<p>If you decide law is not the right path for you to take, a school’s reputation will help you along toward other lines of work.</p>
<p>1.) Top-tier schools might help on the LSAT, especially if being around other smart kids helps you get a sense for how hard to be studying.</p>
<p>2.) Going to a top-tier school continues to provide networking advantages after finishing law school. Mild, but not zero.</p>
<p>3.) From what I’ve seen among my friends, transitioning from a low-tier undergrad (even as valedictorian) to a top law school can be psychologically tough. Some of my friends are used to being the smartest person they know – suddenly coming to a place where they’re in the middle (or worse) in the class can be very difficult for them.</p>
<p>I don’t know if this results in any academic underperformance, although it’s hard to see how it wouldn’t.</p>
<p>4.) Going to a top-tier undergrad is fun.</p>
<p>I like bdmike’s response and his points are very valid. I just like to add that a highly respected honors college at some of the big publics might offer the same advantages as well.</p>
<p>somewhat in line with the op’s original question: would taking a light courseload hurt you?</p>
<p>for example, would attending uc irvine (an average school in the top 50) as a political science major (a fairly average major in terms of difficulty) and only taking 12 units (3 classes) instead of 16 units (4 classes) hurt your chances; would schools perceive this as not “challenging” yourself? </p>
<p>is it worth taking another class and perhaps sacrificing an A/A- for an A-/B+?</p>
<p>The A+ comment prompted me to wonder: will LSAC take into account that my school doesn’t award +s and -s when calculating my GPA on their scale? :/</p>
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<p>If your school reports your grades simply as A, B, C, then LSAC will award a 4.00, 3.0, and 2.67 for them, respectively.</p>