Hey guys. I know this thread has been inactive for a while, but I was wondering if you could help me out. I’m a high school senior and I really wanna get into a T14 law school. I was just admitted to Brown and to Boston University for undergrad, and I was wondering which one would give me a better chance of getting into a top law school. My parents can afford both schools (but barely), but I got a half-tuition merit scholarship at BU that would really help us out. Would Brown give my better chances of getting into a great law school or would BU be just fine?
I’d pick Brown, but not because it is guaranteed to help you with a better law school admissions decision (it’s not), but because the overall package of a Brown education (and the Brown name) will be better for your career.
This point has been argued ad nauseam, but the general outcome of these threads is that college is what you make of it, wherever you go–but law school admissions committees will consider the school name when they look at your GPA (since a 3.8 GPA from Yale clearly shows more brains than a 3.8 from Joke U.), and you might get a very small boost from having a GPA from Brown. I think that the peer pressure to succeed at Brown would serve you well, too.
If you’re set on law school and not incredibly wealthy then I would respectfully disagree. A top-tier law school costs a fortune (more than 75k/year for some of the top 5). If your parents have a certain amount put away for your education and would be willing to put money saved on undergrad into law school then financially it might be smarter to go somewhere good for undergrad that costs less and then have less debt post-law school.
Most law schools specify GPA and test scores are the key criteria. While school prestige is nice and more impressive universities might be forgiven for slightly lower GPAs, you’ll also be competing with students admitted to that prestigious university. It might be easier to get better grades at BU than Brown.
If you’re in love with Brown and think it would fit you much better than BU then it’s a hard decision. Or if you’re not certain about law school then having the Brown name could be useful for job search.
Just a personal opinion though. I could have attended a good, cheap in-state school or a top-tier undergrad. I ended up choosing the top-tier school and financially I’m now on my own for law school. Looking at roughly 280k in debt and talking to T5 law school admissions staff I’ve been told mostly that the undergrad prestige influence is relatively small.
If you’ll be covering law school yourself either way then it’s a different story.
Go for the lower debt, no question. Employers care where you went to law school, but very few care where you did your undergrad. I can honestly not tell you where any of my co-workers went to undergrad, though I know most of their law schools.
Since getting into law school is about GPA/LSAT and not school name, go for the undergrad that suits you best. You’ll get plenty of student loans in law school, and believe me you’ll feel paying them back. No reason to compound that with undergrad debt any more than necessary.
@HappyAlumnus @Lagging @Demosthenes49 Thank you so much for your input! I personally am leaning towards BU, not only because of the money (and the fact that I’ll be a presidential scholar there, which is a nice perk) but also because I prefer the social atmosphere at BU and because they offer a Journalism major, which I something I’d like to pursue and something Brown doesn’t have, which makes me rethink Brown. Thanks again!
Personally not a fan of Journalism as a major, unless one wants to go into Journalism. Instead of a “vocational” major, look for a major in the traditional liberal arts. (Getting off my soapbox now!)
Personally, if you were my kid, and I could afford it, I’d lean towards Brown for the experience and the grade inflation. Take those General Ed credits P/F. (Yes I know Brown doesn’t have GE, but the point is that Brownies can take anything or personal interest and/or to challenge themselves and not worry about a low grade, which for LS is nearly half of the admissions.)
Actually, I did something similar. Passed up some merit schollys, and sent kid to Dartmouth. Fortunately, he earned some nice merit money for LS, so not much debt three years later.
Full disclosure: also not a fan of BU’s urban-style campus.