<p>I used to post quite often in this subsection of the forums but turned my focus more on college than law school. However, that question of where college will take me has been creeping up lately, and I was just wondering how most major law firms would view the following educational backgrounds and which college I should thus go to. </p>
<p>Right now, my top two schools are Cornell University and Whitman Liberal Arts College. At Cornell, the school I would like to go to is ILR, as I've heard that 30% of ILR grads go to law school. </p>
<p>At Whitman, the main interest I have in that school is their interesting looking 3-3 program (among many other factors). This program allows a person to go to Whitman for 3 years and then go to Columbia Law School after those three years. My plan in this department would be to major in Philosophy during my three years there, take as many AP's and dual enrollment courses as possible to maybe skip right to the important stuff, take a full courseload, and then go to Columbia after my three years. This would, obviously, help lighten money costs and it overall seems like an ideal plan (plus, I would have to wait one year less to finally start work as an attorney). </p>
<p>My main concern is that, because employers look at your undergrad stats as well as your law school stats, that I would be looked down upon by my future prospective employers and they would turn me down for only taking 3 years of undergrad (even though I would have earned a BA). Is this the case? Or should I go for it? What would those with an expert opinion suggest?</p>
<p>BTW: I want to work at a major law firm at first to establish a strong financial standing, be there for about 5 to 10 years, and then move somewhere like Colorado and live life as a public defender until retirement. I have no plans for marriage or kids at all.</p>
<p>Funny you mentioned this. I am actually pursuing the same program at RPI. My recommendation is not to think you are going to Columbia for sure. They have the power to nominate you, but ultimately it is still Columbia’s decision. I am trying to talk to my state school and have them grant me early acceptance to their law school if at all possible. They seem to be looking into it for me. We also have the possibility of going to Albany Law too, but that is third tier. Despite it being third tier, I hear great things about the law school. I hear there are many connected people who go there. I don’t mean to hijack your thread, but does anyone know anything promising about Albany Law? If I do indeed end up there, I could save 1 year of undergrad. I hope I provided some insight to you as well about the 3+3. It has very limited options, so it is best to have alternative plans as well.</p>
<p>AILE (the program at Columbia) is supposed to be VERY VERY selective. To turn down Cornell on the assumption that if you go to Whitman you’d be nominated yet alone selected for AILE would be somewhat ridiculous (though if you just want to go to Whitman over Cornell, more power to you). By the way, there are several schools that used to participate in AILE, but the program seems to have become even smaller in recent years. Maybe Whitman gets 2 kids into AILE every year, but I doubt its even that many. You’d be better off just going summer else and using AP’s and summer coursework, etc. to graduate early and apply to Columbia. But have you even been admitted to both Cornell and Whitman yet? If you’ve already been admitted to Cornell, wouldn’t it be binding ED? It’s good to plan early, but you should have all of your options first.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, I should have clarified that I am a Junior in HS currently. I have not submitted any applications yet or been accepted anywhere. Cornell is still a reach for me, but on the off chance I somehow get accepted I would be at a crossroads in decisions.</p>
<p>Your responses were a huge help to me. I knew that it wouldn’t mean guaranteed acceptance but I didn’t know it was THAT selective. </p>
<p>My main concern, however, in the decision is that if I go to Cornell, I doubt I would be accepted to ILR. I realize that when I apply to Cornell I would only be able to choose one school to apply to and I honestly do not think my resume is strong enough for CAS. I called Cornell once and they said that with the ambitions I have (Law school and such) that I would be perfect for ILR. The problem with ILR is that it means I can’t major in philosophy, which I heard is the best subject to study for the LSAT. I am not a natural born test taker and plan to start studying for the LSAT right out of HS, but even then I am nervous that I wont be able to get a high score. Perhaps I could just take philosophy courses over the summer though. </p>
<p>If you have anything to add now that you know I am a Junior in HS then that would be great thanks!</p>
<p>Actually it’s not. At least during the years '91-'92, '94-'95, & '03-'04 Math/Physics majors had the best LSAT scores (logic reasoning? who knows…). Although Philosophy is listed as second. Second to last: “Pre-Law”. hah.</p>
<p>But if you really like philosophy and want to study it, don’t decide to go to a school that won’t offer it as a possibility because it’ll “help your law school chances”. 4 years (or 6 for you, or 5 if you do that 3-3 option) is a long time, and you might change your mind. And then you might regret NOT studying philosophy.</p>
<p>Again, I’m not saying you will regret whatever decisions you make, but I thought I’d put it out there all the same.</p>
<p>As my info indicates, I am an ILRie at Cornell. I am freshman who is interested in LS. I would say that even though I still am interested in law school, just being here for one semester has opened my eyes to new perspectives and new career paths. I really would like to get involved with the labor movement, which would seem crazy just months ago. This point of the story is do not take a major simply because you think it will get you into law school or help you with the LSAT. While I am focused on LS, it does not dominate my thinking, I take courses that interest me, and I am prepared to take an entirely different route. I have talked with two ILR alumni who have held legal positions, one who went to Yale Law, and they both said do not use your undergraduate experience just as way to get you into graduate school. In regards, you can still take a few philosophy classes and that will suffice.<br>
I do not know much about the 3 and 3 options or Whitman, but I would say that ILR is a very distinctive and unique degree. It opens a lot of doors than more traditional degrees. There are seniors who are able to compete with Masters candidates for full-time jobs. You can find basically any application to the social sciences in ILR, so if you get in and can afford it, I would say go for it.</p>