Page 1 of 1

Advantage of same-school undergrad degree

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 5:20 am
by Sisyphus9
***

Re: Advantage of same-school undergrad degree

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 10:43 am
by bretby
Sisyphus9 wrote:I'm applying this cycle to a number of schools, including the T6; my stats are 4.0/170 (I'm not going to retake this cycle at least, just to anticipate any comments to that effect). Without giving too much away, I did both my undergrad and my MA degrees at one of CCN and did well in both programs; I'm hoping for admissions and crossing my fingers for some scholarship money at at least two out of the three, as well as applying for one of NYU's named scholarships.

I'm wondering if any of you have insight into whether having done two degrees at C, C, or N might help me with admissions and money to that institution's law school (in case it's relevant, I moved abroad recently after finishing school, so it's not the case that I'm currently established in Chicago/New York).
It doesn't matter one way or the other.

Re: Advantage of same-school undergrad degree

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 11:10 am
by haus
bretby wrote:
Sisyphus9 wrote:I'm applying this cycle to a number of schools, including the T6; my stats are 4.0/170 (I'm not going to retake this cycle at least, just to anticipate any comments to that effect). Without giving too much away, I did both my undergrad and my MA degrees at one of CCN and did well in both programs; I'm hoping for admissions and crossing my fingers for some scholarship money at at least two out of the three, as well as applying for one of NYU's named scholarships.

I'm wondering if any of you have insight into whether having done two degrees at C, C, or N might help me with admissions and money to that institution's law school (in case it's relevant, I moved abroad recently after finishing school, so it's not the case that I'm currently established in Chicago/New York).
It doesn't matter one way or the other.
I agree.

Although if you end up going to the same school you may save 30 - 40 dollars on buying a new sweatshirt.

Re: Advantage of same-school undergrad degree

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 11:24 am
by trkmaniak00
I believe I saw something on chicagos website about alums of the undergrad getting expedited decisions + a guaranteed scholarship or something, but as I am not I didn't look into it.

Re: Advantage of same-school undergrad degree

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 12:43 pm
by jelufowoju
Generally schools really don't care where you did undergrad, even if you are applying to the same school where you were an undergrad. I attended H for undergrad and a good friend of mine (non-urm white guy) applied to HLS last cycle with a 3.85 gpa which is about median and a 170 which is their 25th, got rejected, but wound up at CLS which is also a fantastic school. You have a fantastic gpa coupled with a great LSAT and an MA which is a good soft. Even though your LSAT is slightly below median for all three schools, your GPA is comfortably above all of their 75ths. I would be very surprised if you were not admitted to at least 2 of CCN, in fact you have a decent chance of getting into all three. However, the fact that you were an undergrad and completed grad studies at those institutions will have almost no bearing on the decision of the adcoms. Good luck.

Re: Advantage of same-school undergrad degree

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 1:05 pm
by KissMyAxe
bretby wrote:
Sisyphus9 wrote:I'm applying this cycle to a number of schools, including the T6; my stats are 4.0/170 (I'm not going to retake this cycle at least, just to anticipate any comments to that effect). Without giving too much away, I did both my undergrad and my MA degrees at one of CCN and did well in both programs; I'm hoping for admissions and crossing my fingers for some scholarship money at at least two out of the three, as well as applying for one of NYU's named scholarships.

I'm wondering if any of you have insight into whether having done two degrees at C, C, or N might help me with admissions and money to that institution's law school (in case it's relevant, I moved abroad recently after finishing school, so it's not the case that I'm currently established in Chicago/New York).
It doesn't matter one way or the other.
I'm not going to go that far, considering about a fifth of my class attended the same undergrad. But not going to the school definitely will not hold you back if you have the numbers, softs, and application.

As for you, OP, all three of CCN are pretty much strictly numbers games in regards to admissions. Maybe it could be a tiebreaker and a decent plus if you're competitive for a scholarship that examines softs (like the Hamilton and Ruby, which you'd have to retake to be). It won't be a significant difference.

Re: Advantage of same-school undergrad degree

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 1:27 pm
by landshoes
Chicago has a special program and special admitted students stuff for Chi alums. I don't know how much that translates numbers-wise.

Re: Advantage of same-school undergrad degree

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 3:58 pm
by LegallyBlackJD
Sisyphus9 wrote:I'm applying this cycle to a number of schools, including the T6; my stats are 4.0/170 (I'm not going to retake this cycle at least, just to anticipate any comments to that effect). Without giving too much away, I did both my undergrad and my MA degrees at one of CCN and did well in both programs; I'm hoping for admissions and crossing my fingers for some scholarship money at at least two out of the three, as well as applying for one of NYU's named scholarships.

I'm wondering if any of you have insight into whether having done two degrees at C, C, or N might help me with admissions and money to that institution's law school (in case it's relevant, I moved abroad recently after finishing school, so it's not the case that I'm currently established in Chicago/New York).
I'm in the same scenario with the same schools! Anyways, from talking with friends, it seems like it does matters. Now how much it matters? That's debatable. From my friends' accounts, I would say it matters a littttttle bit.

Re: Advantage of same-school undergrad degree

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 4:00 pm
by sweets91
haus wrote:
bretby wrote:
Sisyphus9 wrote:I'm applying this cycle to a number of schools, including the T6; my stats are 4.0/170 (I'm not going to retake this cycle at least, just to anticipate any comments to that effect). Without giving too much away, I did both my undergrad and my MA degrees at one of CCN and did well in both programs; I'm hoping for admissions and crossing my fingers for some scholarship money at at least two out of the three, as well as applying for one of NYU's named scholarships.

I'm wondering if any of you have insight into whether having done two degrees at C, C, or N might help me with admissions and money to that institution's law school (in case it's relevant, I moved abroad recently after finishing school, so it's not the case that I'm currently established in Chicago/New York).
It doesn't matter one way or the other.
I agree.

Although if you end up going to the same school you may save 30 - 40 dollars on buying a new sweatshirt.
:lol: :lol: :lol:

Re: Advantage of same-school undergrad degree

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 4:31 pm
by HYPSM
haus wrote:
bretby wrote:
Sisyphus9 wrote:I'm applying this cycle to a number of schools, including the T6; my stats are 4.0/170 (I'm not going to retake this cycle at least, just to anticipate any comments to that effect). Without giving too much away, I did both my undergrad and my MA degrees at one of CCN and did well in both programs; I'm hoping for admissions and crossing my fingers for some scholarship money at at least two out of the three, as well as applying for one of NYU's named scholarships.

I'm wondering if any of you have insight into whether having done two degrees at C, C, or N might help me with admissions and money to that institution's law school (in case it's relevant, I moved abroad recently after finishing school, so it's not the case that I'm currently established in Chicago/New York).
It doesn't matter one way or the other.
I agree.

Although if you end up going to the same school you may save 30 - 40 dollars on buying a new sweatshirt.

This is essentially the credit response, and should not be taken lightly. Buying school gear is no joke and we all know we're not just buying that one sweater.

Re: Advantage of same-school undergrad degree

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 5:04 pm
by AZ123
I agree with the posters above that it probably doesn't make a big difference either way. I go to a different place for law school than I did for undergrad, and the only advantage I've noticed is having two alumni networks to reach out to during the job search process (although in my experience law school alumni are more helpful/responsive than undergrad alumni).

Re: Advantage of same-school undergrad degree

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 5:18 pm
by Sisyphus9
LegallyBlackJD wrote:
Sisyphus9 wrote:I'm applying this cycle to a number of schools, including the T6; my stats are 4.0/170 (I'm not going to retake this cycle at least, just to anticipate any comments to that effect). Without giving too much away, I did both my undergrad and my MA degrees at one of CCN and did well in both programs; I'm hoping for admissions and crossing my fingers for some scholarship money at at least two out of the three, as well as applying for one of NYU's named scholarships.

I'm wondering if any of you have insight into whether having done two degrees at C, C, or N might help me with admissions and money to that institution's law school (in case it's relevant, I moved abroad recently after finishing school, so it's not the case that I'm currently established in Chicago/New York).
I'm in the same scenario with the same schools! Anyways, from talking with friends, it seems like it does matters. Now how much it matters? That's debatable. From my friends' accounts, I would say it matters a littttttle bit.
Thanks for your response! That's sort of the sense I got. I also already know/have worked with some of the law professors at the school, which will hopefully help me a bit.

Good luck this cycle—maybe I'll see you at one of the three :)

Re: Advantage of same-school undergrad degree

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 5:18 pm
by Sisyphus9
jelufowoju wrote:Generally schools really don't care where you did undergrad, even if you are applying to the same school where you were an undergrad. I attended H for undergrad and a good friend of mine (non-urm white guy) applied to HLS last cycle with a 3.85 gpa which is about median and a 170 which is their 25th, got rejected, but wound up at CLS which is also a fantastic school. You have a fantastic gpa coupled with a great LSAT and an MA which is a good soft. Even though your LSAT is slightly below median for all three schools, your GPA is comfortably above all of their 75ths. I would be very surprised if you were not admitted to at least 2 of CCN, in fact you have a decent chance of getting into all three. However, the fact that you were an undergrad and completed grad studies at those institutions will have almost no bearing on the decision of the adcoms. Good luck.
Thanks for the thoughtful response—and the encouragement!

Re: Advantage of same-school undergrad degree

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 5:20 pm
by Sisyphus9
haus wrote:
bretby wrote:
Sisyphus9 wrote:I'm applying this cycle to a number of schools, including the T6; my stats are 4.0/170 (I'm not going to retake this cycle at least, just to anticipate any comments to that effect). Without giving too much away, I did both my undergrad and my MA degrees at one of CCN and did well in both programs; I'm hoping for admissions and crossing my fingers for some scholarship money at at least two out of the three, as well as applying for one of NYU's named scholarships.

I'm wondering if any of you have insight into whether having done two degrees at C, C, or N might help me with admissions and money to that institution's law school (in case it's relevant, I moved abroad recently after finishing school, so it's not the case that I'm currently established in Chicago/New York).
It doesn't matter one way or the other.
I agree.

Although if you end up going to the same school you may save 30 - 40 dollars on buying a new sweatshirt.
Ugh thank god. Not interested in transitioning to a new color palette at this point.

Re: Advantage of same-school undergrad degree

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 5:23 pm
by Sisyphus9
KissMyAxe wrote:
bretby wrote:
Sisyphus9 wrote:I'm applying this cycle to a number of schools, including the T6; my stats are 4.0/170 (I'm not going to retake this cycle at least, just to anticipate any comments to that effect). Without giving too much away, I did both my undergrad and my MA degrees at one of CCN and did well in both programs; I'm hoping for admissions and crossing my fingers for some scholarship money at at least two out of the three, as well as applying for one of NYU's named scholarships.

I'm wondering if any of you have insight into whether having done two degrees at C, C, or N might help me with admissions and money to that institution's law school (in case it's relevant, I moved abroad recently after finishing school, so it's not the case that I'm currently established in Chicago/New York).
It doesn't matter one way or the other.
I'm not going to go that far, considering about a fifth of my class attended the same undergrad. But not going to the school definitely will not hold you back if you have the numbers, softs, and application.

As for you, OP, all three of CCN are pretty much strictly numbers games in regards to admissions. Maybe it could be a tiebreaker and a decent plus if you're competitive for a scholarship that examines softs (like the Hamilton and Ruby, which you'd have to retake to be). It won't be a significant difference.
Thanks for the response (and congrats on your amazing cycle). I know and have worked with a couple of the law professors at my alma mater, so I was hoping that maybe that would tilt the scales a bit, but I won't count on it.

Re: Advantage of same-school undergrad degree

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 5:54 pm
by landshoes
At UChi that absolutely could help. Reach out to them and let them know you're applying. It's a very small school and they are bound to know someone on the admissions committee. That doesn't mean they will necessarily offer to help, but if they do it would matter. I don't know how much.

I'm not sure how this would work at Columbia or NYU since they're bigger, but it doesn't seem like it would hurt. You might even want to ask for a school-specific letter of rec.

You really buried the lede, OP.

Re: Advantage of same-school undergrad degree

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 8:01 pm
by calpolisci2016
Berkeley definitely factors in if you were a Berkeley undergrad.

Re: Advantage of same-school undergrad degree

Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2016 12:02 pm
by Sisyphus9
landshoes wrote:At UChi that absolutely could help. Reach out to them and let them know you're applying. It's a very small school and they are bound to know someone on the admissions committee. That doesn't mean they will necessarily offer to help, but if they do it would matter. I don't know how much.

I'm not sure how this would work at Columbia or NYU since they're bigger, but it doesn't seem like it would hurt. You might even want to ask for a school-specific letter of rec.

You really buried the lede, OP.
Yeah, sorry—I don't know why I didn't foreground that aspect of the situation. I thought it seemed presumptuous or braggy or something. Thank you so much for your help, though! I do indeed have one of the law professors who knows me pretty well and has taught me writing a letter of rec, so hopefully that will tip the scales a bit in my favor.

Re: Advantage of same-school undergrad degree

Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2016 1:59 pm
by landshoes
No problem :) Good luck!