very good, to great, undergraduate institutions.

I really doubt for schools other than HYS, it would be a significant boost to have gone to...lets say Johns Hopkins vs. some SUNY school.

I honestly really can't say because elite UGs ate overrepresented in the t 14.

[FiveSermon]

Also, if you walk around HYS law schools, you'll see people from elite undergrads incredibly over-represented...there's a reason for that beyond people from elite undergrads scoring better on the LSATs.

this. it always surprises me that folks continually say that UG "doesn't matter." there are certainly a lot of factors that contribute to the end result, but the top law schools are overwhelmingly filled with people who attended very good, to great, undergraduate institutions.

I really doubt for schools other than HYS, it would be a significant boost to have gone to...lets say Johns Hopkins vs. some SUNY school.

I honestly really can't say because elite UGs do predominate in the t14.

This might have something to do with elite UGs having more people who score higher on the LSAT.

[barry]

Also, if you walk around HYS law schools, you'll see people from elite undergrads incredibly over-represented...there's a reason for that beyond people from elite undergrads scoring better on the LSATs.

this. it always surprises me that folks continually say that UG "doesn't matter." there are certainly a lot of factors that contribute to the end result, but the top law schools are overwhelmingly filled with people who attended very good, to great, undergraduate institutions.

smarter, more driven people tend to go to better UG's and those same people tend to have higher GPA's and LSAT scores i think that is pretty much it, of course there are smart people at lesser UG's and they make it into top schools just as easily given an equal LSAT/GPA

At my T14 there are certainly alot of kids from very solid UG's but i would say nearly half are from unknown or lesser UG's it doesnt matter at all unless maybe HYP or at OCI if there are alot of alumni from your UG in law firms or something

[Veyron]

Also, if you walk around HYS law schools, you'll see people from elite undergrads incredibly over-represented...there's a reason for that beyond people from elite undergrads scoring better on the LSATs.

this. it always surprises me that folks continually say that UG "doesn't matter." there are certainly a lot of factors that contribute to the end result, but the top law schools are overwhelmingly filled with people who attended very good, to great, undergraduate institutions.

I really doubt for schools other than HYS, it would be a significant boost to have gone to...lets say Johns Hopkins vs. some SUNY school.

Depends on the T-14, some care more about UG prestige than others. I would guess that, at minimum, it might make a difference at Penn and Yale.

[barry]

Also, if you walk around HYS law schools, you'll see people from elite undergrads incredibly over-represented...there's a reason for that beyond people from elite undergrads scoring better on the LSATs.

this. it always surprises me that folks continually say that UG "doesn't matter." there are certainly a lot of factors that contribute to the end result, but the top law schools are overwhelmingly filled with people who attended very good, to great, undergraduate institutions.

I really doubt for schools other than HYS, it would be a significant boost to have gone to...lets say Johns Hopkins vs. some SUNY school.

Depends on the T-14, some care more about UG prestige than others. I would guess that, at minimum, it might make a difference at Penn and Yale.

this is somewhat true i heard U Chi kind of cares as well