<p>We’ve had some information for potential business/med schoolers, so I would be interested in finding out about law school placement at Bowdoin. I was thumbing through the Harvard Law School site and discovered that the number of Polar Bears at HLS is tiny, only 3 (<a href=“http://www.law.harvard.edu/admissions/jd/colleges.php)%5B/url%5D”>http://www.law.harvard.edu/admissions/jd/colleges.php)</a>, versus 19 for Amherst and 20+ for Williams. That makes me kind of uneasy, Wall Street Journal facebook derived-rankings notwithstanding…Can anyone talk about the environment at Bowdoin concerning law school? Is that a path that a lot of students are interested in pursuing? Isn’t the HLS attendance statistic odd, considering the ostensible strength of the political science/government program? I’m NOT interested in hearing “alot of students are admitted to grad schools”, rather it would be more helpful to hear personal anecdotes/firsthand experiences, if anyone is knowledgeable about the subject.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Don't worry about "Harvard Law School." Although it's a great law school, I think when the time comes to start looking at law schools (IF that ever happens, it is a common goal of many, although very few people end up having the opportunity to pause their lives for three years and spend $150,000-- just keep in mind that, depending on your college experience and life during and after college, you may be doing something completely different). But if you do find yourself looking at law schools, you should be at a point where your education is no longer just a name, a marker of some degree of prestige. Instead, you'll want to invest your time and money into a program that will best fit your needs and that is practical. That school may be HLS, but it is also likely that it will not. When students enter Bowdoin, they shouldn't be attending because of a ranking, or comparative statistics that make Bowdoin 'better' or 'worse' in some way. If Bowdoin matches a student's needs, the student should attend. It's not Bowdoin's responsibility (or Amherst's, or Williams') to place students in top programs. It's ultimately up to the individual student to gain acceptance to one of those prestigious graduate programs. Bowdoin can get you to HLS, and it can prepare you well. The 20+ HLS students who attend HLS aren't there because one line on their HLS application read "Williams College." They were individually better applicants than those who may have applied from Bowdoin or other colleges and did not get offered admission.</p>
<p>I agree with Aloutak's comments. If somehow you make it to HLS, you will find that your classmates are from all over the country and from all kinds of undergraduate schools. That's true of any of the top-tier law schools. You will be admitted to an elite law school based on your grades and, equally important I'm afraid, your LSATs. The name of your undergraduate school will be irrelevant if you did not have top grades and high LSATs.</p>
<p>Also there are tons of good law schools - Bowdoin grads go to law schools all over the country. Further, their post-law school opportunities will, to a significant extent, be defined by class rank in law school and law review participation. The best law firms are filled with graduates from a wide array of law schools - HSL is well represented but so too are many other law school.</p>
<p>The bottom line is you will have to get incredible grades and to ace your LSATs to get into HLS regardless of the name of your undergraduate school. And you will have to do almost as well to get into a range of other top law schools like UMich, UVA, NYU, or Georgetown (I don't think any of these schools were included in the WSJ study). And then you will have to get top grades and do law review to get a position in a top law firm. So unless you're hyper-competitive and super intelligent, it's unlikely that you are on the way to HLS and a job at a top law firm. </p>
<p>Finally, the WSJ feeder school rankings provide the roughest approximation of a school's effectiveness in getting its grads into top graduate schools. As I recall, its sample of elite graduate schools was very narrowly defined and limited and did nt include many top schools.</p>
<p>you can also do a 3/3 program, 3 years at bowdoin, 3 years at columbia, and graduate with a B.A. AND law degree...that's pretty nice</p>
<p>yes, the 3/3 program is nice - but it's important to note that people rarely use it (i have only heard of 2 people doing it in my 4 years here). i think there are a combination of reasons for this - people realize they want to have the "full" college experience, or go abroad, or etc., AND it's pretty difficult to qualify (or so i've heard).</p>
<p>I'm not particularly obsessed with Harvard Law School (as I know some people out there are), but they are the only school to post all of the undergrad institutions represented in their student body. I posted the link; other top law schools do not post that information.</p>
<p>Also I'm not asking about law school and how to get there; I am saying that, according to the most concrete information available (matriculation statistics from HLS), Bowdoin is clearly underrepresented. I don't give a rat's ass about what the Wall Street Journal wrote, I'm only interested in facts, and the facts say that Williams and Amherst have 7 students for every 1 that Bowdoin has at the country's top law school. I find that off-putting, to say the least.</p>
<p>I don't thing think the "off-puttingness" of a college should be measured by the percentage of students who go to one particular law school. If that is important to you, perhaps Williams or Amherst would be a better fit, but keep in mind that is only one very small aspect of a college. I'm sure that if any of the students from Williams or Amherst (or Harvard or Yale) had chosen to go to Bowdoin instead, they would still be at HLS. Bowdoin really does have just as much to offer, you just have to take advantage of it and convince Harvard you are right for the law school (good LSAT score and all...).</p>
<p>dunno why there aren't so many at harvard. but in my class at stanford there were a couple bowdoin students and, surprisingly, none from williams. i know harvard is a flagship law school, but stanford is equally if not sometimes ranked higher than harvard, so it certainly should have some cred. would the fact that there were no williams students in my class at stanford make you think twice about enrolling at williams? </p>
<p>i understand where you're coming from, but in my experience, the schools matter very little in whether or not you get into law school. particularly with harvard law school, the only schools with appreciable weight in admissions are, in my opinion, harvard, yale, and perhaps princeton colleges. beyond that...there's really no school favoritism. just get a high GPA, follow things you're passionate about, and score well on the LSAT (completely do-able). you'll be fine. at bowdoin at williams or at amherst. wherever.</p>