<p>Remember that the Harvard list is for 3 years. So, if a college is on that list, it means that there is at least one person from that college among the 1600+ Harvard law students. That’s all it means. </p>
<p>As for the number of folks with numbers above the median, 3 or 4 years ago, HLS said in one of those press releases describing the incoming class that 12.5% of the entering class had gpa’s above 4.0. Now, obviously, lots of colleges do NOT have A+s and Harvard College itself does not. But in trying to figure out the gpa you need, I think you need to bump up the numbers a bit if you go to a college that does give them.</p>
<p>While I think it’s insane to borrow $200,000 to attend an undergraduate college, if I could only help pay for one–undergrad or law–for my own kid, I’d pay for undergrad.</p>
<p>if your goal is law school, and you are 100% sure, an elite undergrad is not worth it financially. there is a small boost but not worth the price. you will go to a great LS and have a chance to work in a large law firm or whatever else you want</p>
<p>that said, i believe u-grad does play some kind of difference in your career. </p>
<p>first look at SCOTUS:</p>
<p>John Roberts - Harvard / Harvard
John Stevens - Chicago / Northwestern
Antonin Scalia - Georgetown / Harvard
Anthony Kennedy - Stanford / Harvard
Clarence Thomas - Holy Cross / Yale
Ruth Ginsburg - Cornell / Harvard
Stephen Breyer - Stanford / Harvard
Sam Alito - Princeton / Yale
Sonia Sotomayor - Princeton/ Yale</p>
<p>so 8 of 9 went to ELITE undergrads. i suspect there is also a career boost in law firms. if i had to guess a reason, it is that people usually bond more over their ugrad alma mater than their law school, and also have a preference for folks that have been “winners” since day one. </p>
<p>while a lower ranked school -> HLS will surely do fine, i can’t help but suspect u-grad does play some intangible difference at some point.</p>
<p>I also think there is a boost, based on what I’ve seen from this past recruiting season. However, I think it’s minor. I won’t blow it out of proportion and say that people coming from non-elite colleges are doomed in biglaw. There are many in biglaw who have more modest beginnings.</p>
<p>Also, it seems that an elite-UG gave access to valuable post-graduate job experience, which also seemed to make a huge difference this year</p>
<p>Thank you both for the comments. My HS son is only 30% sure about law career. My neighbor’s son, a Yale Economics student, landed a private equity job due to the Yale connection four years ago. Indeed, the student has to show the interest, motivation, and dedication in addition to his/her capability to make it worthwhile for an elite UG. And yet, for middle class families with multiple kids, it is just not very practical. At least, this shows that there is a decent chance for a top student in a state university to make it to a top law school.</p>
<p>If he gets the numbers, getting into a top law school will not be a problem.</p>
<p>Now whether he should actually go is another question, but you can ask that again in four years when we have more concrete data on the job market.</p>
<p>9 of 9 went to elite undergraduate schools–no need to diss Harvard. There’s an intersting Holy Cross connection to the court beyond Justice Thomas. Antonin Scalia sent a son to Holy Cross and Chief Justice Roberts married a Crusader.</p>
<p>the top undergraduate institutions ARE starting to examine the middle class squeeze and i think harvard now has a very fair policy on the matter. nonetheless, it can still be hard to afford all the “hooks” required to get into those institutions in the first place. as an example, my friend played competitive tennis since she was a young girl at a cost of roughly 20k a year. after a great young sports career, she got recruited by several top schools, even with soso grades. 20k/yr is too much for a middle class family.</p>
<p>but in any case, do not be concerned about LS chances. with the right numbers, you will get in, and you will do just fine in the law field. there are only so many elite ug -> top ls around, and it is much better to do “soso ug -> top ls” than “elite ug -> soso ls” (everyone will wonder what happened lol)</p>