<p>missamerican: I didn’t say prestige plays NO factor in graduate admissions. But people tend to mistake correlation (concentration of students from elite schools at top grad programs) for causation (the name on the diploma is what got them there). Top schools are filled with motivated, intelligent students who are qualified and accepted to top grad programs. In terms of law school, this means that many Harvard, Columbia, etc students tend to perform better on the LSAT than their counterparts at say, University of Alabama might. However, the fact that more students from top schools are accepted to top grad programs doesn’t mean they are inherently “preferred”.</p>
<p>TAHUNGANH: I think you have it backwards –
If you want to go into finance as a career, go to Stern Finance and forgo law school (your awareness of the law as it pertains to finance will come with experience on the job, and a JD isn’t worth the extra time and money if you’re not serious about becoming a lawyer).
If you want (business) law to be your profession, go to either CAS Econ or another school, get a good GPA/LSAT, and aim for a top law school.</p>
<p>woodendynomite: Interesting stories (the Stern alumni network is strong, but cold), and I agree with your concluding remark – Stern is great for what it does, but, not to sound harsh, many Sternies fail to realize the narrowness of their degree. In most walks of life, the NYU name will get you much farther than the Stern one will.</p>
<p>Hey Yankee:</p>
<p>I’ll put my undergrad stats and LSAT scores up against yours anytime…</p>
<p>dang, those personal anecdotes really gives us a great perspective. Thanks for them woodendynamite =]</p>
<p>Just curious, what led you to attend NYU Stern, despite your father’s discouraging you to attend elsewhere?</p>
<p>hsseniorlooking: What are you talking about? No need to get defensive here. In my post regarding average LSAT score by major, I was simply pointing out a nationwide trend that liberal A&S majors (like philosophy, math, econ) perform better than MOST business majors on the LSAT. I was, in no way, implying anything about Stern, let alone you personally. I’m sure Stern students are capable of performing extremely well on the LSAT, as they are among the best students in the country. </p>
<p>And btw I haven’t taken the LSAT yet, but I’d put my GPA up against yours any day :P</p>
<p>shuffle: Without sounding too pretentious, I got into some arguably more “prestigious” schools (lower ivies, west coast ivies [including S]), and money wasnt a factor. I felt like if I went to any of the UC’s or california privates, it would be like high school all over again. Also, I wasn’t going to kid anyone-I knew I got into some of the hyper-elite schools because of AA, and knew if I went to somewhere like S or Dartmouth, I might be out of my league. THIS IS NOT TO DISCREDIT THE DIFFICULTY OF THE STERN CURRICULUM!!! Stern is very challenging, and I have friends at the other schools, and have sat in a lecture and I think Stern is very much on par with the best of them. I wanted a formal business education–I LOATHE science, and am not especially interested in writing/philosophy/literature, but I love stocks and finance. I was reading the WSJ for fun since 10th grade. When I went to a few of the admitted students events at each school, Dean Blount (well, ex-dean) swept me off my feet, and got me excited and motivated to be at Stern and Manhattan. They only had reps at S and Dartmouth, so it made me feel like they didnt care too much about getting numbers and making a good impression, and that really turned me off. I really liked the study abroad and the international appeal to NYU and Stern, and as a big foodie, the plethora of restaurants in Manhattan really sealed the deal. My dad was not thrilled, and was disappointed at first, but I have some family in Manhattan and the general New England area, and said they were a big pull factor for me as well. In the end, he respected my decision, and has since loved coming to visit when he can (which is a pretty good amount, since LA–>NYC every other weekend is not weird for him) So yea, hope that helped.</p>
<p>@nyyankees</p>
<p>oh, my post wasn’t meant to attack your post. noooob said, “then there is no point in going to a higher ranked school since prestige plays almost no factor in graduate admissions?” and i was disagree with that notion.</p>
<p>From what i can see above is undergrad degree seems less important than a grad degree :|</p>
<p>im gonna go ahead and venture to say less than half of the people that plan to go to grad school actually go ahead and do it.</p>
<p>Hey Yankee:</p>
<p>In the case of Stern versus CAS. I would venture to say that Stern admittance stats math, verbal and writing exceed stats for CAS. So how does that translate to a lower expected LSAT test score.</p>
<p>hssenior: You should read my previous post more closely. What I said, or intended to say, is that the AVERAGE business major does not perform as well on the LSATs than the AVERAGE philosophy, econ, math etc major. Stern is an above average business school with above average students, so obviously the trend does not NECESSARILY hold in the case of NYU. Also, it’s a bit presumptuous to assume marginally more competitive acceptance rates and SAT scores translate into higher LSAT scores.</p>