berkeley vs. other schools

Applying to College
1

<p>UC Berkeley is a wonderful school, but I heard that grade deflation is harsh on science and engineering students. I want to obtain a BS, Masters in Chemistry and move onto law school to pursue patent law. With all of the unemployed lawyers / attorneys these days, it's best to graduate from a top 10/15 law school, so I am wondering whether Berkeley's grade deflation in the sciences wil negatively impact me as a pre-law / law school applicant looking into such law schools. </p>

<p>I have a 4.1 UCGPA, Cumulative 3.56/4.1 GPA, 700M 760CR 800W (2260) SAT I, 770 USH, 770 Chem, 790 Bio, 800 MathIIC SAT II's with strong EC's in leadership, piano, etc. </p>

<p>Schools I'm looking into / applying for:
Johns Hopkins (ED)
USC
Tufts University
UC Berkeley
UC LA
UC SD
UC Davis</p>

<p>1) Considering grade deflation/inflation, which would actually be best to attend if I am looking into law school afterward? </p>

<p>2) Should I be looking for a school with a good chemistry department or pre-law advising?</p>

<p>3) Can anyone suggest a school to apply RD too >>when<< Hopkins rejects me that would be good in chemistry and / or pre-law advising?</p>

<p>I appreciate any feedback! :)</p>

2

<p>[National</a> Trends in Grade Inflation, American Colleges and Universities](<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com/]National”>http://www.gradeinflation.com/) can help you look up grade inflation at various schools (look at the bottom of the page). It also suggests that humanities in general is more grade inflated (by about 0.3 average) than sciences (but there is considerable variation between different schools; engineering and social studies tend to be in between on average).</p>

<p>Why chemistry instead of chemical engineering? The latter has better job and career prospects at the bachelor’s level in case you do not get into a top 14 law school. At Berkeley, both are in the same division (College of Chemistry), so it is unlikely that grade inflation or lack thereof is much different between the majors. (For what it is worth, the course homepage for Chemistry 4A (freshman chemistry for chemistry and chemical engineering majors) for fall 2008 says that it was not graded on a curve.)</p>