Hi everyone! I was recently accepted into both Dartmouth (Government) and UCLA (Political Science). I’m a Southern California resident having a difficult time choosing between the two schools.
Dartmouth was the only school where I received financial aid, and I got enough to where it would be feasible for me to attend. I did not receive any aid from UCLA, but since I’m in-state, it is still cheaper than Dartmouth.
I am going to apply to law school, so I want to go somewhere where I know that I am going to be supported in the application process. The location of Dartmouth does scare me a little though, especially as someone who has grown up in SoCal her entire life. I know I would be able to adapt, but I also know I would be more comfortable being in LA. The main thing for me is if the Political Science/pre-law programs and resources at Dartmouth are worth it for me to give up the location benefit of UCLA for. I can provide more information on my thoughts if needed. Thanks so much!
For pre-law, you can do any major; the main criteria for law school admission are LSAT and college GPA (recalculated).
UCLA does have the possibility of A+ grades (= 4.33 for law school admission purposes, but 4.0 for UC purposes), but Dartmouth probably has higher grade inflation in general.
Because Dartmouth is a smaller relatively isolated school, be sure to consider social fit there, since it may be a really good social fit for some students, but a really bad social fit for others.
I’m a lawyer and have been directly involved in law school admissions at two national law schools.
agree you can major in pretty much anything, but make sure your undergraduate years involve a good reading and writing load. You’ll do a lot of both in law school. A course or two in the area of logical reasoning wouldn’t hurt either.
no difference in these schools in terms of being better for law school. Won’t matter at all. I wouldn’t be too concerned about pre-law advising either. There’s not a lot to discuss. Get good grades, study for the LSAT and get a good score and make sure you can get a few solid LOR… That’s it.
agree you need to understand Dartmouth. It’s not LA and of the Ivies it’s the one IMO with the highest risk for bad fit. And the school is the town and the town is the school. I love the school and would choose it over UCLA myself, but that’s my personal preference.
My son is a Dartmouth junior. He is pre-med, but majoring in a non STEM field.
He also grew up in a sunny climate and made the adjustment.
He is not pre-law, but tells me that the advising for pre-med is great. He also feels that his fellow students are very collaborative and Professors really get the chance to know their students. He got the opportunity to do top-level research and feels his Professors really care and will write him very thoughtful and detailed recommendations.
I assume it would be very similar for pre-law. If you can, I would attend Dartmouth Dimensions which was restarted after COVID or reach out to some current students who are majoring in political science. I believe Dartmouth now has a web page to make it easy to contact and chat with current students.
Best wishes! You have great choices and it is very hard to be admitted to Dartmouth.
There is not much to being pre-law. Just get A’s, lotsa of 'em, and ace teh LSAT. (And you can take the LSAT after you graduate so you have more A’s from senior year on your transcript.). The only thing you need from undergrad is a couple of recs.
full disclosure: we’re in SoCal and son loved his time in Hanover. Was a history major going in, but decided to apply to law school post-bac. Did great. But attending Dartmouth will not give you any additional boost over UCLA.
That’s HS you talking (which is fair, obviously!). You are probably not going to apply to law school straight from UG- the majority of students going to the top tier law schools do not.
Though you didn’t imply or state that UCLA has grade deflation as numerous other threads do, I thought I would link the average gpa of UCLA baccalaureates who seized their degrees in the 2021-22 academic year to show that there isn’t deflation, even if not inflation as possibly with Dartmouth.
Another consideration, since you know beforehand what profession you’re intending before you enter college which is admirable, would be to try to get out in < 4 years, of which UCLA is very enabling. (But then, too, many of those from the eastcoast – and from everywhere actually – would rather slow-play their time at UCLA, so they tend to go for a full four years.) All the best!
Edit: Let me link Latin Honors (LH) at UCLA for 2022-23 for the top 20% of graduating seniors. By using Engineering’s LH gpa range as the lowest possible with respect to rigor and grading, which is .07 of a grade lower at the 80th percentile, Cum Laude range than your presumed major within Letters & Science, one can see that a high gpa at UCLA is entirely possible as it is within Samueli Engineering.