Im currently living in Arizona and didnt excell to the best of my abilities in high school, which has lead me community college. My plan is to go to community college for one year, then transfer to an out of state school. I was looking at Loyola Marymount, but i was just curious if going to a private college will effect my chances of getting in to a top 5 law school? I've heard that people that attend public universities in their home state have a better chance of getting into a top 5 law school.Help me lol!
2007-06-25 13:17:16 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Higher Education (University +)
Congratulations on starting to overcome your high school years and get a great career as a lawyer!
I think the key to law (or really any professional school) isn't WHERE you did in college as much as it is HOW you did in college. I'd suggest you pick a school where you can be comfortable and get the education that would help you to excel (maybe that means smaller class sizes or no Greek system). Then you can get better grades, which will help you get into law school. Admissions directors will look more at how you did where you are, and Loyola is a fine school. Also, I'm sure they'll notice that you worked hard to get there by attending community college first.
Also you'll need high LSAT (the law school admissions test) scores, some extracurriculars (especially leadership activities), work experience, and good references. While you're at community college, maybe you could work at a law office filing or assisting a couple days a week or get an internship.
Finally, you might want to consider universities that have an undergraduate program as well as a law school you'd like to attend. Maybe some law schools will give preference to students that went to the undergraduate college of that university. This would be an excellent question to ask a councelor or law school admissions director if you get the chance.
Best of luck!
2007-06-25 13:27:41 · answer #1 · answered by Laura S 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No -- it is not true. Students who go to private schools like Stanford, Rice, Duke or an Ivy League school will have a much better chance of getting into a top law school than someone who goes to a state university in their home state. Given that your home state is Arizona -- this is particularly true -- since its public universities are rated much lower than those in other states.
Loyola Marymount is an OK school -- but look at other schools that are ranked higher if you want to improve your chances of getting into a top law school.
I do agree with others that it is more important how well you do in school and how you did on the LSATs. However, the quality of your undergraduate institution does make a big difference. If you go to a state school -- make sure it is the best in the state. In Arizona, that means U of A or nothing.
2007-06-25 14:32:11 · answer #2 · answered by Ranto 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I have never heard that people that attend public universities in their home state have a better chance of getting into a top 5 law school. If that's true, I imagine that it depends a lot on what state a person lives in (for example, I imagine that going to UVA is better than going to UDC for law school admissions purposes).
The most important parts of a law school application are GPA and LSAT score. Work as hard as possible and it will pay off.
For more excellent information about law school and law school admissions, check out www.lawschooldiscussion.org and/or lsca.org
2007-06-25 14:01:47 · answer #3 · answered by jdphd 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If the law school is in your home state, then definitely go to college in your home state.
But I don't think that it matters whether the school is private or public.
If you do want to go to a top law school and you cannot get in right now, then pick a community college where you can excel and get the basics out of the way. Then, transfer to a more prestigious four year college for your last two years and graduation. This will help you climb the ladder to a higher ranked law school.
Good luck!
2007-06-25 13:23:22 · answer #4 · answered by Magnolia 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It most definitely would be. See, people will tell you that your degree is a waste of time, like the guy who said you will just meet lazy people, I know this because I have a Philosophy degree. This is because undergraduate Philosophy has no readily apparent practical use. It does not teach you how to operate any machines, or do anything specialized. No one was told to study Philosophy because no one sees a philosopher driving a Mercedes or making tons of money, which is fine because that's not what it's about. Philosophy will teach you how to view any argument objectively. Since you will practice this, you will be able to interpret the law as close to purely as possible. Also, you will learn and more importantly understand the significance of the history of thought, which will also help you put laws into context and understand where they come from. philosophy majors tend to score higher on the LSAT because of this.
2016-05-20 02:47:50 · answer #5 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. The two most critical factors of getting into law school are your GPA and your LSAT score. What school you went to is a minor issue. It's more for the admissions people to judge how tough your classes were. Going to a highly ranked school is better than a poorly ranked one. Whether the school is public or private doesn't really matter.
If a University has both an undergrad and law school, they usually don't care that you went to the undergrad. It depends on the individual law school's admissions people as to whether they think the undergrad was particularly tough or not.
2007-06-25 13:35:07 · answer #6 · answered by Linkin 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋