<p>I was accepted into UT Austin, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara. I am a texas resident but I am very liberal and contrary to what most believe UT Austin is still very conservative and racist. If it was up to me I'd go to UC SB. However, I have no money at all for college and my parents make 6 figs. so everything will be loans. My question to all you law students is if my goal is to end up at UC Berkeley or Stanford for law school is the out of state tuition worth the benefit of being a UC to UC transfer? If so, in your opinion , solely on academics and getting into a prestigious law school, is UCD or UCSB better?</p>
<p>I am not a law student but maybe i can help. I am currently a ucsb student majoring in poli sci. I dont think it really matters if you decide to pick ucd or ucsb because they are so close in rankings. So if you mind is set to coming to cali i would say pick which school suits you best. Personally i love ucsb. As far as choosing a UC to get into another UC law school i feel like there is no preference given to UC students. Bear in mind that if you do spend 4 years at a UC and do in fact get into a cali law school then you would most likely be paying in-state law tuition rather than out of state. So if you wanna go to UCSB go here its awesome, ucd is in the middle of no where in my opinion. plus neither is more prestegious than the other.</p>
<p>The prestige of one’s undergraduate college bears no weight for law school admissions.</p>
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<p>What benefit would that be? Stanford is not a UC and law students are not “transfers”. Both of those schools are very expensive, so taking on a lot of undergrad debt doesn’t sound like a good idea.</p>
<p>1) Borrowing money to attend a UC at OOS prices when you have a great instate option is foolish.</p>
<p>2) Borrowing big money to attend an OOS public when you are contemplating LS is even more foolish.</p>
<p>3) Unless your parents are wealthy and the money won’t be missed stay instate. </p>
<p>Aren’t there other, more liberal, colleges in Texas besides UT?</p>
<p>Boalt will not care what college you attend for undergrad. Nor will Stanford.</p>
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<p>Incorrect, as least for the first year. California is rather easy to gain residency for Year 2 of grad school, however. Although it doesn’t much matter from a practical standpoint, since Boalt is rapidly becoming one of the most expensive law schools, even for instate.</p>
<p>UC Davis is a great school in terms of both law and undegraduate. I really recommend looking at UC Davis, do some research, look up at people’s experiences, and possibly go on youtube and search for some videos. I currently got accepted to UC Irvine, and I’m also a law school hopeful. Also, UC Daivs is one of my law school choices. I wish the best of luck, and if you have any questions, please ask. I live in California; therefore, I have a well understanding of the UC system.</p>
<p>“The prestige of one’s undergraduate college bears no weight for law school admissions.”</p>
<p>Yes it does. However, the difference in prestige among the schools the OP listed would make no difference for law school admissions.</p>
<p>UT-A is a huge school. I’m sure that you’ll find many students who are neither racist nor very conservative. </p>
<p>UG doesn’t matter much in law school admissions. To the extent it matters at all, you’d be better off coming from UT-A than coming from UCSB or Davis. </p>
<p>Stanford’s a private university. To the extent that geographic diversity matters and undergrad college distribution matters, you’d be better off coming from UT-A than either of the other two. (Both matter very little, but Stanford gets LOTS of apps from people who went to college in California. Coming from UT-A will be somewhat less common among applicants.)</p>
<p>If you go to a UC school undergrad as a non-resident of California, it won’t help you one iota getting into a UC law school.</p>
<p>Bottom line: There is no rational reason to choose either UC Davis or UC SB over UT-A if you are paying more to attend the UC. To the extent that doing so would have any impact on law school admissions, the decision would hurt your changes a miniscule amount. To go into debt to do it is a very, very, very (continue as long as possible) poor decision.</p>
<p>Agree that undergrad choice has little, if any, bearing on law school admission. Also agree with Jonri that, at a place the size of UT, you will be able to find like-minded students. It will be more difficult though if you go anticipating finding only racist conservatives. The best choice seems to be UT hands down because of cost, especially if loans are needed for the others. Save the money for law school.</p>
<p>I disagree. Maybe I’m wrong, or I heard different. But, I heard that undergraduate does make a difference. Reason being is that gpa, along with LSAT scores, takes a big part in the admission process. For example, getting a 4.0 at a local state school is not better than someone getting a 3.5 at Yale. So, I heard that school does play a role. Although it does not play a huge role, the name of the school may help you! This is what I heard from counselors, along with the research I done in terms of law school admissions. I heard that the breakdown is: 75% is the LSAT, 20% gpa, and 15% the name of the school. I think the name of the school will be a deciding factor between two students</p>
<p>For example:
Student #1: Undergraduate at Yale, gpa 3.8, lsat score 175</p>
<p>Student #2: Undergraduate Mississippi State, gpa 3.9, lsat Score 175</p>
<p>Although this is just an example, I heard that admissions understands that the undergraduate course work at one school might not be as difficult; therefore, making it easier to earn a higher gpa. </p>
<p>This is something to think about. Although I’m not sure this is completely true, this is what I heard.</p>
<p>Please, let me know what your opinion is. I’m on the same boat because I’m a law school hopefull.</p>
<p>^^^^ Assuming non-urm and average soft factors, the Yale 3.5 will preclude you from being admitted to HYS, while the 4.0 at the state u will not preclude your admittance at HYS.</p>
<p>Also both of your hypos will do quite well in admissions, regardless of school.</p>
<p>Lufebe, you are wrong. The only reason it might seem that way is because of self-selecting samples. That doesn’t even add to 100%, so I’m just confused.</p>
<p>4.0 at state u >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>. 3.5 at Yale, and it’s not even close. Law schools are judged by their median LSATs/GPAs (25th 75th percentiles as well).</p>
<p>People who argue undergrad matters usually are just trying to justify why they spent all that money for no reason.</p>
<p>I read a great post either in a thread in CC or on [LSN</a> :: Welcome to LawSchoolNumbers.com](<a href=“http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com%5DLSN”>http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com) indicating that the LSAT was (just about) everything when it came to law school admissions and I agree. Potential employers won’t care if you went to the U of North Texas, UCSB, or Middle Tennessee State if you graduated from Stanford or Yale law.</p>
<p>Sorry for the wrong percentage, I was typing fast due to I was in a rush. Well, so em’ I better of going to the lowest ranking school? There I would have an easier course load; therefore, graduating w/ a higher gpa. </p>
<p>I actually spoke w/ some counselors & they said that an undergraduate school does indeed matter. Law schools take into consideration the course load when it comes to a deciding factor. </p>
<p>If they have two students w/ similar stats, undergraduate is used for decision. </p>
<p>This is what I heard from counselors. I have a couple months on deciding what undergraduate program I wish to attend. So, I want to be sure. </p>
<p>Although undergraduate might not be a huge impact, it can be a deciding factor.</p>
<p>Answer this question: who is prepared for an ivy league law school course work? A student that graduated from a tier 1 school or a tier 4? These two students have similar stats. </p>
<p>I’m sorry for being stubborn. I just want to be sure since I plan on attending law school. And, I have to choose between UCSB Or UCI as an undergraduate program.</p>
<p>lufebe, all of the schools the OP is considering have about equal prestige. So it would be NUTS to pay a lot more money to go to the UCs.</p>
<p>OP, I know someone who moved to Austin, and there were 5 Unitarian Universalist households on her block. UUs are, as a rule, very progressive-minded. It is unlikely that one would have 5 UU households on a block in Madison, Wisconsin or most towns in Massachusetts, just to name a couple of well-known liberal areas. </p>
<p>I think you need to realize that you will be able to find “your people” at UT-Austin. Do yourself a favor and do not spend money to go to UCs.</p>
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<p>Sure, a 4.0 from HYPSM beats a 4.0 from Cal State every time. OTOH, a 4.0 from Cal State will beat a 3.5 from HYPSM.</p>
<p>Criminology is not a good major for top law schools. They much prefer a non-vocational, liberal arts degree.</p>
<p>There is absolutely no difference among the gpa’s from UCs with perhaps the exception being Merced. :)</p>
<p>Dont take out student loans for UG if you plan on going to law school.</p>
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<p>I had several friends in law school who went to Ivy undergrads. I went to a state university. I never felt that they were better prepared for law school in any way. I graduated with a better GPA than all of them. I also don’t think that Ivy-type law schools are any more difficult than other well-respected law schools. As I have said before, law school is difficult because of the amount of work - not the substance of it. There is nothing inherently more difficult in the study of law than many other subjects.</p>
<p>OK, ill take you guy’s word. My goal is to finish law school & try to be successful in life. </p>
<p>One question: Why is criminology not a good major for law school? Also, would psychology be better? </p>
<p>I"m planning on attending UC Irvine’s school of social ecology; therefore, majoring in either psychology or Criminology. Here is the link:</p>
<p>[Criminology</a>, Law and Society](<a href=“http://cls.soceco.uci.edu/]Criminology”>http://cls.soceco.uci.edu/)</p>