Not sure where to go for undergrad

Graduate School Law School
1

<p>I'm currently deciding between Bucknell and Schreyer Honors College and Penn State University. At the moment, I feel like I'm leaning toward Bucknell. Nontheless, I just receieved a list of law schools that 2005 Bucknell graduates attended, and honestly I'm rather concerned. Here is the breakdown:</p>

<p>Albany law school - 1, American University - 2, Boston University - 1,
Brooklyn law school - 1, Case Western -1, Cleveland State University -1,
Columbia University -1, DePaul University -1, Duquesne University - 1,
Florida Coastal school of law -1, Fordham University - 1, Franklin Pierce law center -2, George Washington University - 1, Hofstra University - 2,
Indiana University - 1, NYU -1, Northeastern University - 2, Penn state - 2,
Pittsburgh University - 1, Rutgers - 1, Santa Clara school of law -1, Seton hall University - 1, Syracuse University - 2, Temple University - 1, University of Baltimore -1, UMich -1, Vanderbilt University - 1, Wake Forest -1, WAshington and lee- 1, Widener university -2, Unknown -2.</p>

<p>Most of these schools are ranked rather low, which makes me question the academic integrity and career planning capabilities of Bucknell. </p>

<p>I'm not sure how much better Schreyer will be, but its staff does boast that it has 100% graduate school placement and that most students get into their top choice. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.</p>

2

<p>Rath --</p>

<p>Boston, Columbia, NYU, Michigan, and Vanderbilt are all represented in that list. Bear in mind that more people are going to go to the bottom 100+ law schools than are going to go to the top 14. That said, I know absolutely nothing about either of the schools between which you're deciding. There have been eight hundred recent "which undergrad" threads recently, though, so just scroll down and see what kind of info you come up with.</p>

<p>The basic summary is "Going to a good school certainly won't hurt you, but name won't override a poor GPA/LSAT. Going to a lower-ranked school won't keep you out of top law schools if you have a strong enough GPA/LSAT. Go where you want to go and where you'll be happy (and hopefully do the best)."</p>

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<p>I would take the Schreyers statistic with a grain of salt, as a 100% graduate school placement is a misleading statistic. People who apply to law schools and graduate schools do not apply blindly. For example, if I have a 3.2 GPA and 157 LSAT, I will not be limiting my applications to Yale, Harvard, and Stanford. My top choice might be Duquesne University Law School, because I know that it is within reach. 100% could mean that everyone who applied was accepted at their fourth tier school of choice. I'm positive that this is not the case at Schreyers, but I'm also quite sure that they do not have 100% acceptance at HYS.</p>

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<p>yeah that 100% figure probably means "everyone gets to go to grad school" which really isnt that impressive!</p>

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<p>"makes me question the academic integrity and career planning capabilities of Bucknell."</p>

<p>Well, you should take into account that the LSAT is a huge factor in who gets in where, and different colleges have very different mean LSATs. Also remember that over the last 5 years, the highest average LSAT of any college in the country has been 165/166. In other words, even at the highest-scoring college in the country, less than half the law school-bound seniors are going to be strong candidates for the T6.</p>

<p>"100% figure probably means "everyone gets to go to grad school" which really isnt that impressive!"</p>

<p>Yep. The law school admit rate for HYP grads is not 100%, even though virtually every could get into a 4th tier. Almost everyone I knew applied only to the T14; many only to the T6. At those colleges, if you don't get in where you're aiming, you don't go to law school, at least not right away. One of my friends ended up at a law school ranked 25-30, and that was widely viewed as an admissions catastrophe. It's a skewed outlook, but that's the culture. (BTW, my friend now works at the same kind of firm as the kids that got into NYU and Columbia, so he had the last laugh.)</p>