<p>Lergnom, You are really twisting what I said. I didn’t claim that “ordinary” students got into YLS from Yale. “Ordinary” students don’t get into YLS from any other college either. </p>
<p>The median GPA of Yalies admitted to the YLS class which entered LS in the fall of 2007 was 3.83, according to Yale College. According to the article Mike posted above, the cut off for magna, meaning you’re between the 5th and 15th percentile in the class, for the Class of 2006 was 3.82. For the Classes of 2007 and 2008, it was 3.85. That means the MEDIAN GPA of students admitted to YLS from Yale College put them just about the 85th percentile in the class. In other words, roughly half of the 40 students admitted to Yale Law School from Yale college were NOT in the top 15% of their Yale College class in terms of gpa. Mike’s guess that top 20% is probably good enough to get considered seems valid. </p>
<p>Sure, the competition is tougher at Yale. However, I think it’s self-evident that YLS admissions reflect that. If you want to get into YLS from a no-name college without a special factor, you’d darn well better be at the very top of the class. </p>
<p>BTW, being at the top of your class at Yale College does not guarantee admission to YLS. YLS cares about more than just numbers–and, obviously, LSAT matters a lot. </p>
<p>I’ll stop quibbling but again, IMO, going to Yale College most definitely does NOT hurt your chance of getting into YLS and going to some college in North Dakota doesn’t improve it. That’s the statement you made that I vehemently disagree with. </p>
<p>You still want to believe it, be my guest. But before any high school student aiming for a top law school takes your advice, I’d urge him to look at the info in the links Mike and I have posted and draw his own conclusions.</p>