Hi guys, I am currently a freshman at Fordham University. I received a guaranteed transfer option to the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University for next semester. I don't know if I should transfer to Cornell or now. I am 100% certain that I will be applying to law school.

If I stay at Fordham, my parents want me to graduate in 3 years, because I had 26 AP Credits from high school. However, I will not be able to double major if I graduate in 3 years. If I go to Cornell, I plan on majoring in ILR and minoring in Public Policy Analysis.

I know that the most important thing law schools look at is a student's GPA and LSAT. Will attending Cornell lower my GPA. Right now, I have a great GPA at Fordham.

I'm also worried about the social life at Cornell. I'm not really into the Frat environment, so as you guys can see, I'm very very very conflicted about this.

I would love to attend an Ivy League university, but does it matter in law school admissions. Financial aid is not a problem, as Cornell gave me a good financial package. I'm just look at this from a future law school applicant's perspective?

Nope.

fordham is a good school.

Cornell is barely an Ivy League...just stay and graduate in 3 years. Get a good enough GPA/LSAT and you'll be on your way to a REAL Ivy League for law school.

Cornell UG over Fordham may be a negligible boost. Not worth transferring if you don't think you'll do well there. Just keep your GPA up.

Lol bitter much?

Bitter at what?

EDIT: Oh I see you went to Cornell, no offense but at my UG we call it a public school.

Just get great grades and LSAT score and it will not matter which school you graduate. However, Cornell is the safer pick if for some reason you choose not to pursue a legal career.

I'm of the general opinion that going to an undergrad that is more "prestigous" is only worth it if the 1) debt is minimal and 2)you feel like you will belong & be happier there than elsewhere.

But there are some schools that are so uber-prestigious that you should never turn down just for access to the alumni network and employment opportunities (art history majors getting hired by Bain/McKinsey/Bulge Bracket). For law school only the first part matters, but I think it's pretty important.

You mean Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and MIT?

I mean, if you want to go into finance or consulting, sure. There are all sorts of benefits, sure, though whether it makes you happier in the long run I'm meh about.

There was a longitudinal study students who get into "prestigious" undergrads. When they compared the financial success of those who chose to go and those who chose not to go, they found that for the majority, earnings were about the same over their lifetimes. There was def. a gap between those who got in and those who didn't get in. The only group that seemed to actually make substantial financial gains by going versus not going were those who came from low-income backgrounds.

So people at your UG are so poorly educated they don't understand what constitutes a public or private institution? Yikes.

the collective wisdom, as you see, is that it doesn't matter. I still don't understand why half or more of my 1L class came from about 5 uber-prestigious UGs and no one has yet given me a satisfactory answer.

Striverdom doesn't die at UG graduation.

1) People at those uber-prestigous UGs tend to have better LSAT scores.
2) As well as better softs
3) There's probably a small bump. I know Harvard Law gives a bump to its undergrads. Useful in tiebreakers.

Well three of Cornell's undergrad colleges are actually public, so there's that.

OP, in response to your question, the answer is generally yes. In the narrow context of law school admissions the answer is no. Because you're 100% set on law school (and bc you're not into a fratty atmosphere), it may not be worth it. However, if you have any doubts about LS, I'd urge you to consider Cornell strongly. The opportunities you'd have coming out of Cornell (not to mention the alumni network you'd be tapping into) would be significantly greater than Fordham, and you'd have a first class degree for the rest of your life.

Also a staggering number of Ivy grads decide to go to law school.

Not sure what it's like at Fordham or Ivies. I imagine a lot of people at Ivy go into school not thinking that their BA is all they plan to get.


Most people that go to lower ranked schools are going for a BA and probably won't think to advance beyond that for many years, if ever.

God you're intolerable.

Cornell is part public school. Just saying. Also, I would have loved to have gotten in there for undergrad.

These all seem like good reasons. I bet it's still a great tie-breaker

I don't think we'll ever know if lower ivies are tiebreakers, because ivy kids just have a better shot at cool softs. The ivy grads I know did thinks like TFA, worked at neat nonprofits, did consulting at big-name consulting firms, oh, and had high GPAs, inflation?... stuff that's pretty hard to get out of, say, Western Illinois University. So I guess either way you're better off going to an ivy, but I'm unconvinced it's the name alone that's opening doors.

Is ILR your only option? I would say you should transfer if you can have a real major. If you're stuck with ILR or staying at Fordham, I would probably stay at Fordham and get a major that might actually get you a job when you decide that law school as a K-JD is not a good idea.

People who are good at standardized tests at 17 are good at them at age 21.

If it is so prestigious why do they all go to law school.