Relation between undergraduate institution and law school admission?

Question

I attended a second tier college for undergrad. How will my law school admissions chances be affected?

Answer 1

Technically your chances of getting in are lower -- I got a top 3 law school, and literally 10% of the class is from Yale, 10% from Harvard, about 10% from Princeton. That's only three schools, and not even the entire Ivy League yet (not to mention schools like Stanford -- that's about another 10%). There's not a lot of room left for all the other schools.

I went to a public school (ranked in the low 30s/high 40s) and am the only one here from my school. I was probably the only one applying from my school that year, and I think that might have helped (they like to note how many different undergraduate colleges are represented in the law school; but most only have a couple students here). Because of my school's ranking, my application had to be stellar in every other respect.

You'll need a higher GPA and LSAT than students from more elite schools to get into the same school, but as long as you can do really well on those two things (and have a good overall application with letters, activities, etc.), you should be fine. The LSAT is the most important factor, so really study your butt off for it. It's worth the pain and suffering of hard-core studying for a couple months when you get all those big fat envelopes!

Good luck!

Answer 2

If you have top notch grades and LSAT score, you'll be ok. You might be the only kid from your school, but who cares if you've made it.

Yes, going to a prestigious school is better, but that's cuz law schools acknowledge you're a smart kid just for getting in and they usually consider your classes to have been difficult, making the A's you get very impressive cuz you had challenging classes. They don't give that benefit of the doubt to kids from less prestigious schools, so you have to show them you're great in things like your LSAT score, essay, extra currics, etc.

It makes it an uphill battle, but it's not that steep a hill.