How Much Does Your Undergrad School Matter? Forum

[Fish127]

I know this question has been asked a lot, and I am fully prepared for that one smart ass to make the big condescending quote with a link to every thread this question has been asked in.

That being said I have looked up the old posts about whether the undergrad institute you attend matters, and the answers always seem to be kind of vague, in the trend of "a little bit... maybe... but not as much as numbers." So I do hope I'm not wasting anybody's time with this, but as we all know every situation is different, so I wouldn't mind getting some perspective and advice on my own situation in and of itself. Also please bear in mind that I'm asking this with a goal in mind of attending a T6 law school.

So at the moment I'm at a lower ranked state college, and I really enjoy it. I'm getting more or less straight As, and its close enough to my house that I can live at home to save money for law school. However after my first year there are a few problems I'm coming across. It doesn't offer a lot of majors that I'm interested in, as I said its not a super well known so I'm starting to think a more prestigious school may be better viewed by law schools.

My other two options have me apprehensive. One of them is a private school that is pretty expensive, and I'm worried that the high standards of classwork may cause my GPA to take a hit, and my savings certainly will. The other school has everything I want, but it's huge. It's the size of a small city and it's a much longer drive from my house. Having never lived away from home I find this somewhat intimidating, as well as the larger school being less personal than the small venue I'm so used to. One on one with teachers is a big deal for me, and probably makes it easier to get letters of recommendation.

I don't know what to do. I really like the school I'm at now, but I don't want to be held back or forced into a major I don't like. So in trying to pick between the large college or the private one, the amount of consideration T6 schools put into undergraduate reputation will play a big part in my decision, so any advice I can get would be much appreciated.

[dowu]

I know this question has been asked a lot, and I am fully prepared for that one smart ass to make the big condescending quote with a link to every thread this question has been asked in.

That being said I have looked up the old posts about whether the undergrad institute you attend matters, and the answers always seem to be kind of vague, in the trend of "a little bit... maybe... but not as much as numbers." So I do hope I'm not wasting anybody's time with this, but as we all know every situation is different, so I wouldn't mind getting some perspective and advice on my own situation in and of itself. Also please bear in mind that I'm asking this with a goal in mind of attending a T6 law school.

So at the moment I'm at a lower ranked state college, and I really enjoy it. I'm getting more or less straight As, and its close enough to my house that I can live at home to save money for law school. However after my first year there are a few problems I'm coming across. It doesn't offer a lot of majors that I'm interested in, as I said its not a super well known so I'm starting to think a more prestigious school may be better viewed by law schools.

My other two options have me apprehensive. One of them is a private school that is pretty expensive, and I'm worried that the high standards of classwork may cause my GPA to take a hit, and my savings certainly will. The other school has everything I want, but it's huge. It's the size of a small city and it's a much longer drive from my house. Having never lived away from home I find this somewhat intimidating, as well as the larger school being less personal than the small venue I'm so used to. One on one with teachers is a big deal for me, and probably makes it easier to get letters of recommendation.

I don't know what to do. I really like the school I'm at now, but I don't want to be held back or forced into a major I don't like. So in trying to pick between the large college or the private one, the amount of consideration T6 schools put into undergraduate reputation will play a big part in my decision, so any advice I can get would be much appreciated.

Tldr FUCKING NO BRO. NO. SHIT DOES NOT MATTER.


All that matters is your LSAT, GPA, and whether or not you're a URM. HTHXOXO

[Typhoon24]

unless that more prestigious private school is harvard, yale, princeton, or stanford, then it won't matter at all. Even if it was, the bonus it would give your application is almost marginal. Best advice, graduate from that less expensive undergrad with a bachelors and make sure that GPA/LSAT is high as hell.

[Crowing]

sent you a pm

[dowu]

unless that more prestigious private school is harvard, yale, princeton, or stanford, then it won't matter at all. Even if it was, the bonus it would give your application is almost marginal. Best advice, graduate from that less expensive undergrad with a bachelors and make sure that GPA/LSAT is high as hell.

Credited.

[Merylian]

I'm 99% certain where you went to college doesn't really matter. I went to an absolutely no-name public college in PA where the average LSAT score was a 142, and I still got into UVA. Not T6, but I doubt there's an arbitrary line where schools start caring deeply about what your undergrad was. Also, I know that's anecdotal evidence, but I don't think it's a unique situation.

I wont offer any advice on choosing a school, since only you really know your situation and desires...but I think the common TLS wisdom is to pick a major that will allow you to get a job if you later decide not to go to law school and also one you can get a solid GPA from. Having a sub 3.7 GPA puts so much more stress on you when LSAT time comes, so doing things that make your GPA tumble may not be the best choice.

Oh, and I am a 0L, so if an actual law student say things that contrast with this, please disregard and pay attention to them instead.

[twenty]

People on TLS say "ITZ ONLY NUMBERS GUIZ", but my experience has been significantly different. My friend and I graduated from the same school, and we've both drastically underperformed in our cycles -- in our opinion, particularly because of our undergrad. One admissions officer interviewed my friend and reamed him for 30 minutes for attending a TTTT. I was dropped at schools I should have been auto-admitted at on numbers.

tldr, People say undergrad doesn't matter, but I really do tend to disagree. I firmly believe a 3.91/170 from MIT will beat a 3.97/170 from CSU East Bay.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Conversely, I went to one of the spiffiest undergrads you can go to (you know that thing where LSAC tells you what percentage of people from your college score above whatever on the LSAT? 45% of my undergrad gets 95%ile+ on the LSAT. About another 25% are 90-95%ile). And I got in ....absolutely everywhere my numbers said I'd get in, and no where they said I wouldn't.

(If you have numbers that make you competitive for HYS - yes, maybe there the undergrad makes a difference, because they can afford to look beyond the numbers. But for the 98% of schools that are chasing those high medians for USNWR, they don't care.)

[mindarmed]

search function

[Ludo!]

People on TLS say "ITZ ONLY NUMBERS GUIZ", but my experience has been significantly different. My friend and I graduated from the same school, and we've both drastically underperformed in our cycles -- in our opinion, particularly because of our undergrad. One admissions officer interviewed my friend and reamed him for 30 minutes for attending a TTTT. I was dropped at schools I should have been auto-admitted at on numbers.

tldr, People say undergrad doesn't matter, but I really do tend to disagree. I firmly believe a 3.91/170 from MIT will beat a 3.97/170 from CSU East Bay.

Lolwut. Did you go to ITT tech or something. I went to a CSU East Bay level school and it didn't affect my cycle in the slightest

[guinness1547]

People on TLS say "ITZ ONLY NUMBERS GUIZ", but my experience has been significantly different. My friend and I graduated from the same school, and we've both drastically underperformed in our cycles -- in our opinion, particularly because of our undergrad. One admissions officer interviewed my friend and reamed him for 30 minutes for attending a TTTT. I was dropped at schools I should have been auto-admitted at on numbers.

tldr, People say undergrad doesn't matter, but I really do tend to disagree. I firmly believe a 3.91/170 from MIT will beat a 3.97/170 from CSU East Bay.

Lolwut. Did you go to ITT tech or something. I went to a CSU East Bay level school and it didn't affect my cycle in the slightest

Yeah, a Yale guy with the same numbers as a TTTT guy is gonna win every time, that's where their applications differ. But a TTTT guy with better numbers(significantly, not .06 gpa) than a Yale guy is going to win much more often than not.

[dr123]

not much

[Justin Genious]

People on TLS say "ITZ ONLY NUMBERS GUIZ", but my experience has been significantly different. My friend and I graduated from the same school, and we've both drastically underperformed in our cycles -- in our opinion, particularly because of our undergrad. One admissions officer interviewed my friend and reamed him for 30 minutes for attending a TTTT. I was dropped at schools I should have been auto-admitted at on numbers.

tldr, People say undergrad doesn't matter, but I really do tend to disagree. I firmly believe a 3.91/170 from MIT will beat a 3.97/170 from CSU East Bay.

You're URM, ya? Chill bud, you'll see the acceptances start to roll in a couple of months. You were likely YP'd at the schools that dinged you.

[cinephile]

It's like every couple of weeks with you people. Just stop. Learn to use the search function.

[ndirish2010]

People on TLS say "ITZ ONLY NUMBERS GUIZ", but my experience has been significantly different. My friend and I graduated from the same school, and we've both drastically underperformed in our cycles -- in our opinion, particularly because of our undergrad. One admissions officer interviewed my friend and reamed him for 30 minutes for attending a TTTT. I was dropped at schools I should have been auto-admitted at on numbers.

tldr, People say undergrad doesn't matter, but I really do tend to disagree. I firmly believe a 3.91/170 from MIT will beat a 3.97/170 from CSU East Bay.

If you get a 3.91 from MIT, don't go to law school.

[dsn32]

I think a good UG/bad UG will likely affect you in the same way a good PS/bad PS would. It can help at the margins, but isn't going to make up for a huge deficiency in your application. I do believe my UG has helped my outperform my numbers this cycle, but I haven't outperformed my numbers in a way that makes me think it was an overwhelming factor.

[stillwater]

unless that more prestigious private school is harvard, yale, princeton, or stanford, then it won't matter at all. Even if it was, the bonus it would give your application is almost marginal. Best advice, graduate from that less expensive undergrad with a bachelors and make sure that GPA/LSAT is high as hell.

Stanford is TTT.

[elterrible78]

All that matters is your LSAT, GPA, and whether or not you're a URM. HTHXOXO

I'm actually finding that this is far from true. While LSAT, GPA, and URM status certainly appear to be the most important factors, there are others that play a role as well in your likelihood of acceptance. One is when you submit your application (and it matters more than you might think), another is whether or not you apply ED (this depends highly on the school). If I can get the data on prestigious undergrad applicants, I will check into this as well.

[sinfiery]

Far from reliable data, but --LinkRemoved--

Anecdotally, I can say it probably helps you at HYS.

[BigZuck]

I think a good UG/bad UG will likely affect you in the same way a good PS/bad PS would. It can help at the margins, but isn't going to make up for a huge deficiency in your application. I do believe my UG has helped my outperform my numbers this cycle, but I haven't outperformed my numbers in a way that makes me think it was an overwhelming factor.

I too went to a prestigiousish UG like dsn's and I think I have also outperformed my numbers but TLS tells me I'm wrong so I'm probably wrong.

[kwais]

People on TLS say "ITZ ONLY NUMBERS GUIZ", but my experience has been significantly different. My friend and I graduated from the same school, and we've both drastically underperformed in our cycles -- in our opinion, particularly because of our undergrad. One admissions officer interviewed my friend and reamed him for 30 minutes for attending a TTTT. I was dropped at schools I should have been auto-admitted at on numbers.

tldr, People say undergrad doesn't matter, but I really do tend to disagree. I firmly believe a 3.91/170 from MIT will beat a 3.97/170 from CSU East Bay.

didn't happen.

[RodneyRuxin]

I too went to a prestigiousish UG like dsn's and I think I have also outperformed my numbers but TLS tells me I'm wrong so I'm probably wrong.

Thanks for that.

[Br3v]

It doesn't

[A. Nony Mouse]

Isn't the consensus that this cycle is weird, given the drop in applicants? Couldn't that be more of a factor for anomalous results than UG attended?

[scifiguy]

What about at the extremes like...

i.) For-profit schools (e.g., University of Phoenix, Walden University...)

ii.) Online programs (e.g., Devry University, Drexel Online, Capella...)

and/or

iii.) Ivy's and top private/public's (e.g. Princeton, Yale, MIT, CalTech, Berkeley, Michigan, etc.)?