How much does UG matter? Forum
- mmmadeli
- Posts: 88
- Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 6:54 pm
How much does UG matter?
I'm quite new to this site -- I just learned about it like a week ago, I think I have <20 posts, but I've been seeing something that interests me. When people post their stats, they always post like, 171/3.5 or whatever, which is fine. But I always figured, for a school like, say, Columbia, wouldn't it matter where that 3.5 came from? I mean, surely it makes a difference whether it came from Yale or community college or somewhere in between...right? That makes sense to me, but when people post their stats here, mostly they don't mention where they got their degree, which suggests that by and large, for the purposes of predicting admission people here don't think it matters enough to mention. Why is that? Because it seems like a relevant qualifier on your GPA. Or are law schools interested enough in preserving their median that they don't care about the qualifiers at all?
- redsox
- Posts: 612
- Joined: Mon Jun 08, 2009 1:40 pm
Re: How much does UG matter?
People don't post their undergrad institution because
a) it doesn't matter as much as GPA/LSAT; and
b) they want to maintain some degree of anonymity.
a) it doesn't matter as much as GPA/LSAT; and
b) they want to maintain some degree of anonymity.
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- Posts: 151
- Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:11 pm
Re: How much does UG matter?
It does, but it doesn't.
Indeed GPA/LSAT are more important, but law schools still like to say they have recruited students from the ivy league.
Indeed GPA/LSAT are more important, but law schools still like to say they have recruited students from the ivy league.
- mmmadeli
- Posts: 88
- Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 6:54 pm
Re: How much does UG matter?
I mean, I guess it just seems to me like GPA loses a lot of meaning without the context of where it came from. And moreover (and maybe this is the bigger thing), these top schools must get tons of applications with very similar, very high numbers. They have to differentiate between them somehow, so wouldn't caliber of the undergraduate institution be a good place to start? Presumably it's harder to get a 3.5 some places than others, so some 3.5's represent a higher level of accomplishment.
ETA I mean, I'm no adcom, so what the hell do I know. But it just makes sense to me, you know? It seems logical.
ETA I mean, I'm no adcom, so what the hell do I know. But it just makes sense to me, you know? It seems logical.
- mmmadeli
- Posts: 88
- Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 6:54 pm
Re: How much does UG matter?
ahaha sorry guys. I didn't notice someone asked this question about 3 inches down the page. In my defense, the title of their thread is really vague!
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- scribelaw
- Posts: 760
- Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2009 3:27 pm
Re: How much does UG matter?
This seems to be the case at HYS, Columbia and Chicago. NYu doesn't seem to care.mmmadeli wrote:I mean, I guess it just seems to me like GPA loses a lot of meaning without the context of where it came from. And moreover (and maybe this is the bigger thing), these top schools must get tons of applications with very similar, very high numbers. They have to differentiate between them somehow, so wouldn't caliber of the undergraduate institution be a good place to start? Presumably it's harder to get a 3.5 some places than others, so some 3.5's represent a higher level of accomplishment.
ETA I mean, I'm no adcom, so what the hell do I know. But it just makes sense to me, you know? It seems logical.
Outside of the T6, coming from HYP undergrad is a nice soft factor I'm sure, but they really seem to pick along the numbers.
- MrKappus
- Posts: 1685
- Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2009 2:46 am
Re: How much does UG matter?
As someone that went to any Ivy, I can say it doesn't matter much, b/c a GPA is a GPA (and that's what USNWR records). That said, it's a soft factor (I guess), and it's helpful for clerkships/academe.
- You Gotta Have Faith
- Posts: 402
- Joined: Sat May 02, 2009 5:04 am
Re: How much does UG matter?
This is indeed true. But I've also noticed a fair number of law schools are increasingly happy to say they've recruited students from (insert relatively high number) institutions. If they can have 85 undergrad institutions represented instead of just 45, they'll opt for the former.toolfan wrote:It does, but it doesn't.
Indeed GPA/LSAT are more important, but law schools still like to say they have recruited students from the ivy league.
But again, I don't think it matters all that much. The focus for most of them, as others have pointed out, is the GPA/LSAT.