I'm sorry if this topic has been beaten to death but Forum

[dingbat]

Do employers care about undergrads even if the person went to a t14?

I don't go to a good LS, but I think going to a good UG helped me a bit getting a 1L judicial externship. People ask me about it a lot in interviews as small talk.

No offense, but come back when you're trying to get a real job; 1L judicial externships aren't worth the 5-7 lines you're going to embelish on your resume about them.

As for OP, I don't understand why it has taken two pages to explain to you that poli scy or history or whatever other bs liberal arts major there is out there won't improve your law school hopes (unless you get a good gpa) and won't significantly change the fact that you don't know how to do anything and will be paid accordingly.

it takes 5-7 lines to list a standardized job? No wonder you're not getting any callbacks

[superpippo]

Thank you for such a great response. Will psychology or history for undergrad give me a backup plan in case I don't go to law school?

History: none whatsoever
Psychology: yes

I don't know about the OCI/Career Fairs at your perspective UG, but if you have a liberal arts major, you will have an opportunity to gun for a job as an account executive (glorified sales), maybe marketing, internal operations of some sort, recruiting, etc. within a wide range of companies. If you have a liberal arts major, however, there is no fallback; it isn't a degree where you will have a niche field to fall into. It's entirely up to you to go out and find firms/companies that are looking for a liberal arts major with a good GPA who is hard working and can hold up a conversation in an interview. That said, its possible depending on what opportunities your UG affords you for employment after college.

[dingbat]

Thank you for such a great response. Will psychology or history for undergrad give me a backup plan in case I don't go to law school?

History: none whatsoever
Psychology: yes

I don't know about the OCI/Career Fairs at your perspective UG, but if you have a liberal arts major, you will have an opportunity to gun for a job as an account executive (glorified sales), maybe marketing, internal operations of some sort, recruiting, etc. within a wide range of companies. If you have a liberal arts major, however, there is no fallback; it isn't a degree where you will have a niche field to fall into. It's entirely up to you to go out and find firms/companies that are looking for a liberal arts major with a good GPA who is hard working and can hold up a conversation in an interview. That said, its possible depending on what opportunities your UG affords you for employment after college.

Sales positions will hire just about anyone. None of those positions care what your degree is in, so long as you have a degree (or a decent resume and/or connections). That doesn't mean your degree gives you a backup plan

[Aqualibrium]

Do employers care about undergrads even if the person went to a t14?

I don't go to a good LS, but I think going to a good UG helped me a bit getting a 1L judicial externship. People ask me about it a lot in interviews as small talk.

No offense, but come back when you're trying to get a real job; 1L judicial externships aren't worth the 5-7 lines you're going to embelish on your resume about them.

As for OP, I don't understand why it has taken two pages to explain to you that poli scy or history or whatever other bs liberal arts major there is out there won't improve your law school hopes (unless you get a good gpa) and won't significantly change the fact that you don't know how to do anything and will be paid accordingly.

it takes 5-7 lines to list a standardized job? No wonder you're not getting any callbacks

I'm an associate at an NLJ250. Also, I've seen resumes with 5 lines for a retail job.

[CanIGetAnAmen]

Econ is pretty hard though GPA wise at Emory.
Most the kids in Econ are gunning for the business school.

[manofjustice]

UMich law has a weird US News-gaming system, or they did, at least, whereby if you are a UMich student and your UGPA is above a certain cutoff, you can apply without the LSAT--they'll probably matriculate you to a) bolster their GPA to counterbalance the splitters they need to accept to boost their LSAT and b) bolster their LSAT ceteris peribis (because the average LSAT of an applicant with a UGPA at or above that cutoff is lower than its LSAT median). If you expect a UGPA at UMich above that cutoff and would love to go to UMich law (i.e. it's a school good enough for you to consider it a good catch for you, and you wouldn't mind practicing law in the midwest, if you had to), but you do poorly on the LSAT...going to UMich for undergrad might be a good tactic to get into the T14.

[mr.hands]

UMich law has a weird US News-gaming system, or they did, at least, whereby if you are a UMich student and your UGPA is above a certain cutoff, you can apply without the LSAT--they'll probably matriculate you to a) bolster their GPA to counterbalance the splitters they need to accept to boost their LSAT and b) bolster their LSAT ceteris peribis (because the average LSAT of an applicant with a UGPA at or above that cutoff is lower than its LSAT median). If you expect a UGPA at UMich above that cutoff and would love to go to UMich law (i.e. it's a school good enough for you to consider it a good catch for you, and you wouldn't mind practicing law in the midwest, if you had to), but you do poorly on the LSAT...going to UMich for undergrad might be a good tactic to get into the T14.

UMich eliminated this program several years ago

[manofjustice]

Disregard everything I wrote.

[suralin]

Disregard everything I wrote.

TITCR

[CanIGetAnAmen]

Do law schools care what classes you take?

[ilovesf]

Do employers care about undergrads even if the person went to a t14?

I don't go to a good LS, but I think going to a good UG helped me a bit getting a 1L judicial externship. People ask me about it a lot in interviews as small talk.

No offense, but come back when you're trying to get a real job; 1L judicial externships aren't worth the 5-7 lines you're going to embelish on your resume about them.

As for OP, I don't understand why it has taken two pages to explain to you that poli scy or history or whatever other bs liberal arts major there is out there won't improve your law school hopes (unless you get a good gpa) and won't significantly change the fact that you don't know how to do anything and will be paid accordingly.

I was just trying to be helpful. I don't see any reason for you to be an asshole about it. I spend exactly 2 lines on my resume referring to it, but thanks anyway for your great advice.

[cahwc12]

UMich law has a weird US News-gaming system, or they did, at least, whereby if you are a UMich student and your UGPA is above a certain cutoff, you can apply without the LSAT--they'll probably matriculate you to a) bolster their GPA to counterbalance the splitters they need to accept to boost their LSAT and b) bolster their LSAT ceteris peribis (because the average LSAT of an applicant with a UGPA at or above that cutoff is lower than its LSAT median). If you expect a UGPA at UMich above that cutoff and would love to go to UMich law (i.e. it's a school good enough for you to consider it a good catch for you, and you wouldn't mind practicing law in the midwest, if you had to), but you do poorly on the LSAT...going to UMich for undergrad might be a good tactic to get into the T14.

UMich eliminated this program several years ago

I think several other law schools still do this though (unless it was outlawed by all law schools). I know that my alma mater had a similar program as well, but it may be that they require LSAT X for "auto-admit" now. That was one of their pitches when I went to a prospective students meeting--that was in 2006 though now that I think about it so it may have been discontinued "several years ago" as well.

[CanIGetAnAmen]

Do law schools care what classes you take?
Like women's studies classes and etc.

[Nova]

Do law schools care what classes you take?
Like women's studies classes and etc.

No.

They only care about your LGPA and LSAT.

[Aqualibrium]

Do employers care about undergrads even if the person went to a t14?

I don't go to a good LS, but I think going to a good UG helped me a bit getting a 1L judicial externship. People ask me about it a lot in interviews as small talk.

No offense, but come back when you're trying to get a real job; 1L judicial externships aren't worth the 5-7 lines you're going to embelish on your resume about them.

As for OP, I don't understand why it has taken two pages to explain to you that poli scy or history or whatever other bs liberal arts major there is out there won't improve your law school hopes (unless you get a good gpa) and won't significantly change the fact that you don't know how to do anything and will be paid accordingly.

I was just trying to be helpful. I don't see any reason for you to be an asshole about it. I spend exactly 2 lines on my resume referring to it, but thanks anyway for your great advice.

Wasn't being an ass, just alerting you to the reality that your 1L externship is really not at all indicative of any patterns in the hiring that actually matters. It's something most people aren't aware of. The language may have been a bit harsh, but that doesn't mask the truth.

[alex.feuerman]

I'm transferring from my current college to either Emory or Umich for the Spring semester of 2013.
I will enter as a junior.

I have three questions - 1) which school will give me a better chance of getting into a top law school.
and 2) what are some of the majors that are good for law school. (I know law schools really don't care but there seems to be a large amount of applicants from specific majors)
3) do departmental rankings for undergrad matter? Because just in case I don't get into a good law school, I want to be able to make somewhat decent money from my BA. For example, Michigan's political science program is ranked 4, and Emory's is ranked 20-something. But Emory has higher overall rankings, so I'm not sure. If I decided not to go to law school and tried to make money off my BA alone...will departmental rankings matter?

Sorry for the long questions and thanks in advance at any input.

retake. haha. no seriously the chances of it mattering are 0%. Just get the best LSAT score possible.

[CanIGetAnAmen]

So I have already taken some Psych and History courses. so I'm almost half way through getting a major in one of those...
If I were to pick Econ or Polysci, I would have to stay an extra semester or something.

[CanIGetAnAmen]

So do law schools HONESTLY really not care about what courses you take?
Like if I took:
Music 101
Theater 101
History 101
Art 101

They wouldn't care?

[Nova]

So do law schools HONESTLY really not care about what courses you take?
Like if I took:
Music 101
Theater 101
History 101
Art 101

They wouldn't care?

They dont care. They care about you having an LGPA above their median so they can pad their stats.

Basket weaver above median >> Astrophysicist below median

[PickMe!]

Go where you'll earn the highest gpa.

[CanIGetAnAmen]

So do law schools HONESTLY really not care about what courses you take?
Like if I took:
Music 101
Theater 101
History 101
Art 101

They wouldn't care?

They dont care. They care about you having an LGPA above their median so they can pad their stats.

Basket weaver above median >> Astrophysicist below median

What is an LGPA,
and can anyone else comment on this?

[Nova]

What is an LGPA,
and can anyone else comment on this?

LSAC GPA
http://www.lsac.org/policies/transcript ... zation.asp
http://blueprintprep.com/lsatblog/law-s ... -your-gpa/

[A. Nony Mouse]

So do law schools HONESTLY really not care about what courses you take?
Like if I took:
Music 101
Theater 101
History 101
Art 101

They wouldn't care?

They dont care. They care about you having an LGPA above their median so they can pad their stats.

Basket weaver above median >> Astrophysicist below median

What is an LGPA,
and can anyone else comment on this?

Absolutely totally correct. They really, really don't care. For one thing, no undergrad major is actually going to prepare you for the subject matter of law school. For another, maybe you want to be an arts lawyer, who knows? But no, they really truly don't care. One of my classmates was a dance major.

[cahwc12]

So do law schools HONESTLY really not care about what courses you take?
Like if I took:
Music 101
Theater 101
History 101
Art 101

They wouldn't care?

They dont care. They care about you having an LGPA above their median so they can pad their stats.

Basket weaver above median >> Astrophysicist below median

What is an LGPA,
and can anyone else comment on this?

Absolutely totally correct. They really, really don't care. For one thing, no undergrad major is actually going to prepare you for the subject matter of law school. For another, maybe you want to be an arts lawyer, who knows? But no, they really truly don't care. One of my classmates was a dance major.

I think the other aspect of this is "what will help you get a job?" If OP has the aptitude a hard science major without tanking his GPA, he can take the patent bar the summer before law school and have much better job prospects than his peers, all things equal. Of course this also presupposes he has genuine interest in that.

Another good non-stem major would be something like finance or accounting (again, assuming interest), because if OP decides to delay law school, that will also equip him with the skills to perhaps get into a job to get some good WE before law school.


Whatever you do OP, please DO NOT pick a major solely for GPA maximization, because this is potentially the most intellectually enriching time you'll have. Squandering an opportunity to learn a rigorous major for a .1 GPA boost will indeed give you a slightly better shot at GPA acceptance, but the opportunity cost of not challenging yourself at all for a few years may hurt you in other areas (work ethic). Also, speaking from personal experience, the most difficult classes I had in undergrad were not the hard science ones or math-heavy ones, but abstract courses where the coursework was so easy and mind-numbing that I had to push myself just to complete the work. If you study something dull and uninsteresting just because it's supposed to be easier, you may find yourself worse off.

[09042014]

Do business or something. Thats the major for people who want to do something, but don't really car.e