I am really set on attending a top 10 law school. I’m planning to get a 3.8 or better and a 170 or better on the LSAT. I am prepared to put in the work and I’ve learned from my mistakes in high school. It’s something I truly want to achieve. That being said, I’m attending Fairleigh Dickinson University. Since FDU is not Ivy or a ranking private school, will it hurt my chances or prevent me from attending an Ivy Law?
Not to worry: a 3.8/170 will get you into at least one T10 law school. (likely several, but you only need one to achiee your goal)
No one will care where you went to undergrad, for purposes of law school admission.
I agree with all of the above. That said, there is a slight institutional bias for the top 3 law schools. So, if you were to look at Yale, Stanford and Harvard, what is constant among of all of them, is they are all most represented by their own undergrads. Now, this could also represent that these same schools have the most applicants, so there are several things at work.
You won’t get “hurt” in the application process by attending Farleigh Dickinson vs. an Ivy, but there are enough posts on this board (including one recently from someone who was on 3 law school admissions committees) that indicate that Ivy/Ivy-equivalent graduates may get a small boost from the college name on their applications.
FDU is a fine school and is much higher ranked than the undergrad schools of plenty of my law school classmates; I wouldn’t worry about your college; with a 3.8/170, you’ll get in most anywhere.
If you get the grades and LSAT plus great recommendations you will be a choice candidate. My daughter graduated from USC and just got into a top 5. Waitlisted at Harvard though. She had good stats and amazing reccomendations. Her GPA 3.95 in two majors and a minor. So work your college program with excellent grades.