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nitelite914

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Common Question

Post by nitelite914 » Fri Apr 02, 2010 12:00 pm

1
Last edited by nitelite914 on Mon Nov 21, 2011 4:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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LawandOrder

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Re: Common Question

Post by LawandOrder » Fri Apr 02, 2010 12:01 pm

yes

r6_philly

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Re: Common Question

Post by r6_philly » Fri Apr 02, 2010 2:43 pm

I think

1. depend on your LSAT
2. depend on what school you apply to

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tome

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Re: Common Question

Post by tome » Fri Apr 02, 2010 2:53 pm

Not as much as there probably should be.

Law Schools care about GPA for two reasons:
1) as an indication of your academic ability.
2) because median undergrad GPA is a large factor in USNews' rankings.

Because USNews does not factor in the strength of school to their rankings (just the raw GPA) school strength is only relevant to (1).

leraa6587

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Re: Common Question

Post by leraa6587 » Fri Apr 02, 2010 2:55 pm

I'm going to give a big fat NO. If you can get a 4.0 anywhere (a 4 year though), you're doing something right. Bask in your awesomeness for a moment. Okay, now, go get a 170+ on the LSAT or go back to being a normal human.

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r6_philly

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Re: Common Question

Post by r6_philly » Fri Apr 02, 2010 3:04 pm

tome wrote:Not as much as there probably should be.

Law Schools care about GPA for two reasons:
1) as an indication of your academic ability.
2) because median undergrad GPA is a large factor in USNews' rankings.

Because USNews does not factor in the strength of school to their rankings (just the raw GPA) school strength is only relevant to (1).
1. schools know it is harder to get a 4.0 at some school than others. Some majors than others
2. no school (even Harvard or Yale) has a median GPA near 4.0. A 3.92 is going to help a school as much as a 4.0. The lower ranking you go, the less you need to get over median.

So then why does a 4.0 matter? if you want to get in Harvard/Yale, a 4.0 from an ivy is going to get in before you if you have a 4.0 from a no name state school if all else is equal. So yes it matters, but not in the same sense as a 4.0 v. 3.8. It will rank your 4.0 better than someone's 4.0 if you got it from Harvard.

I also know people who have 4.0's who can't score more than 160 personally. If you are applying outside of T14 or even T30, then a 4.0 won't really do too much for you that a 3.8 won't do. So that's why I said it depends on the LSAT and the school you are trying to get in.

icydash

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Re: Common Question

Post by icydash » Fri Apr 02, 2010 3:05 pm

I'm going to go with an "almost no." From what I've gathered, the school you go to is almost irrelevant (maybe worth 5% of your total overall application package?). Like someone previously stated, your GPA is way more important than the school from which it comes because GPA is used in the rankings, while specific undergrad institution is not....making undergrad institution a soft.

From here on is my personal feeling, not a fact, but: Softs as a whole only account for like 20% of your application package (LORs, personal statement, resume, etc combined)....giving the undergrad institution (at best) maybe 5% weight in your total application package.

r6_philly wrote: 1. schools know it is harder to get a 4.0 at some school than others. Some majors than others.
While they know this, knowing it and acting on it are two totally different animals. In my cycle, I've found that my 3.52 in electrical engineering has been treated the same as a 3.52 in any other major -- same thing goes for my undergrad institution. I've been overwhelmingly seeing this to be the case more and more as I watch my friends' (and others on LawSchoolNumbers.com) application cycles progress.

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Threepeat

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Re: Common Question

Post by Threepeat » Fri Apr 02, 2010 3:16 pm

nitelite914 wrote:Hi, I'm a newcomer here and interested in going to law school after I graduate.

I was wondering if there is any difference in getting a 4.0 at say harvard, a 4.0 at lehigh, and a 4.0 at purdue in terms of applying to law school?
Yes. A 4.0 at Purdue> 4.0 anywhere else. This is for the sole reason that Purdue was built by the hands of God.

Blatant Purdue trolling I know.

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Re: Common Question

Post by r6_philly » Fri Apr 02, 2010 3:27 pm

icydash wrote:
While they know this, knowing it and acting on it are two totally different animals. In my cycle, I've found that my 3.52 in electrical engineering has been treated the same as a 3.52 in any other major -- same thing goes for my undergrad institution. I've been overwhelmingly seeing this to be the case more and more as I watch my friends' (and others on LawSchoolNumbers.com) application cycles progress.
I don't necessarily disagree about your assessment of your situation. But OP asked about a 4.0.

In your case, the issue is weather a 3.52 from a good major/school will damage you less if you got it from a different school.

In OP's hypo, the issue is whether a 4.0 from a good major/school will help you more. If you had a 4.0 GPA in EE, I bet you will do better than a 4.0 in marketing/liberal studies, if not MUCH more.

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icydash

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Re: Common Question

Post by icydash » Fri Apr 02, 2010 4:32 pm

r6_philly wrote:
icydash wrote:
While they know this, knowing it and acting on it are two totally different animals. In my cycle, I've found that my 3.52 in electrical engineering has been treated the same as a 3.52 in any other major -- same thing goes for my undergrad institution. I've been overwhelmingly seeing this to be the case more and more as I watch my friends' (and others on LawSchoolNumbers.com) application cycles progress.
I don't necessarily disagree about your assessment of your situation. But OP asked about a 4.0.

In your case, the issue is weather a 3.52 from a good major/school will damage you less if you got it from a different school.

In OP's hypo, the issue is whether a 4.0 from a good major/school will help you more. If you had a 4.0 GPA in EE, I bet you will do better than a 4.0 in marketing/liberal studies, if not MUCH more.
I was reading the OP's question as the overall big picture question of: "does the school you come from matter?" -- not necessarily the specific requirement of a 4.0...as I doubt the OP actually has a 4.0 ....

I think he was just trying to get an overall sense of the admissions commitee's views, not a literal answer....but I could be wrong.

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firebreathingliberal

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Re: Common Question

Post by firebreathingliberal » Tue Apr 06, 2010 12:11 am

That's kind of an odd list...

Anyway

It matters, that's the short answer. Remember that each law school receives applications each year from people with identical stats. And each year, there may only be one seat for two of those people, so the Adcomm will need to make a choice based on the other factors. PS and resume immediately come to mind but often people with similar numbers may have PS's of similar quality, so then they continue down the list of different factors to weigh the pros and cons. If one person went to some podunk college no one has ever heard of (like the one I went to) or if they went to Princeton or Chicago or Harvard, obviously then it will matter. Otherwise, I would say it's a marginal difference at best.

Are you planning to shop around for the best school to get a 4.0 at? I would say focus more on LSAT prep and less on transferring undergrad colleges.

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tome

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Re: Common Question

Post by tome » Wed Apr 07, 2010 11:19 pm

Perhaps it matters a little bit. Still, my advice to someone that is sure they are headed to LS after college (assuming that to be possible) is to go to a huge state school over an Ivy and take a lot of philosophy courses. That Harvard name and education is gonna help you squat.

nitelite914

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Re: Common Question

Post by nitelite914 » Thu Apr 08, 2010 2:32 pm

3
Last edited by nitelite914 on Mon Nov 21, 2011 4:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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icydash

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Re: Common Question

Post by icydash » Thu Apr 08, 2010 11:00 pm

more or less yes.

edit: by "more or less yes" i mean "yes the post above me is correct" which actually means "no it doesn't matter where you went to undergrad"
Last edited by icydash on Fri Apr 09, 2010 12:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

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vanwinkle

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Re: Common Question

Post by vanwinkle » Thu Apr 08, 2010 11:02 pm

It matters if you went to Harvard. Otherwise no.

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