Does undergrad prestige really matter for grad school?

<p>my logic was based on stats merely from lawschoolnumbers.com and from my discussion with law school students/grads... one is currently at NYU law and he said the law school is FULL of people that went to state school for undergrad... he said they might outnumber ones that went to top 20 schools. So I'm basing my logic off what I have heard or seen.</p>

<p>federerwannabe</a> | LawSchoolNumbers.com</p>

<p>The point is that your GPA won't be any easier, and you will be less prepared for the LSAT's.</p>

<p>And I'm guessing Kerry's LSAT's held him back more than his GPA, and if you have 2.5, you are probably bottom quartile at Yale. If you are saying that the bottom quartile getting into BC law is a BAD thing, you are nuts.</p>

<p>gtron</a> | LawSchoolNumbers.com</p>

<p>3.45 gpa at university of washington... got into 4 top 14 law schools</p>

<p>if i go to a cal state as a undergrad and do really well there can i get into ucb/ucla for grad school?</p>

<p>It is important to distinguish between the different grad/professional schools.</p>

<p>Law school-Law school admissions is about the LSAT. If you get a 170+ LSAT score and your GPA is good enough (3.5 or above), you will get into multiple Top 10 law schools. The only selective law schools are the top 3. You might need to come from a prestigious undergrad for one of those three. </p>

<p>Med school-Med school admissions is several times harder than law school admissions. A great GPA (3.8+) and a great MCAT score (95th percentile) are not enough. The top 20 medical schools are roughly the same in selectivity with acceptance rates around 3-6%. To get into a top med school, you'll need every advantage you can get. Not only would a top undergrad provide you with prestige/name recognition, the classes are smaller, the recs are better, the research opportunities more plentiful, etc. Not surprisingly, 70% of the Class of 2011 at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons came from a Top 20 undergrad as defined by US News. And this doesn't even include top LAC's.</p>

<p>Grad school-GPA and GRE scores are somewhat important but your research and your recs are most important. Top undergrads feature more and better research opportunities and your professors and mentors are likely to be at the top of their fields.</p>

<p>Business-Most of the top Wall Street banks only recruit at a select number of "target schools." Enough said.</p>

<p>yup that's what I've been trying to say... 3.5 GPA+ and a 170+ LSAT REGARDLESS of your undergrad will get one into multiple top law schools (even a 3.3-3.4 will do it). I'd assume it is easier to get a 3.5+ at a public and less competitive school than at MIT or Uchicago with grade deflation. I've seen people with 3.8+ GPA's with 165 LSATS go nowhere. </p>

<p>and for medical school? HAHA honestly I really don't think it matters where you go for medical school... maybe just to get into a good residency... but if hospitals need doctors... they will hire them from any school. </p>

<p>My uncle went to some random medical school in illinois and is making 400,000 a year. </p>

<p>Law=prestige</p>

<p>if I was doing medicine I'd prolly not work in high school at all.. enjoy my best four years and not be a nerd and go to davis undergrad then go to any random med school in the country...</p>

<p>Firebird44, people have been trying to help you and give you advice and it just seems like you're ignoring everything you don't want to hear. Why ask a question if you're only going to accept the answer you want to hear?</p>

<p>i'm going to law school next year (in the midst of the application cycle right now) so i've been investigating this question for a while.</p>

<p>there seem to be some misconceptions in this thread; first, someone said that "I think the 90th percentile is around a 169?" with regards to the LSAT; the 90th percentile on the LSAT is actually around 162/163.</p>

<p>regarding the prestige of the UG school, well, it is a factor, but it's a very small factor. law school admissions are primarily a numbers game, and a 3.8 from a state school is still a 3.8 and looks good for the US News rankings. from what i understand, the prestige only makes a real difference in a tiebreaker situation, or if the GPAs are close.</p>

<p>say an applicant has a 3.8/173 from state U and another applicant has a 3.6/173 from Yale. the law school will take the lower GPA, other things being equal.</p>

<p>when the Duke/Cornell/NYU/Stanford admissions people talked at my school, they all stressed that "all 3.5s are not created equal," meaning they do give weight to lower GPAs from tougher/higher-ranked schools. that said, the boost isn't nearly as much as a lot of UGs expect.</p>

<p>a lot of state U students who are applying to law school actually have really low expectations on their acceptance chances, due to the fact that they think their UG institution is going to hinder their application. that's really not the case, however, and many state school students go to top law schools.</p>

<p>the only time i've been able to notice that the top schools do show some preference is H/Y/S law schools seem to accept far more applicants from Harvard/Yale/Princeton than anywhere else. whether or not that is because H/Y/P produces smarter students or because there is some favoritism is the big question.</p>

<p>short answer: your UG institution won't destroy your shot at law school. a good GPA and LSAT will make up for a lower-ranked UG.</p>

<p>I agree with DSC....I can't imagine a 2.5 gpa would get you into ANY law school, so the fact Keary got into BC from Yale must've meant that BC thought pretty highly of the Yale degree regardless of the gpa.</p>

<p>Keep in mind, Kerry, Bush, etc. went to school in a different time period than us. Back then, the average GPA at places like Harvard and Yale was around 2.5. Today, the average GPA at places like Harvard and Yale is around 3.4. In other words, Kerry had the equivalent of a 3.4 today.</p>

<p>For example, here is how Duke's avg. GPA has climbed over the years:</p>

<p>Duke</a> University GPA Trends</p>

<p>Kerry went to Yale in the early 60's, even before the beginning of the Duke data.</p>

<p>ouch so the average gpa at duke is a 3.3... </p>

<p>and I most likely will not be an "average" student at Duke so I would assume my GPA would be 3.0-3.4? </p>

<p>Def not my school :(</p>

<p>If you aren't confident enough in yourself to think you can succeed at Duke, then why should a top law school choose you.</p>

<p>You have to be in the top 5% of people who take the LSAT, who are WAY more qualified and prepared than the ACT or SAT.</p>

<p>oh well yeah i didn't take a single practice test or a class to prepare for the ACT... so I'm sure if i study a lot and take a course for the LSAT, I can hit that mark. Just a matter of undergrad GPA... which I believe a UC school would be eaiser and less competitive than say an Ivy.</p>

<p>Once again - Public GPA's aren't necessarily easier, and harder schools prepare you better.</p>

<p>And please don't think you are the only one who didn't study for the ACT, but will study for the LSAT. You are taking the top 25% of ACT scorers and making them study much harder for the LSAT. So, don't use one to 'expect' the other. The fact that you can go to BC despite being completely mediocre is the part that should appeal about the big time names. If you become mediocre at a public, you go to some city night classes.</p>

<p>Also, a 29 is the 94th percentile.</p>

<p>Assuming the top 25 percent of ACT scorers(24 or better) is your population that takes the LSAT, you are suddenly only in the 76th percentile. Which puts you about a 157. Which puts you below BC's scores, who you didn't think was good enough.</p>

<p>kk thanks... good point</p>

<p>i guess i just want to save 120,000 dollars by not going to a private w/o finaid...</p>

<p>quality of education isn't worth that much and isn't that much different than a UC. just my take.</p>

<p>i would love to go to BC... i just don't like the idea of getting below a 3.0 at Yale...maybe I am over-estimating the workload and difficulty?</p>

<p>I think you are, UCLA, UCB, and UCSD all are considered to be harder to get good grades in than most Ivies and the like. UChicago is a different matter. You can make a harsh curve in an 'easy' school, and an lighter curve in a 'harder' school, and the 'hard' school can be easier.</p>