Do top tier law schools like Harvard, Yale, Columbia etc take the rigor of UC Berkeley into account? There are many times had friends at Ivy Leagues say that they have to do much less work with easier grading criteria than the work done at Berkeley in similar majors and I know that my school is known for purposefully lowering students’ gpas in a “weeding out” way, so I’m just wondering if top law schools take that into account when looking at gpa.
Top law schools know quite well the individual characteristics of the various schools that they receive applications from. That’s their job. That being said, the primary factors that are considered are GPA and LSAT scores. Then there are several other factors (about 10% worth) to figure in: does the school have a special program that you’d fit into well? Do you have obvious character flaws that offset your stellar scores?
To better gauge your chances, you might want to do research. The internet is filled with tables of how many get what LSAT scores and then it’s a simple math problem to figure out how many seats are available total in the Top 15 law schools. Then you can figure how many people are available to fill those seats and compare that with your GPA/LSAT combo.
Complicating factors may be this recession/depression. It’s too early to know if it will drive more people back to school or not. Law, the field, was overpopulated before the recession. Law schools, because people were afraid of being underemployed while saddled with debt, weathered several years of dropping app numbers and enrollment. Things were on the upswing in about the last two years–more people were applying to law school again before this recession. Will there be a sudden jump? Hard to say because hanging over people’s heads is the debt issue. How will that get paid if you’re at a job that pays 60K per year? Google the average law salaries and you will see that it’s bimodal. One group clusters around 70K a year then another group clusters around 160K about. One is average law jobs, the other is Big Law. One thing to consider is public interest work and whether your law school has debt forgiveness program at the school itself (not federal) for that form of work. That could help you with the debt issue.
To answer your question, most likely not. If you look at law school websites, it’s clear that law schools care most about GPA and LSAT, since those numbers are plastered prominently on their websites.
Law schools also like to brag about the big name schools they draw students from(Berkeley would clearly qualify) but there is no data anywhere to establish how or if this affects admissions.
US News ranks law schools primarily by matriculated students’ LSAT scores & undergraduate GPAs. A below median undergraduate GPA, therefore, will likely lower one’s chances of admission to law schools.
If you have access to a pre-law advisor at UCal-Berkeley, that person may have better information regarding UC-B students success at applying to the top ranked law schools.
The answer to your question is absolutely not. USNews does not account for rigor in its rankings so LS adcoms don’t either.
But your question is flawed and Berkeley (and UCLA) don’t have grade deflation. Their average grades, while not at H&Y levels (or Brown or Pomona or Rice), are still competitive with other top privates. Note, one of the top premed majors at Cal (MCB) has a surprisingly high GPA. And there are plenty of ‘Studies’ majors which are easy A’s and great for LS admissions, but not necessarily critical thinking skills.
Unless they’ve attended both schools, how do they know?
That said, one major at Berkeley does stand out for brutal grading relative to its peers and that is Philosophy. It’s a badge of honor at Cal, but kills hopes for LS admissions.