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I will be graduating from a small (1400 students) Christian college in the South. The school has above average (95%) pre-law grad placement and is ranked by USNWR in the top 50 schools in the South (out of 319).

I'm curious how YHSCCN (USNWR 2011) will view an applicant coming from such an institution. I'm well aware of the importance of GPA/LSAT/softs. I am specifically interested in the aspect of UG consideration with respect to private Christian institutions.

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge with this?

Also, thanks to TLS and all of you folks for making this site such an invaluable resource!

SolaFide wrote:I will be graduating from a small (1400 students) Christian college in the South. The school has above average (95%) pre-law grad placement and is ranked by USNWR in the top 50 schools in the South (out of 319).

I'm curious how YHSCCN (USNWR 2011) will view an applicant coming from such an institution. I'm well aware of the importance of GPA/LSAT/softs. I am specifically interested in the aspect of UG consideration with respect to private Christian institutions.

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge with this?

Also, thanks to TLS and all of you folks for making this site such an invaluable resource!

None.

What do you mean your school has above average pre-law grad placement. Does that mean that 95% of your school goes on to law school?

The answer to your question depends on your school. Is it Christian the way, say, Georgetown is Christian or is it more along the lines of Bob Jones. My guess is it won't be a disadvantage and may even help differentiate you from other applicants, provided you don't come off as intolerant or crazy.

samsonyte16 wrote:The answer to your question depends on your school. Is it Christian the way, say, Georgetown is Christian or is it more along the lines of Bob Jones. My guess is it won't be a disadvantage and may even help differentiate you from other applicants, provided you don't come off as intolerant or crazy.

Might hurt you a little bit if you apply to Cardozo. Besides that you will be fine. Maybe you could address it in your PS or DS, and talk, and strengthen any negatives people may have about Christian schools (ie, show you're not preachy, are accepting of other people and cultures, and are not hateful against gays, minorities, etc.)

Your undergraduate institution doesn't matter much, those schools won't care.

I came from a Christian college. I didn't make it a focus of my applications and I didn't disown it. I don't know if I ever considered the possibility it might affect my chances. And I'm sure it didn't. My cycle went about how I would have expected it given my numbers (although Yale and Stanford are hard to predict).

Edit: For what it's worth, my school is not ranked highly and I know of one other recent grad who went to Yale and two other recent grads who went to Harvard.

P.S. Nice pic of John Calvin. Should have come to my UG.

Knockglock wrote:What do you mean your school has above average pre-law grad placement. Does that mean that 95% of your school goes on to law school?

Pre-law grad placement = percentage of pre-law students who are accepted into law school. This number certainly means nothing if everyone applied to Cooley or Southern (Louisiana) but the percentage is higher than my state's average.

samsonyte16 wrote:The answer to your question depends on your school. Is it Christian the way, say, Georgetown is Christian or is it more along the lines of Bob Jones. My guess is it won't be a disadvantage and may even help differentiate you from other applicants, provided you don't come off as intolerant or crazy.

It is far more protestant and conservative than Georgetown and is far less fundamentalist and more academic than BJU (hence the ranking of top 50 in the South). It is a SBC school.

dutchstriker wrote:I came from a Christian college. I didn't make it a focus of my applications and I didn't disown it. I don't know if I ever considered the possibility it might affect my chances. And I'm sure it didn't. My cycle went about how I would have expected it given my numbers (although Yale and Stanford are hard to predict).

Good to know. Did you apply/get accepted to any of the top 6?

SolaFide wrote:

Knockglock wrote:What do you mean your school has above average pre-law grad placement. Does that mean that 95% of your school goes on to law school?

Pre-law grad placement = percentage of pre-law students who are accepted into law school. This number certainly means nothing if everyone applied to Cooley or Southern (Louisiana) but the percentage is higher than my state's average.

samsonyte16 wrote:The answer to your question depends on your school. Is it Christian the way, say, Georgetown is Christian or is it more along the lines of Bob Jones. My guess is it won't be a disadvantage and may even help differentiate you from other applicants, provided you don't come off as intolerant or crazy.

It is far more protestant and conservative than Georgetown and is far less fundamentalist and more academic than BJU (hence the ranking of top 50 in the South). It is a SBC school.

dutchstriker wrote:I came from a Christian college. I didn't make it a focus of my applications and I didn't disown it. I don't know if I ever considered the possibility it might affect my chances. And I'm sure it didn't. My cycle went about how I would have expected it given my numbers (although Yale and Stanford are hard to predict).

Good to know. Did you apply/get accepted to any of the top 6?

I applied to all but Chicago and was accepted to all but Stanford (waitlisted/withdrew) with full rides to NYU and Columbia.

dutchstriker wrote: I applied to all but Chicago and was accepted to all but Stanford (waitlisted/withdrew) with full rides to NYU and Columbia.

Wow, congrats on that cycle. Thanks for the info.

Props on identifying Calvin. Your 176+ is more impressive when combined with an eye for Calvin.

SolaFide wrote:

dutchstriker wrote: I applied to all but Chicago and was accepted to all but Stanford (waitlisted/withdrew) with full rides to NYU and Columbia.

Wow, congrats on that cycle. Thanks for the info.

Props on identifying Calvin. Your 176+ is more impressive when combined with an eye for Calvin.

Ha, if you knew the name of my UG you would be less impressed.

dutchstriker wrote: Ha, if you knew the name of my UG you would be less impressed.

CC. Understood.

You will not be viewed negatively from coming from this type of institution. Contrary to popular opinion on this site an individual's undergraduate institution does play a part in the application process, either it will help an application or it will be a non-factor in other words remain neutral. A GPA in major X from lets say Cornell will be looked upon more favorably than the same GPA in major X from San Francisco State University. This helps the Cornell applicant to be pushed in for instance the admit group while the SF State individual may end up in the waitlist pile if their numbers were borderline and everything else in their respective applications is the same (ex. LSAT score).

Before someone says what I have written is mere conjecture, I would like to mention that I received this information straight from the mouth of more than one T14 directors of admission in quote form from a book I read at Barnes and Noble. They said specifically that quality of undergraduate institution affects the way the admissions committee looks at and compares an applicants GPA. Careful analysis of lawschoolnumbers subtly reveals this.

The question is, can you Pepperdine?

rad law wrote:The question is, can you Pepperdine?

I'm all for turning nouns into verbs for purposes of humor but I'm not following.

I'm not interested in Christian affiliated law schools for many reasons. In addition, I have an aversion to attending law school in California.

SolaFide wrote:

rad law wrote:The question is, can you Pepperdine?

I'm all for turning nouns into verbs for purposes of humor but I'm not following.

I'm not interested in Christian affiliated law schools for many reasons. In addition, I have an aversion to attending law school in California.

Too close to Hollyweird?

SolaFide wrote:

rad law wrote:The question is, can you Pepperdine?

I'm all for turning nouns into verbs for purposes of humor but I'm not following.

I'm not interested in Christian affiliated law schools for many reasons. In addition, I have an aversion to attending law school in California.

Just a joke

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 2&t=123808

Desert Fox wrote: Too close to Hollyweird?

Ha, no. Hollywood is the least of my concerns with California.

I remember we had one guy from Bob Jones get into Yale. Pretty much says it all.

As long as it's not one of those unaccredited for-profit right-wing fundie diploma mills, and as long as you don't come off as a nutbag in your PS, I don't see why adcomms would have a problem with you having attended a Christian-themed undergrad institution.

I went to a Presbyterian school (top-10 master's level in X region, which means absolutely nothing, btw, so I wouldn't bother mulling over the school's rank). I talked about the school and my journey from being religious to being not-so-much religious in my PS. In at Georgetown and NYU and waitlisted at Harvard, with various results elsewhere that are visible in my profile.

You'll get no boost and it won't hurt you. They care about the numbers, and interesting stories probably help a bit.

SoftBoiledLife wrote:I remember we had one guy from Bob Jones get into Yale. Pretty much says it all.

It certainly does.