Here’s my situation. I chose to attend UT (specifically Mccombs, the business school) b/c it was a solid 50k a year less than out-of-state options, and I wanted to minimize the amount of money I have to borrow for law school. Mccombs isn’t a bad school by any means (around 7th in the country for business undergrad, 19% acceptance rate) but it lacks the name recognition that traditional top private schools (HYP, cornell, stanford etc.) have. I’ve heard a ton of different takes on the role undergrad name plays in law school admissions (many on this forum), from people saying it doesn’t matter when compared to LSAT/GPA to others saying that top law schools literally have a minimum quota for what percent of the incoming 1L class comes from prestigious private schools. Which is it?
Well Harvard Law has 174 colleges represented there.
So what does that tell you?
Cal State LA. Auburn Fairleigh Dickinson. Michigan State. Arkansas. Kentucky. UT Dallas.
I think MCCombs, maybe just barely, would make the cut 
I have never heard that law schools have a quota from certain undergrads. That sounds crazy. There will likely be more students from top undergrads at top law schools because those schools have a higher concentration of students who do well on standardized tests and in classes.
Very good point - because those are the same schools whose kids did well to get into a top school to begin with. But most every school has those kids - just not in as high a concentration.
But the where matters little. And this student is at UT - if it did matter
Don’t second guess your strategy – minimizing undergrad debt for someone interested in law school is a top priority because law school typically involves massive debt.
Law school admissions is almost entirely about the numbers – gpa and LSAT – not undergrad reputation or even major. As @tsbna44 noted, HLS’s class is made up of students from a wide array of schools. At the same time, since many of the Ivy league schools have heavy grade inflation, and students at those schools already showed they could excel in standardized test taking, you will see a lot of Ivy League students at top law schools. But there is nothing remotely resembling a quota for admission from certain undergrads.
Law school admission during the pandemic has been more unpredictable than before, in large part because the LSAT was changed to adapt to the pandemic – it was given virtually and had fewer sections, removing the two big stressors in the experience. So LSAT scores shot up and LSAT medians at schools rose, making admissions data from even a few years ago meaningless. There is a sense that those higher LSAT scores are mostly now, in school and no longer applying, so there is speculation that medians will drop a little.
I think you made a wise choice. McCombs is a top business school. To answer, law schools don’t have a “prestige” quota. Law school admissions is a holistic process that looks mainly at top grades, course/major rigor, and LSAT scores. Also, you have a top law school right where you’re at. Get top grades and LSAT scores, and you have a decent chance of going to UT law. You’ll get out with far less debt than you would going to a private law school. And the bar pass is 91%.
“[Y]ou have a top law school right where you’re at. Get top grades and LSAT scores, and you have a decent chance of going to UT law. You’ll get out with far less debt than you would going to a private law school. And the bar pass is 91%.”
This.
My cousin graduated from Trinity Christian College–a school of 600 students at the time. He had no problem getting into law school. I think you’ll be fine.
In my Son’s T14 law school, many of the 1L students are from top tier universities. There are few students from lower tier schools or schools one never heard of, which I assume have very high LSAT scores and GPA to gain admission. From these lower tier schools, usually only one from that particular school make it. In contrast, each school, UCLA, UCB, USC, Notre Dame, Michigan, Ivies, etc., are represented by multiple numbers, say anywhere from 2 or more graduates from each of those schools. Since UT Austin is a high tier undergraduate school, you should be fine. Just maintain a high GPA and score well on the LSAT if you aspire for a T14 school.
I graduated from SMU. I got into Yale and Georgetown Law Schools. I did alright.
I think this is more a function of being able to get into those schools as undergrads.
In other words, if they went to Providence or St Mary’s instead of Notre Dame, they’d likely have the same result. But they don’t. They choose Notre Dame.
The top undergrad admits will likely be the top law admits for that reason.
If you said Southern Missouri instead of Methodist, your point would have validity. SMU. Not a slouch.
Well, of course. Pre covid, “top tier universities” select out poor test takers. So, kids who score high on the SAT/ACT to get into “top tier” undergrads are already very good test takers, so they are already predisposed to do well on the LSAT (which is a very learnable test). So, by definition top tier undergrads will be over-represented in T14.
Other than the smaller schools* (traditionally Yale & Stanford, but now Chicago) LS admission is ~95% two numbers – GPA + LSAT – high test takers, regardless of what undergrad they attend.
*High test scores are are a given at these 3, but background/EC’s also matter.
I took the LSAT this year at home. They do a thorough sweep of the room & no bathroom breaks of needed - just the requisite ones. I had 4 sections. Of them, one repeated (logic). It was a practice test for them to administer at a later date on another LSAT. However, I didnt know which of the two logic sections counted in calculating my score. Did the pandemic LSATS have less than four sections?
For some period during the pandemic, there were only 3 sections.
Pre-pandemic, there were 5 sections – 1 LG, 1 Reading, 2 LR, plus 1 additional which didn’t count towards scoring and was used to validate questions for future tests. Test takers didn’t know which was the unscored section. The stress of in-person testing was high, as there strict rules about what could come into the test center room (no phones, and no locked space to put them), and long delays in processing students into the room. Testing – from arrival at test center to departure, could be up to 5 hours, especially with delays associated with rolling out the electronic format on tablets for in person testing during 2019.
One’s undergraduate school is typically not a factor in the law school admissions process which focuses on an applicant’s LSAT score & undergraduate GPA (and URM status,but that may have been affected by recent US Supreme Court cases).
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