If you got into Stanford or Yale, what is your background? Forum

[nycparalegal]

I was reading about James Kwak, and he is a Yale law student. His background is the following:

co-founder, in September, 2008, with Simon Johnson of The Baseline Scenario[1] a widely-cited commentary on the global financial crisis, mostly focused on the situation in the USA. James received his A.B. from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in French intellectual history from the University of California, Berkeley (b. 2007.)

He has worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Co.and later was Director of Product Marketing at Ariba, where he led product strategy and marketing for the Platform Solutions division and the Ariba Network. He was a co-founder of Guidewire Software, Inc., an independent software vendor for the property & casualty insurance industry, where he helped write the requirements for their initial product, Guidewire ClaimCenter, managed the first customer implementation project, and served as Vice President for Marketing.

And maybe I'm biased, but I feel like anyone who gets into Stanford or Yale Law are wonderfully accomplished people and I'd love to hear your backgrounds.

[wjnahill]

I was reading about James Kwak, and he is a Yale law student. His background is the following:

co-founder, in September, 2008, with Simon Johnson of The Baseline Scenario[1] a widely-cited commentary on the global financial crisis, mostly focused on the situation in the USA. James received his A.B. from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in French intellectual history from the University of California, Berkeley (b. 2007.)

He has worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Co.and later was Director of Product Marketing at Ariba, where he led product strategy and marketing for the Platform Solutions division and the Ariba Network. He was a co-founder of Guidewire Software, Inc., an independent software vendor for the property & casualty insurance industry, where he helped write the requirements for their initial product, Guidewire ClaimCenter, managed the first customer implementation project, and served as Vice President for Marketing.

And maybe I'm biased, but I feel like anyone who gets into Standford or Yale Law are wonderfully accomplished people and I'd love to hear your backgrounds.

Subtle Harvard burn?

[nycparalegal]

I know there are wonderfully accomplished people at Harvard, but, and this is anecdotal, I've met far too many people who went to Harvard law and even though they were academically superior (LSAT and GPA), just didn't have the background of a Stanford or Yale Law student.

[tomhobbes]

Well, I went to a public high school and got good grades and test scores, then went to a poorly ranked public school for undergrad and got good grades and test scores. I wrote a quaint little personal statement about my family. Impressive?

[englawyer]

it does seem like Yale and Stanford cater to the high pedigree crowd, especially S.

It seems like:

Yale filters for sky-high numbers AND pedigree
Harvard focuses on sky-high numbers to match Yale and top the rankings
Stanford accepts mediocre numbers (by T6 standards) but focuses on pedigree

I also think that the level of "pedigree" to get into S/Y is not THAT high. if you went to a t-10 undergrad and got the right stats, I think you are in.

I would also gander that the top half of Harvard pedigree-wise is on par with the other two schools.

[BioEBear2010]

it does seem like Yale and Stanford cater to the high pedigree crowd, especially S.

It seems like:

Yale filters for sky-high numbers AND pedigree
Harvard focuses on sky-high numbers to match Yale and top the rankings
Stanford accepts mediocre numbers (by T6 standards) but focuses on pedigree

I also think that the level of "pedigree" to get into S/Y is not THAT high. if you went to a t-10 undergrad and got the right stats, I think you are in.

I certainly don't have a reputable pedigree. Nor do I have sky-high numbers. But then again, I feel like I'm an outlier.

[ConMan345]

What do we mean by "pedigree"?

[englawyer]

What do we mean by "pedigree"?

i mean any or all of the following:

-prestigious undergrad
-national award/recognition
-prestigious work experience (goldman sachs et al)

etc etc

I certainly don't have a reputable pedigree. Nor do I have sky-high numbers. But then again, I feel like I'm an outlier.

in the grand scheme of things, uc-berk is pretty reputable

[sfdreaming09]

In at S. Nothing out of the ordinary. 3.95/171/Berkeley UG, 2 yrs out of law school working as a paralegal at a law firm, held a couple officer positions in clubs on campus, research assistant to a prof…that’s about it

[mike7174]

Got into S. Straight out of UG. 3.91/172. President of 2 community service clubs and research assistant to a professor. Nothing at all out of the usual.

I really don’t think S weighs ECs/life experience that much more than H. Their LSAT/GPA stats are just lower because they lose the vast majority of cross-admit battles to H and Y.

[elmagic]

Y and S for me. I went to one of HYP UG, and have a gpa above median at both places. Also a URM and marshall/truman/rhodes scholar.

[TigerTeacher]

I was reading about James Kwak, and he is a Yale law student. His background is the following:

co-founder, in September, 2008, with Simon Johnson of The Baseline Scenario[1] a widely-cited commentary on the global financial crisis, mostly focused on the situation in the USA. James received his A.B. from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in French intellectual history from the University of California, Berkeley (b. 2007.)

He has worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Co.and later was Director of Product Marketing at Ariba, where he led product strategy and marketing for the Platform Solutions division and the Ariba Network. He was a co-founder of Guidewire Software, Inc., an independent software vendor for the property & casualty insurance industry, where he helped write the requirements for their initial product, Guidewire ClaimCenter, managed the first customer implementation project, and served as Vice President for Marketing.

And maybe I'm biased, but I feel like anyone who gets into Stanford or Yale Law are wonderfully accomplished people and I'd love to hear your backgrounds.

---
Sure, I'll respond. In at Stanford right now. Held at Harvard. Still waiting on Yale.
165/3.42 URM - HYP undergrad. One LOR from university president.
Student body pres. & Black student union pres in undergrad. 5 yrs out of college. Did TFA, including 2 yrs as founding dean of a new charter school. Summer internship at McKinsey, turned down full-time offer to start the school. Adjunct lecturer at a teaching masters program.

[Trustbuster]

In at Stanford
Decent grades, wide variety of work, appearance on Jeopardy.
Nothing groundbreaking, least I thought so.