<ol>
<li>UCB</li>
<li>UCLA</li>
<li>UCSD</li>
<li>UCD</li>
<li>UCI </li>
<li>UCSB</li>
<li>UCSC</li>
<li>UCR</li>
</ol>
<p>Does this seem fairly accurate? I'm finishing up my last year at CCC and I was wondering which school would be the best to go to if I want to go on to law school?</p>
<p>Which school would prepare me the most for the LSAT and acceptance to T14? Which school would be easier to earn a better GPA at? </p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>In some rankings, UCSD’s political science department is actually ranked higher than UCLA and Berkeley. Honestly, I don’t think anyone can go wrong at any of those three schools as a political science major. </p>
<p>The only difference is in the university’s overall prestige–Berkeley slightly higher than UCLA among those who pay attention to such things, UCLA higher among regular people, and UCSD below them both (again, speaking of overall prestige).</p>
<p>As for law school, your undergraduate education doesn’t matter at all. With very few exceptions, all T14 schools care about is GPA and LSAT. A 4.0 applicant from Cal State San Marcos would have a better chance than a 3.5 applicant from Berkeley. </p>
<p>If you’re 100% sure you’ll be going to law school, or any graduate program, go wherever you have the best mix of high GPA potential and low cost. For many, that’s a Cal State.</p>
<p>I somewhat disagree with the remark “A 4.0 applicant from Cal State San Marcos would have a better chance than a 3.5 applicant from Berkeley.”</p>
<p>This is because my friend went to UCB as an English major, graduated with a 2.7 GPA and then went on to UCLA Law School. You can not tell me that a Cal State sudent with the same GPA, background, LSAT and EC’s would also get into UCLA Law.</p>
<p>I believe that LA, Cal, and Davis have a ABA-Accredited law school on campus. Irvine recently opened a law school as well, I believe.</p>
<p>You are correct, hayward</p>
<p>@TonyPreMed2013</p>
<p>What was his LSAT score? A very high score can make up for a low GPA. If he had, say, 175 or higher, I think that would explain it.</p>
<p>Which undergraduate college was attended is one of many soft factors considered in law school admissions. It’s certainly possible for those soft factors to play a role, but they’re really secondary to LSAT and GPA.</p>
<p>Here’s one reference. Note the paragraph where he says what UNC CH told him directly:</p>
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</p>
<p>[Answers.com</a> - Does your undergraduate school attended matter for law school admissions or is it all about your GPA and LSAT](<a href=“http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Does_your_undergraduate_school_attended_matter_for_law_school_admissions_or_is_it_all_about_your_GPA_and_LSAT]Answers.com”>Does your undergraduate school attended matter for law school admissions or is it all about your GPA and LSAT? - Answers)</p>
<p>The other point he makes–which I glossed over in my previous post–is that what really matters is how a student did in comparison to their peers at the same university. So my 3.5/4.0 comparison assumes the same distribution of grades between the two universities. If one school deflates or inflates grades, law schools will consider that (at least, if they’re aware of it).*</p>
<p>I’d guess that it would be easier to get higher grades at a CSU, only because you will generally have less competition than you’d find at Berkeley. It’s easier to distinguish yourself as a star at a CSU–there are just more of them at Berkeley.</p>
<p>My main point was that the prestige of the undergrad university attended doesn’t matter. Law schools will not prioritize a student from Harvard simply because he had the high school credentials to be accepted to Harvard–which is largely what it means to be a graduate of a top-tier undergraduate university. What matters is how a student did within his undergrad college.</p>
<p>Yeah he had a high LSAT. I agree with everything you posted above</p>
<p>I’m going to study Poli Sci with law school as my goal, too. I only applied to UCB, UCLA, and UCSD, and what you’re saying is it might be easier for me to get better grades and thus stand out more at, say, UCSD? Going to Berkeley doesn’t matter at all, if I got in?</p>
<p>If law school is just a goal, choose Berkeley or UCLA. If you end up not doing grad or professional school, it’s best to have the more prestigious degree. However, if you’re 100% sure you’re going to law school, choose wherever you can get the highest GPA.</p>
<p>That may not be UCSD, which has a strong political science program. I’d try and find average graduate GPAs for political science majors at the three universities.</p>
<p>On a related note… I’m looking at law school myself, and in talking to some successful attorney friends of mine, they’ve emphasized that a new attorney’s prospects in this climate aren’t good.</p>
<p>As an example, he posted a Craigslist ad looking for essentially an intern–maybe a 2L on break. He offered $12 per hour. He got multiple responses from law school graduates, including one who did undergrad at Stanford and law school at USC.</p>
<p>There are a lot of mediocre, but ABA accredited, law schools, and many are a waste of money. Personally, I’d only go to a T14, plus UCLA and USC, since they’re so local. If a USC graduate (and others with similar credentials) were willing to take that job, I feel really bad for Southwestern graduates.</p>
<p>Interesting… I was told by a couple lawyer friends that even in today’s job market, if you go to a T14, you are pretty much guaranteed a job at a nice firm/ 6- figure starting. They did say to expect to be worked really, really hard your first year, though, but for 100k+, thats cool with me. It depends on your specialty, too. Plus, by the time I’d have my JD, it’ll be more than halfway through the decade, so perhaps things will have progressed further by then in terms of job availability.</p>
<p>I tend to agree–I suspect that USC graduate was near the bottom of his graduating class. I use that anecdotal example not so much to criticize the legal profession in general, but to warn against going to an unknown law school. If any USC graduate who passed the bar is eager to take $12/hour, you should really think twice before attending Western State University College of Law (etc).</p>
<p>to get into a good law school you need a high gpa/lsat. end of story. school name doesnt matter much and if you have a bad gpa just smash the lsat.</p>
<p>in regards to poli sci departments, these are on the mark but you should go where you feel comfortable and can get a 4.0 gpa where you can go to a # 1 law school where you’ll be at forefront when applying to law firms</p>
<p>Just to add on, my friend who graduated at UCB, did Law School at UCLA and then did an additional year at NYU Law School to specialize in tax. He was at the top of his class at both UCLA and NYU but found it VERY difficult, not to find a job, but to find a job paying more than 50k.</p>
<p>He ended up taking a position in Zurich, Switzerland</p>
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<p>Although beware of differences in [url=<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com/]grade”>http://www.gradeinflation.com/]grade</a> inflation<a href=“at%20the%20bottom%20are%20individual%20schools’%20average%20grades”>/url</a>. CSUs and the lesser known UCs may have less competition than Berkeley or UCLA, but also lower average grades (2.7 to 3.0, compared to 3.2 to 3.3), if you are concerned about that for law school purposes.</p>
<p>Most of the Ivies, Stanford, and Duke have even higher average grades, according to that site.</p>