Online school when applying to HYS Forum

[666lsat]

I've been reading about law school admissions, and it seems that GPA and LSAT are the only things that matter when applying to law schools. To that end, I have been thinking about going to one of those easy online schools that give A's for very little effort so that I could maintain a high GPA without too much worries. Do you think that the 3.9+ GPA earned from such schools would raise eyebrows when applying to HYS, or would it not matter as long as it is high, and is accompanied by a good LSAT as well?

[pterodactyls]

Not sure if trolling or not.

I mean, personally I would want to go to a school where I feel I would learn the most. After all, you are paying for an education, not a piece of paper. But that's your personal choice.

From what I know about law admissions (granted, I'm a 0L), I don't think it would raise as many eyebrows at H as it would at Y/S. H is taking 560 students, S is taking 180 and Y is taking 200. So, H needs all the applicants it can get that are above it's median (there are only so many to choose from). For Y/S, you need to have good numbers and also be interesting. If pitted against someone who attended school in person that had extra-curriculars and some research experience, you'd lose (all else held equal).

[666lsat]

For Y/S, you need to have good numbers and also be interesting. If pitted against someone who attended school in person that had extra-curriculars and some research experience, you'd lose (all else held equal).

Do you think some work experience after graduation or other decent post-grad experience would even things out?

[cbbinnyc]

For Y/S, you need to have good numbers and also be interesting. If pitted against someone who attended school in person that had extra-curriculars and some research experience, you'd lose (all else held equal).

Do you think some work experience after graduation or other decent post-grad experience would even things out?

Work experience will only move the dial if it's very impressive/unique.

I would echo the above poster. Undergrad quality definitely matters for Y/S and to an extent (on the fringes) for other schools. Go to the best undergrad you can get into. Whether or not the quality of your undergrad matters for LS admissions, it will definitely matter for getting a job between UG and LS and for getting jobs after LS. Also, you don't know whether LS will still be an attractive option years down the line, so I wouldn't risk ruining your alternate career options by going to a crappy undergrad for the easy A's.

ETA: Not to mention that you have no idea what your LSAT scores will look like - if you can't get 173+ this will all be moot anyway.

[pterodactyls]

Do you think some work experience after graduation or other decent post-grad experience would even things out?

I mean, it could certainly help your application. But it's not going to change where you went to school, it's just going to add another factor. If you think of it as a "Pro/Con" list, relevant work experience would add something to the "Pro" column, but your undergrad institution would still be under the "Con" column. Would Y/S still admit someone that went to an easier online school, if he/she had significant soft factors? Probably. But what those factors are is anyone's guess.

Yale and Stanford are black boxes, there are many things that can get you admitted and many things that can get you rejected. All you can do is make your application as good as possible. Attending an "Easy A" institution will hurt you, but to what extent is anyone's guess.

[A. Nony Mouse]

There are a couple of users here who went to purely online schools, and ended up struggling and underperforming - I think one was even told by adcomms that his school was a problem. I don't think it's a good look for HYS (as people have suggested, YS more so than H. Y, in particular, has faculty review applications, and unless you can give some kind of compelling reason for the online school, I think they will look down on it).

It's also not clear to me it's all easy As, but that's a different issue, I suppose. If you're really concerned about getting easy As, you can choose classes strategically wherever you do go.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Also, based on the other account you've posted under, you've already graduated undergrad, making this thread moot. (Grades earned after you complete your BA don't count toward your LSAC GPA, though you may have known that already and just been trolling.)

[666lsat]

Also, based on the other account you've posted under, you've already graduated undergrad, making this thread moot. (Grades earned after you complete your BA don't count toward your LSAC GPA, though you may have known that already and just been trolling.)

I didn't know you could look at my other account.

I admit, I have graduated already, and have known that courses after completing undergrad don't count. This was more of an "is it possible" question than a trolling attempt, though. Wanted to see if such an advice would be beneficial or harmful for people who haven't yet gone to college.

[pterodactyls]

I didn't know you could look at my other account.

I admit, I have graduated already, and have known that courses after completing undergrad don't count. This was more of an "is it possible" question than a trolling attempt, though. Wanted to see if such an advice would be beneficial or harmful for people who haven't yet gone to college.

You could have just posted, "Hey guys, out of curiosity do you think this is possible?" instead of creating a separate account and lying. But whatever floats your boat, I suppose.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Yeah, you're only supposed to have one account. (Not saying you created this one to lie, just letting you know.)

[Vursz]

I've never met anyone at HYS who went to one of those online schools (and if you look at the lists of undergrad schools represented, you won't see any online ones). The only asterisk to this is that I know someone who graduated from an online school, did his first year at a T1 and got a 4.0, and transferred to H.

Point being, if you're serious about HYS, this will almost certainly be a net negative.

[pterodactyls]

It's been done as a non-transfer for H, for what it's worth.

http://hls.harvard.edu/dept/jdadmission ... -colleges/

Excelsior College I know is online, not sure about all the others. Granted, these people could also have a master's degree and/or other schooling. This list only includes undergraduate institutions.

[Nagster5]

I guess the question is would it hurt you more than a below median GPA at a decent school in this hypothetical situation?

Sort of the reverse situation for me: I know I got a huge boost for my UG, they respected how difficult and low curved it was and talked about how great it was. But I was a super splitter, and that still kneecapped me. The boost was nowhere near as big as simply being a 3.9x 175+ applicant would have been.

Basically, I think Crap school/3.9xGPA > Good school/below median, but for Y and S it's moot because you almost certainly wouldn't get into either. For the rest of the T14 I think it would help.

Also, looking at it from a pure admissions standpoint is one thing. The primary driving factor for admissions is the LSAT/GPA. But is the tradeoff worth being behind the curve academically when you start? How much class rank are you suffering from basically going straight from pee-wee to the Olympics?

[Winter is Coming]

If you look at the Adcom thread, I'm pretty sure they said an online school will hurt even with good reasons (aka active military, taking classes while on board a ship). There are serious concerns about being able to handle law school work after a lot of these programs. Although schools ultimately care the most about GPA/LSAT numbers, there are real worries about the transition that hurt these applicants. I'm sure at a certain level of program won't care, but within the real elite schools it will probably be a negative.

ETA: Even though this was a dumb way to start a thread, I think it can be useful for people looking into this in the future.

[Nagster5]

If you look at the Adcom thread, I'm pretty sure they said an online school will hurt even with good reasons (aka active military, taking classes while on board a ship). There are serious concerns about being able to handle law school work after a lot of these programs. Although schools ultimately care the most about GPA/LSAT numbers, there are real worries about the transition that hurt these applicants. I'm sure at a certain level of program won't care, but within the real elite schools it will probably be a negative.

ETA: Even though this was a dumb way to start a thread, I think it can be useful for people looking into this in the future.

I don't think anyone thinks it wouldn't be a negative, but do you think a 4.0 online would really lead to a worse outcome at say, bottom half T14 schools, than a below median GPA at a good UG?

[Winter is Coming]

I honestly don't know/don't think so think. But I was surpised at how candid the Deans in that thread we're with their skeptism of online schools. There is definitely a dividing line between physical undergrad major in basket-weaving and 4.0 from an online school.

To your point though, there is certainly a certain caliber of school that would be happy with the 4.0 and a warm body. I don't think that dividing line is in the lower T14, but it might be.

For as pessimistic (and realisitc) as people are about the numbers game for admissions, most admcomms still want people to succeed in law school/pass the bar.