Top Law Schools

On average, at most universities the minimum total requirement for a bachelor's degree is 120 units. If I'm a transfer student who might have 80 units transferring in from a community college, will I be at a disadvantage in Top-30 law school admissions if I choose to take only the minimum 40 units at my actual undergraduate institution that will appear on the resume/diploma? The reason I want to do this is because I want to get UG over with so I can start law school and finally begin a career. And so given that (to the best of my knowledge) law schools basically weigh a CC course grade as the same as a UG course grade (I know the LSAC GPA calculator does), will it that big of a deal to take only half of the total UG courses at the UG institution? Thanks for your answer.

.

PunjabiLower wrote:lol...i graduated college at age 19...nobody cares about your cc units as opposed to your degree granting units.

That doesn't really answer his question. If as you said, nobody cares about his cc units, then if he received an average of 3.0 form cc, and received an average of 4.0 from his degree granting college, that means law schools will weigh his degree 4.0 over his lsac 3.33?

I'm also interested in the answer to this question. I have about the same distribution of cc credits to undergrad credits (although technically its no longer a community college, so I don't know if that makes a difference.). I'm also a very young graduate, but will have a year of work experience by the time I matriculate. I don't know if this is the kind of thing that would require an addendum also...

Relatively certain they don't care.

However, I doubt you could pull off 80-40. At least most of the schools I'm familiar with have a rule where you have to have half of your credits from them to get a degree from them. Meaning for a standard UG at least 60/120 have to be taken at that UG.

They don't care where your credits came from though as long as you have the degree. At worst they might give someone else admission over you if it is a dead tie in all categories except the other person has 4 years at a 4 year school.

No one gives a shit. If you had a 4.0 cc gpa and a 3.0 ug gpa no one cares. LSAT only matters.

2014 wrote:Relatively certain they don't care.

However, I doubt you could pull off 80-40. At least most of the schools I'm familiar with have a rule where you have to have half of your credits from them to get a degree from them. Meaning for a standard UG at least 60/120 have to be taken at that UG.

They don't care where your credits came from though as long as you have the degree. At worst they might give someone else admission over you if it is a dead tie in all categories except the other person has 4 years at a 4 year school.

80/40 is doable if you take all your gen ed classes in cc and some of your major courses at your degree institution. My UG only requires 30 institutional credits, and only half of the major requirements need to be completed there.

Great to hear:

Would you say that doing the majority of UG credits at a CC may make one less prepared for a prestigious law school? (Even if the person scores a 170 on the LSAT.)

dr;

What matters: LSAT/GPA/URM

/thread

where you went to undergrad doesnt matter one iota in the application process, as long as the institution is real ( not an online place like kaplan, or whatever). The gpa that law schools will look at is your lsac gpa. With a score of 170, you should be sitting pretty at most schools.

ComatoseClown wrote:Great to hear:

Would you say that doing the majority of UG credits at a CC may make one less prepared for a prestigious law school? (Even if the person scores a 170 on the LSAT.)

Not if you can get the same grades at the regular UG. I know quite a few that had their GPA drop off after transferring from CC, but many more do just fine. CC's are not selective, so there are many students in CC who would not be able to do well at a prestigious law school or UG. However there are also others who chose CC's for practical reasons with the intention to transfer. I have 60 credits from 2 CC's, I don't view it as a drawback, in fact I saved quite a few dollars. I had no problem doing well at my degree institution.

I don't really know the view of every law school, but I know my grad school was ok with it, and I was accepted by UMich last cycle so at least two top 10 universities didn't hold it against me.

Usually the max to transfer is 70.

Anything more is not calculated.