Hi, I’m a Junior and am very interested in becoming a lawyer after college. I live in California and I presume I’m most likely going to be attending a UC.
Anyone know which UC campus is best for becoming a lawyer? (Berk or LA??)
<p>Berkeley's Boalt Hall, no doubt. LA has a respectable law program also. </p>
<p>cmon reach for the skys, harvard is the way to go =).</p>
<p>undergrad college for law? you want high gpa and high lsat. berkeley... its a tradeoff, more prestigious but grade deflation. it really doesnt matter, as long as you get a high gpa. i mean, berkeley and ucla send about the same number of students to harvard law. </p>
<p>if you're talking about UC law schools, it goes
berkeley (boalt) > LA > davis > hastings</p>
<p>go to the law school forum on CC. they'll give you more answers.</p>
<p>Your best bet is to join the Mock Trial team, and both schools have really strong programs. UCLA and USC fight each other every year to win their regional; they always end up going to one or both of the national tournaments. UCLA won last year's national championship, too (gold ticket).</p>
<p>The ticket, as kfc4u said, is high LSAT and high GPA. Boalt is the best UC law school, but how much of that will you actually get at Berkeley undergrad? Who knows...</p>
<p>i forgot to mention... yes, ucla does have the defending national champions in mock trial. i dont think law schools care so much about extracurriculars, but national championship in mock trial might be something different.</p>
<p>tons of kids try out for mock trial. they're very competitive. they have an active advisor that helps them out. winter quarter is all spent dedicating on mock trial, lots of meetings, in fact, they want you to take a lighter course load and consider mock trial as another class. stanford's also competitive in ucla/usc's regional. does anyone know if berkeley has mock trial?</p>
<p>I don't know the boost of this but my guess is they take their own. Look at the Supremes....can you spell S T A N F O R D???</p>
<p>I meant majoring in law for undergrad... </p>
<p>But I read on Berkeley's website that there is no "required major" for going into law school later on. Some recommends Legal Studies, but it isn't a necessity? </p>
<p>And as kfc4u said, is this the best order for undergrad UC campuses: Berkeley, UCLA, Davis? (for undergrad, again I say) </p>
<p>Thanks for the replies!</p>
<p>There's no required major for going into law school later on. I actually heard Legal Studies majors are less successful in gaining admissions into top law schools than other majors. The key is, get a super high LSAT score, and pick a major that you're interested in so that way it will be easier for you to earn a high GPA. </p>
<p>Recommended order for UC undergrad is Berkeley OR UCLA, then UC Davis. UC Davis has significantly lower admit rates to top law schools, but I suspect this also has something to do with the student body in the first place (more ambitious students enroll at Berkeley and UCLA). Nevertheless, there's even a UC Riverside alum currently enrolled at Harvard Law School (see their website). The bottom line is: it's what you make out of your undergraduate experience (and LSAT) that will get you into the law school of your choice.</p>
<p>Berkeley TOTALLY has a Mock Trial team, also very good. Berkeley and Stanford are very competitive in their league (same as the UCLA/USC face-off). Last year, Stanford won its silver-ticket national tournament.</p>
<p>Mock trial WILL help you in law school admissions. It's the one extracurricular every LSAT/Law School book I've seen recommends, at any level you can get it. It's hard to see how it wouldn't help: for a year, you study and take on the roles of attorneys (and witnesses) and argue through a case according to the judicial rules set in the fantasy land of Midland (where all cases occur). It goes from civil to criminal cases, depending on the year, and it's very intense. Regional and national championships have judges who at least have JDs (or some other high-end requirement like that), and it looks absolutely to be on one of the A teams of Berkeley or UCLA.</p>
<p>For what it's worth, not all mock trial teams are competitive. There are two UCs (I believe Irvine and Riverside) that don't have mock trial teams, and UCSC just started theirs this year (and got 16th place out of 30, plus a Spirit of AMTA award -- without any professional coaches! without an attached law school!) and they were actually in danger of being short a full team. Berkeley and UCLA, though, yes, extremely competitive.</p>
<p>... That aside.</p>
<p>While I realize you're applying for undergrad and thinking about law school, it will be important which law school you're near -- after all, it is a part of the school. The law students at Boalt interact regularly with the team at Berkeley. I'm sure the same is true at UCLA. </p>
<p>There is no required major for undergraduate, but as kfc4u and I keep saying, that's not the important part. The important part is a high GPA and high LSATs. Everything else is (important, yes, but) secondary. </p>
<p>I don't know where you heard that Legal Studies majors are less successful in gaining admissions, kfc4u, because I just can't see that as being true. Legal Studies won't give you a boost, but if it's what you're into, then go for it! The most common majors, of course, are political science and history (along with philosophy, English and some of the super-easy majors at the various schools).</p>
<p>I would say Berkeley=UCLA, Davis. Depends on what else you want from the school.</p>