<p>Hello everyone,</p>
<p>First time poster on the law page. I'm hoping you can give me some insight into the following question:</p>
<p>My son was just accepted to Stanford for undergrad. He still has applications in at Duke and Vandy and will hear in April. We are an upper middle class family that won't qualify for any "need" based aid but coming up with 50K+ per year will certainly be a stretch in light of recent losses in 529 investments and home equity. While I am putting the cart before the horse here, assuming he gets accepted to Duke or Vandy AND assuming he gets a "merit" based scholarship from either school (Stanford gives no merit based aid), will turning down Stanford in any way hurt his chances in getting into a top 14 law school?</p>
<p>He loves all 3 schools and is frankly indifferent which one he attends, they all have many positive features and few negative ones and he can see himself attending any of them. So "fit" is really not an issue.</p>
<p>Additionally, we know law schools give great weight to LSAT scores and GPA, so does the difference in undergrad school, with all other things being equal, have an impact on where he ends up 4 years from now? </p>
<p>We've told him that if we can save on his undergrad degree, we'll gladly use that savings to help pay for law school. Any informed opinions would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>P.S. My husband is a local Deputy DA (gang homicide prosecutor) and loves his job but went to Western State Law School in Fullerton, not exactly a prestigious one! He has told our son that it makes no difference how great of a trial lawyer he is, the doors to the prestigious firms are permenantly closed because of his lineage. The point I'm trying to make is we have some experience on the issue but not when it comes to the high end colleges or law schools.</p>