Best college in preparation for law school?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello, fellow CCers! </p>

<p>I'm a rising high school senior looking for some college tips.
Before I get started, here's some background info on me academically: I have a 3.97 unweighted GPA (my counselor told me that I'm in the top 5% of my class, but we don't officially do class rank), a difficult course load (all honors/advanced/AP classes), a 2360 SAT score (took it once), high 700's on SAT II's, and 5's on the few AP tests I've taken so far (at my school, almost all AP classes are only for seniors). </p>

<p>Given my academic strengths as well as my EC's, volunteer work, leadership roles at school, various awards, and great relationships with my teachers (looking forward to glowing recs!), I feel like--even though tons of incredibly smart and well-rounded people get denied every year--I have a pretty decent chance getting into Harvard if I apply SCEA. This would be great not only because Harvard is an amazing school, but also because I'm planning to apply to law school after college, and tons of Harvard undergrads interested in law get into we'll-respected law schools. Now, if I don't get into Harvard as an undergrad, what's important to me is that I attend a school that will give me the education I need to succeed in law school...and the ability to even get into a top law school in the first place!</p>

<p>So:
I'm a New England gal, born and raised, and I'm dead set on attending college in Massachusetts, preferably close to Boston. What I'm wondering is, besides Harvard, what other schools would be a good fit for me, given my academic ability and my desire to attend law school?</p>

<p>(Just FYI, I would probably want to focus on philosophy, English, and psychology in college...typical pre-law majors...)</p>

<p>Thanks to anyone who responds! :)</p>

2

<p>Williams, Amherst, MIT, Smith, Tufts, BC, or BU, pretty much in that order, though honestly you can get a great pre-law education almost anywhere, and your admission chances will depend largely on your GPA and LSAT score. My guess is you already know that.</p>

3

<p>Law school admissions is now almost entirely driven by college GPA and LSAT scores. Go someplace you want to be for undergrad, study hard and do well at almost any major, and you’ll be in good shape for law school. Be aware, however, that the market for newly minted lawyers is not what it once was. Even at places like Harvard Law, the people in the bottom half of the class are having a hard time landing jobs, or at least the kind of jobs they had hoped to get.</p>

<p>In addition to the schools named in post #2, I’d certainly add Wellesley near the top of the list. Mount Holyoke and Brandeis are also fins schools.</p>

4

<p>^^^ Totally agree.</p>

5

<p>If pre-law is your only motivation, then a college with low cost (save money and avoid debt because law school is expensive) and high grade inflation relative to student competitiveness would be the optimal choice. As others have said, law school admissions is mostly GPA and LSAT based. Note that a college where A+ grades are possible may be slightly advantageous over one where +/- grades are possible except for A+, since law school admissions counts A+ grades as 4.33 (even if your college does not).</p>

<p>[Welcome</a> to LawSchoolNumbers.com | Law School Numbers](<a href=“Recently Updated J.D. Profiles | Law School Numbers”>http://lawschoolnumbers.com/) can give you an idea of GPA and law school needed to get into various law schools (top 14 is what you want to aim for if you want decent job prospects after getting a law degree, since law hiring is law-school-prestige-conscious, though a slightly lower ranked school with a good regional reputation may be decent in that region).</p>

<p>Note that math and philosophy majors tend to do well on the LSAT, probably because their majors include logical thinking which is tested on the LSAT (take a look at sample LSAT questions).</p>