Which Undergrad to Pick? Forum

[Chris2002]

Hello,

I have been accepted to McGill, University College London, and King's College London. I would prefer to attend King's College London but I am willing to attend another school if it would better help me for law school. I was wondering if anyone had an idea of which would serve as a better precursor to law school in America. If anyone also had any input or advice as an international undergrad applying to American law schools. I would be looking to hopefully attend a T14 law school.

Thanks so much!

[decimalsanddollars]

Generally, your LSAT will matter much more than where you went to undergrad, including and especially if you went overseas. I know some people from the main UK schools see a slight "dock" or that their grades are somewhat discounted or ignored, although schools like Yale/Stanford/Harvard etc. will definitely care what kind of grades you get. I think KCL is a fine choice, and idk if McGill would be any more compatible/helpful than the UK schools (also, KCL and ICL will probably have identical placing power in the US for law schools even though their prestige is a bit different in the UK). This would be a bit different if you were going to a school outside of the commonwealth or a school that didn't teach in English, but that's not the case here.

tl;dr there's not much difference in US law school outcomes (at least between your options) and you should go where you want

[Chris2002]

Thank you so much for replying Decimal! I'm glad to hear that my choice of schools will not have a significant impact in regards to law school admittance. I was wondering if you know if international students are at a disadvantage when applying to law schools. I've noticed that there are significantly fewer international students at T14s but I can't help but wonder if its because the law schools don't like them or if the students simply don't apply from other countries. Thanks!

[Chris2002]

@decimalsanddollars ^^

[nixy]

One thing maybe to be aware of: if you go to undergrad in Canada, your GPA will be reported directly to US law schools. If you go to undergrad in England, your GPA will get converted from a number to a category (superior, above average, and a couple others I forget) and will carry much less weight in law school admissions (as you can't submit a "superior" or the like to USNWR for ranking purposes). Which of those things is better depends I guess on whether you're better at getting good grades or taking standardized tests.

That said, I think you should choose the school that you like best, and not worry about whether it will get you into law school. You have no idea what you're really going to want to do 4 years from now (it might not change, but it might). I think any of those schools will offer you good options. (I feel like the British schools will be more helpful if you want to work in Britain and McGill will be more helpful if you want to work in North America, but I don't think it's a vast difference.)