does undergrad matter at all? Forum

[kittenmittons]

Adcoms looked favorably at my public ivy

hth

[09042014]

Adcoms looked favorably at my pubic ivy

hth

FTFReality

[kittenmittons]

Adcoms looked favorably at my pubic ivy

hth

FTFReality

Don't be mad bc Penn State is better than your UG

[09042014]

Adcoms looked favorably at my pubic ivy

hth

FTFReality

Don't be mad bc Penn State is better than your UG

Maybe in Football. And Law, it is ranked number 8.

[Joan Hollaway]

Adcoms looked favorably at my pubic ivy

hth

FTFReality

Don't be mad bc Penn State is better than your UG

Maybe in Football. And Law, it is ranked number 8.

im gonna start trolling all your posts DF

[ariadne86]

i have heard numerous things from your undergrad institution matters significantly to only your gpa is significant. can anyone shed some light on this? i go to a top 20 ug school and have a 3.679 gpa. is this more "valuable" than a 3.679 at a state school not ranked t25 per say? the reason i ask is, i am not the greatest standardized test taker but i think my gpa indicates that i am not completely bereft of intelligence required to get into a t-20 law program so im just wondering if my ug will give me an edge.

The reason you've heard numerous things is that no one knows, and everyone has anecdotes that run the range from "no, only numbers matter" to "no, I went to a tiny/unknown undergrad and got into Harvard" to "no, I went to a top Ivy and didn't get into Harvard" to "yes, I went to a tiny/unknown undergrad and didn't get into Harvard" to "yes, I went to a top Ivy and got into Harvard" and everything in between.

Then someone brings up grade inflation at top schools, rebutted by someone else saying that these school should give out more A's because they have top students, rebutted by someone else-else saying their crap school has brilliant kids/professors who would beat out students/profs at top schools, sometimes supported by someone else-else-else saying that their Ivy classes have a bunch of idiots, and then sometimes people throw out hypotheticals comparing Hypothetical Student A from Elite School A with Hypothetical Student B from Crap School B, and then someone who goes to or knows someone who goes to Crap School B gets offended, and that starts the whole "Elite school = grade inflation" cycle all over again, sometimes supplemented with more anecdotes like "Well my/my cousin's/my long-lost twin's/my dog's/etc. professor at Crap School B or Similar Other Crap School was awesome and then I/he/she/it transferred up and learned nothing at Elite School A or Similar Other Elite School and was surrounded by idiots," etc.

I think the general consensus in the end is:
- A "good" undergrad can sometimes help, but we're talking like HYPS or similar caliber. And even then, negligible boost, if any. And only at certain law schools (for example, Chicago, Columbia, and Penn are "known" for liking "elite" undergrads).
- A "crap" undergrad will rarely hurt you.
- Absolute numbers still rule.

Edit: And then the thread derails from "DOES it matter" ("Will my school help/hurt me?) to "SHOULD it matter" ("Do Ivy kids deserve the boost?")... which is a whole other can of worms.

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