Best and toughest pre-law programs

Graduate School Law School
21

<p>


</p>

<p>Top 10:</p>

<ol>
<li>Harvard University</li>
<li>Yale University</li>
<li>Princeton University</li>
<li>Stanford University</li>
<li>Williams College</li>
<li>Duke University</li>
<li>Dartmouth College</li>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>Amherst College
10.Swarthmore College</li>
</ol>

<p><a href="http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf&lt;/a>
(.pdf with top 50)</p>

22

<p>If I recall correctly, the study is flawed because it only accounts for acceptances at the top three law schools and business schools.</p>

23

<p>it used the top 15 schools (click the link, it names 3 but says shortly afterwards that they used 15)</p>

24

<p>It uses the top 5 of each, and the study assumes that the same proportions are roughly the same for other top schools, I think.</p>

25

<p>well i looked at some stats for cornell career services, only 20 percent go onto law school, i think it is much higher for a place like Duke</p>

26

<p>So it's best to go to a top undergrad if you want to get into law? What about less prestigious schools like UCLA, Michigan (ann-arbor), Wisconsin (madison), North Carolina (chapel hill), JHU, etc.?</p>

27

<p>JHU is incredibly prestigious, but does horrible with law placement, only 4 kids at Harvard law.....</p>

28

<p>Yeah, your list of less prestigious schools sounds fairly prestigious. People from these schools have the potential of going to top law schools. The thing is, smaller cuts from these schools will be taken than Harvard, for instance, at top law schools.</p>

29

<p>A few things.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>That list is not "unprestigious"</p></li>
<li><p>It's true that it seems for example at Harvard Law, there are more kids from "higher ranked" schools than say, Chico State. But, that might just indicate people who are in ivy league schools already have the desire and academic talent to excel on the LSAT.</p></li>
<li><p>The key here is that the things which matter most for law school are the LSAT and undergraduate GPA. Yes, a 4.0 at Harvard is more impressive than a 4.0 at the University of Iowa. BUT, the LSAT is so important that a Iowa grad with a 168/3.4, in my opinion, would be more impressive than a 3.5/164 from Tufts. Check <a href="http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.lawschoolnumbers.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li>
</ol>

<p>Remember, law school is expensive and you might change your mind about attending while at college. Don't go 120,000 dollars into debt when a 3.7 from a state school with a 170 LSAT will get you into 99.5% of law schools.</p>

30

<p>yeah, but its that 0.5% of law schools that most of us are gunning for.</p>

<p>and yeah, while i know that those schools are extremely prestigious, they are slightly less prestigious than hypms. how is madison for "pre-law" (if there is such a thing) i want to get into harvard law, and im wondering what the best option i have is. (im a junior in high school btw)</p>

31

<p>Well, there is obviously no specific ranking for pre-law. But a few things:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Madison has highly ranked programs (all are top 5-10 or 15 in the country) in political science, communications, sociology, history, and economics. These are the most popular majors for law students. So it's safe to say the reputation of the education and the training for the LSAT/law school will be solid.</p></li>
<li><p>Law school is incredibly expensive. You have in-state tuition, it'd be silly to pass that up.</p></li>
<li><p>Wisconsin places students in basically every law school each year. Harvard and Yale, yes, but of the "top" schools, it seems Chicago is the most popular. </p></li>
<li><p>The most important factors for law school are the GPA/LSAT. I will argue, despite what some of the nearly obsessive prestige based posters will tell you, the combination of top departments, in state tuition, and the fact it's still a top tier school make Madison a better choice for pre-laws than 99.5% undergraduate schools in the country. A 3.7+, 173+ from Madison is going to have as great of a shot for Harvard law as anyone else (except maybe Harvard students).</p></li>
</ol>