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So my question is in regards to the T14 in general, but more specifically aimed at T6.

I'm currently attending a TTT state undergrad college. I couldn't get into any decent school because I dropped out of high school due to a personal tragedy when I was a teenager. I'm working on softs, but because my situation at home requires a lot of my time, I don't think I'll graduate with anything impressive. At the moment my GPA is a 3.9, and I'm confident that I can get comparable scores on the LSAT. I have terrible interviewing skills, but I'm trying to work on that, and hopefully I'll be better by the time I'm ready to apply to law schools. My question basically boils down to this: Is it really just all about the numbers?

I hear people on this forum all the time say that UG prestige doesn't matter, and softs make minimal difference, but then I also hear and see things to the contrary. I see people underperform their numbers who went to less prestigious schools, and I feel like everybody I see admitted to Harvard or Columbia is from some higher end UG, or at least has some kind of distinguishing soft.

Is it really possible for somebody in my position to get into a school like NYU or Columbia if I have the right numbers? I just find it hard to believe after I fucked up so much early in life, and am basically nowhere now in UG that somebody in this position is going to get the same consideration as the kid who studied his ass off in high school then went to some Ivy UG after patenting some new type of water filter or something.

Does anybody have some kind of personal experience similar to mine that might be able to shed some light?

If you do well on your LSAT, you're in for sure anywhere but Y/S. That 1 person out of 69 at HLS most likely had some sort of disqualifying C&F issue, not just that they went to a no-name UG. Aim high!

Edit: Actually, the HLS waitlisted person got 40k from Columbia and 75k from Penn. The HLS reject, though this strains credulity, got in to Yale, got 90k from UChi, and 150k from NU.

correlation is not causation. If HYS admits appear to be coming from mostly highly regarded UG's, they probably went there due to scholastic aptitude and also did amazing on the LSAT because of their aptitude. If you're a 4.0/173 who graduated from Appalachian State you are just as desirable as someone with identical statistics with a degree from Rice

grungy89 wrote:correlation is not causation. If HYS admits appear to be coming from mostly highly regarded UG's, they probably went there due to scholastic aptitude and also did amazing on the LSAT because of their aptitude. If you're a 4.0/173 who graduated from Appalachian State you are just as desirable as someone with identical statistics with a degree from Rice

No

nothingtosee wrote:

grungy89 wrote:correlation is not causation. If HYS admits appear to be coming from mostly highly regarded UG's, they probably went there due to scholastic aptitude and also did amazing on the LSAT because of their aptitude. If you're a 4.0/173 who graduated from Appalachian State you are just as desirable as someone with identical statistics with a degree from Rice

No

Could someone else comment on this? Is a 4.0/173 from App St less likely to get admitted to Harvard or Yale than say, a 4.0/172 from Rice? I realized i changed the LSAT in this hypothetical.

Edited to say Harvard or Yale.

Louis1127 wrote: Could someone else comment on this? Is a 4.0/173 from App St less likely to get admitted to Harvard or Yale than say, a 4.0/172 from Rice? I realized i changed the LSAT in this hypothetical.

Edited to say Harvard or Yale.

Conventional wisdom is that undergraduate prestige counts as a mild soft factor. In other words, if you have it, then it might give you a tiny boost. If you don't, don't sweat it. Other softs can count just as much, and much much more. Of course, if you have no interesting softs at all, you may underperform your numbers. But the important take-away is that undergrad prestige is just one factor among many.

OP, you'll be fine. your undergrad won't help you but it will not hurt you either. Aim for a high LSAT and wait for those acceptances to roll in.

Is this even serious?