If undergrad school really doesn't matter for law school admissions...

<p>“Additional information : Grading Scale A = 90-100% B = 80-89% C = 70-79% D = 65-69% F = below 65%”</p>

<p>Took this from a syllabus for an operational management class at brown. I just googled browns grading scale. On browns website they don’t specifically list anything like this which leaves me to believe that it is up to the discretion of the individual professor. But i’m taking an educated guess and i’m going to say that the scale above is the norm. </p>

<p>“Brown’s registrar reported that 46.7 percent of grades awarded were ‘A’s, 24 percent were ‘B’s, 4.6 percent were ‘C’s, 2.6 percent were no credit, and 21.3 percent were ‘S’ for satisfactory, according to Brown’s Office of Institutional Research.”</p>

<p>This was taken from a Harvard Crimson article. Again this reinforces the idea that the grading scale at Brown allows for many more A’s then there would be otherwise. I would guess and say over 60-70 percent of those A’s were A- at other schools.</p>

<p>Also i’m just going to admit that this is a sore subject for me personally. There is a good chance I end up with all A-'s this semester. Maybe a an A in one of my classes and maybe a B+ in one of them. This is stressing me out A LOT. Imagine how much better my gpa would be this semester if I was on the no plusses or minuses system.</p>

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<p>With all due respect, jonri, is there any data to support your hypothesis, particularly since the vast majority of colleges have distribution requirements, i.e., 6-8 courses outside your field or major. Only a few have a core, so it ain’t hard to find 6-8 courses that will have some interest. Obviously, the Lit major who gets into an Ivy took science in HS and did pretty well. Ditto the math-physics geek, who did ok in AP Eng Lit. Moreover, doesn’t Brown claim that many/most? of their students would meet gen ed requirements – if they had them – just due to individual course selection?</p>

<p>Fair enough, Patriot1208, didn’t see that.</p>

<p>All,</p>

<p>Do colleges or Law schools calculate class rank in each major based upon all and core courses? How does a firm determine the recruiting depth for a elite and a state college?</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

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<p>Firms don’t really look at that stuff…</p>

<p>I can’t give a cite for the fact that most people do worse in gen ed courses than in their majors. While I can’t give a cite, I know that there are studies that say that most people get better grades during the last two years of college than in their first two years. I’ve always thought this was in part because they are taking fewer gen ed courses. And almost everyone whose grades I know has a higher gpa in their major than (s)he has as a cum. Granted, I haven’t done a scientific survey. </p>

<p>While Brown students do take as many courses outside their major as those at other colleges, they have complete freedom to choose them and many students choose to take such courses S/NC. </p>

<p>I can’t cite anything on this point either, but I don’t think it’s universally true that most folks get more A-s than B+s. While Brown’s grading system could help those who do get As instead of A-, it hurts those who would have gotten a B+ because a B+ will count the same as a B. </p>

<p>My main point though was that it’s unlikely that half of the 20% + satisfactory grades would be As if the recipient had opted to get a grade. So, if they had been counted in computing the median gpa, it would be considerably lower.</p>

<p>My brother goes to the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Would he be able to get into a T50 law school from there if he has the numbers, or should he transfer to Michigan State to have a better shot?</p>

<p>[Undergraduate</a> Colleges](<a href=“http://www.law.harvard.edu/prospective/jd/apply/undergrads.html]Undergraduate”>http://www.law.harvard.edu/prospective/jd/apply/undergrads.html)</p>

<p>shows the ug school profile of last year’s harvard class</p>

<p>Transferring to Michigan State would not give you a better shot.</p>

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Great data provided. Although we do not know each application achievements etc… it only proves that students from a vast group of schools are admitted, not the most prestigous.</p>

<p>Would it be interesting to note that no student was admitted from Stanford for this class?
Note: Stanford is a world class university in a world class city.</p>

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<p>I see Stanford on the list.</p>

<p>That list isn’t just a list of schools from which students were admitted. It’s a list of schools from which students were admitted, and from which students chose to attend. Presumably, the list of schools from which students were admitted is probably a lot longer.</p>

<p>Xptboy,</p>

<p>Good job! Would someone know the number of 2009-2010 Harvard law student? </p>

<p>It certainly looks like HLS accepts students from a wide range of UG colleges. I am wondering if it is worthwhile to go to an elite college if his/her eventual goal is just a T14 law school. Nonetheless, it would be of interest to find out if a T14 law school may only accept students from a much narrower UG school range.</p>

<p>Yale and Stanford probably have slightly tighter ranges, but after Harvard I’m thinking the range is either equal or loosens up… I definitely don’t see the range getting tighter at columbia or NYU etc</p>

<p>Cal State Northridge got into Harvard, so I wouldn’t be too worried.</p>

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<p>Exactly. The acceptee from Cal Poly could have been Val, four-year varsity letterman, Goldwater winner, etc, (or not).</p>

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<p>…and might have needed numbers far above the traditional range of admits to get in.</p>

<p>I’m not really sure why you guys are saying such things. It’s always on the forums where pessismism rules…</p>

<p>The average numbers for Harvard are already 3.8x and 174+, and I’m also pretty confident that being valedictorian is nothing special for a Harvard admit lol. I’m not really sure how it’s possible to get numbers far above that traditional range though haha.</p>

<p>Anyways, I go to the university of tampa. The two graduates from my schools who went to harvard last semester did not have any ‘‘special’’ or ‘‘amazing’’ softs. The best internship either of them had was working in washington… They simply met the numbers and got in.</p>

<p>If you get numbers at or above median of ANY school, then you have a good shot at ANY school (except perhaps Yale and to a lesser extent Stanford)</p>

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<p>You can do the math and calculate how many people, per year, earn above a 174. The same with people who earn a 3.8+, though the number of the latter will be far higher.</p>

<p>I don’t think anyone here is being too pessimistic. But it is worth nothing that graduates of top universities might get some slack in the numbers range. I know people from my university who made it to HLS with 3.8/172-like numbers. They had nothing else special either.</p>

<p>Xptboy,</p>

<p>Please do not feel discouraged. As flowerhead has pointed out, the list of schools for admitted students may be even longer. It is a very useful information for students not in Ivies and for parents. I would certainly persuade my kid not to take out a $200K loan for UG. In return, he will get my help if he can get into a T14 law school in the future.</p>