Top Law Schools

Greetings!

I'm a current junior at a top-25 school with a 3.97 GPA in History and a 177 on my LSAT. I plan to start my admissions cycle soon and I had a couple of questions I hope to get answered. I'm under the impression that UG institution has little, if any, effect on law school admissions BUT I also heard that top law schools such as HYS are composed primarily of students who come from these schools as undergraduates. If I do get in, will I feel alienated by the other students due to the fact that I come from a public school? Furthermore, under what context will big law firms see my undergraduate degree, provided that I get my law degree from HYS? Minimal, decent amount, or substantial?

Thanks again,

BT

I seriously doubt you'll feel alienated at all. Look at the list of UG schools for Yale Law class of 2013--plenty of public institutions, including tier 2/3 ones: http://www.law.yale.edu/admissions/profile.htm

mettasutta wrote:I seriously doubt you'll feel alienated at all. Look at the list of UG schools for Yale Law class of 2013--plenty of public institutions, including tier 2/3 ones: http://www.law.yale.edu/admissions/profile.htm

Isn't it true that though many public institutions are represented, the majority of students are from HYPS undergrad and only a few (1-2) are from each "represented" public institution?

this can't be serious.

dkt4 wrote:this can't be serious.

+1...

But if you are serious, congrats. Your numbers are pretty much as good as they get, so I would think you should definitely get at least one of Y/H/S unless you manage to screw up your app (and assuming you maintain your GPA).

I have heard that biglaw hiring sometimes takes UG attended into consideration, but if you go to a tip-top law school and do reasonably well I think you'll have a great shot at biglaw (if that is what you end up wanting). For both law school and hiring I think a top UG could give a slight boost under certain conditions (all other things being equal), but I think it is very unlikely it will end up making or breaking you one way or the other.

I'm not the best person to give a particularly tailored response to this question (v. someone more familiar with particular schools' admission policies or firm hiring policies), but I do think the above general comments are reasonably accurate.

Top students tend to go to top undergrads, and then to top law schools. There's some evidence that HYP-caliber undergrads may help (although only slightly) in admission to schools like HYS. But your undergrad is certainly not bad enough to detract from your application, OP. I would be far more worried about your lack of WE/softs.

Good numbers, though.

OP, judging by your username, you go to a wonderful school. It may only be top-25 in USNews, but law schools and employers look very highly upon your UG. YHS fosho.

Of course, if my hypothesis is correct, I'm biased =)

OP goes to a top 25 UG that is also a public school, so that would mean either Cal or UCLA or UVA or at least a comparable school...no one looks down on them at all.

Troll.
If not a troll, no one in LS admissions gives a fuck where you went to undergrad. It's all about the numbers, which you clearly have. /end thread.

You'll be alienated, but not for the reason you propose.

TTICR

yngblkgifted wrote:Troll.
If not a troll, no one in LS admissions gives a fuck where you went to undergrad. It's all about the numbers, which you clearly have. /end thread.

Skeptical about this, especially for top law schools. Don't want to start another one of these threads, though.

BioEBear2010 wrote:

yngblkgifted wrote:Troll.
If not a troll, no one in LS admissions gives a fuck where you went to undergrad. It's all about the numbers, which you clearly have. /end thread.

Skeptical about this, especially for top law schools. Don't want to start another one of these threads, though.

If they do give a fuck, it is a very insignificant fuck for the vast majority of cases. My shitty UG had absolutely no negative impact on my cycle. If you have evidence of someone doing much worse or better than their numbers would predict and it seems to be as a result of their UG, I'd certainly like to hear about it. Not saying these cases don't exist, just have never heard of them.

Nevertheless, with those numners (assuming OP is real), HYS is possible from virtually any school.

I think the fact that he gives away his UG with his name, then tries to hide it, adds to the "troll" angle.

Go Bears though.

yngblkgifted wrote:Nevertheless, with those numners (assuming OP is real), HYS is possible from virtually any school.

Certainly. With #'s like that, UG certainly doesn't matter. But I'm just suggesting someone with slightly lower #'s from HYPS or so might be on the same level as OP.

And roll on you bears, indeed.

Even if UG mattered in his/her case, they still go to a highly regarded UG (why I'm thinking OP is a troll).

Berkeley is awesome by the way! Only visited once, didn't want to leave.

even if you were looking at your undergrad through the eyes of USNEWS, they are ranked 4th in undergrad score (tied with stanford and columbia i believe), ranked 1st public university, ranked 2nd in the world (according to the ARWU), boasts 60+ nobel laureates associated with the staff, has some of the finest food in the world at an affordable price, enjoys unbelievably amazing weather, and probbbbabbly has the best student body of any school. yeah. go bears.


anyway - enjoy harvard. seriously, come on man.

glitched wrote:even if you were looking at your undergrad through the eyes of USNEWS, they are ranked 4th in undergrad score (tied with stanford and columbia i believe), ranked 1st public university, ranked 2nd in the world (according to the ARWU), boasts 60+ nobel laureates associated with the staff, has some of the finest food in the world at an affordable price, enjoys unbelievably amazing weather, and probbbbabbly has the best student body of any school. yeah. go bears.


anyway - enjoy harvard. seriously, come on man.

I'm confused on how you determined best student body; number of people high at any one moment?

Patriot1208 wrote: I'm confused on how you determined best student body; number of people high at any one moment?

Are you from california?

parsi wrote:

Patriot1208 wrote: I'm confused on how you determined best student body; number of people high at any one moment?

Are you from california?

Clearly that answer is no.

Patriot1208 wrote:

parsi wrote:

Patriot1208 wrote: I'm confused on how you determined best student body; number of people high at any one moment?

Are you from california?

Clearly that answer is no.

Clearly the answer is you havent been to berkeley.

You should take a vacation so you can see how right glitched is

parsi wrote:

Patriot1208 wrote:

parsi wrote:

Patriot1208 wrote: I'm confused on how you determined best student body; number of people high at any one moment?

Are you from california?

Clearly that answer is no.

Clearly the answer is you havent been to berkeley.

You should take a vacation so you can see how right glitched is

How would taking a trip to Berkeley convince me that it has the best student body of any school in the country?

Patriot1208 wrote:

parsi wrote:

Patriot1208 wrote: Clearly that answer is no.

Clearly the answer is you havent been to berkeley.

You should take a vacation so you can see how right glitched is

How would taking a trip to Berkeley convince me that it has the best student body of any school in the country?

Unless I'm mistaken, opinions are something you craft, usually through experiences.

To better understand a large portion of the people at berkeley, watch this.

I would like to mention, FWIW, that there are quite a few schools that have sports teams called the "Bears."

Here is the comprehensive list:
* Athens State, (Athens, AL)
* Barclay (Haviland, KS)
* Barnard (New York, NY)
* Baylor (Waco, TX)
* Bridgewater State (Bridgewater, MA)
* Brown (Providence, RI)
* Central Arkansas (Conway, AR) (Men's teams)
* Coast Guard (New London, CT)
* Golden State Baptist (Santa Clara, CA)
* Lenoir-Rhyne (Hickory, NC)
* Livingstone (Salisbury, NC)
* Mercer (Macon, GA)
* Missouri State (Springfield, MO)
* Morgan State
* Northern Colorado (Greeley, CO)
* NYIT (Old Westbury, NY)
* Pikeville (Pikeville, KY)
* Rocky Mountain (Billings, MT)
* St. Joseph's (NY) (Brooklyn Campus) (Brooklyn, NY)
* Shaw (Raleigh, NC)
* Shawnee State (Portsmouth, OH)
* SUNY-Potsdam (Potsdam, NY)
* Ursinus (Collegeville, PA)
* Washington University in St. Louis (St. Louis, MO)

yngblkgifted wrote:

You'll be alienated, but not for the reason you propose.

TTICR

+1