<p>OK let's hypothetically say a kid goes to a third tier university not because it was the best he could get into but because it was the best fit for him... now this kid maintains at least a 3.50+ gpa through college (history major) and does extremely well on the LSATs... let's say 170.</p>
<p>Where will this kid be able to get in for law school? will his choice to attend a third tier university severely hurt his chances for a top law school?</p>
<p>I'm going to pose a similar question while changing a few facts so we can see how substantial the difference really is....</p>
<p>3.5+ from Top 10 undergrad
170 LSAT
URM</p>
<p>shoo-in for t14?</p>
<p>Intransit that candidate you described is likely as close as a person can get to being a shoo-in for a T14... idk much about law school admissions but with a high gpa from a top university, an extremely high lsat, AND urm status that person seems to have really good chances at a T14</p>
<p>Anyways someone answer my question... no thread hijacking</p>
<p>To Datkid - I think that your chances are fairly good at the schools not HYS. If you want a solid chance at other schools, then your GPA should be very, very close to a 4.0. Consider that a GPA from a 3d tier school that is in the bottom 25% of an entering class makes you a poor candidate for HYS. So no, the quality of your school won't hurt you - it just won't help you get in when your LSAT and GPA doesn't do it for you.</p>
<p>Intransit - depends on what type of minority. Every year, there are roughly 20 or 30 black students who have the LSAT and the GPA to be competitive for a T14 (I think the exact stat is GPA of about 3.6 and LSAT of 170+, but not sure on that). </p>
<p>Hispanics get a strong preference as well, but not nearly that of black students. I'm not sure if Asian students get any type of preference and will leave that issue to sommeone else.</p>
<p>Hispanics and African-Americans typically score on average about 5-10 points lower on the LSAT.</p>
<p>A 165 will get you into HYS if you are a URM.</p>
<p>East Asians get no preference but there is some for South East Asians, Filipinos, and other under-represented minorities. In general, Law is one of the places where Asians-Americans are not overrepresented so at least there won't be reverse discrimination.</p>
<p>First, no one is ever a shoo-in for a T14 law school. Plenty of students who are qualified on paper get rejected every year. </p>
<p>Second, plenty of students from third tier universities get into T14 law schools. The difference, statistically, is that if you look at the student bodies of these T14 law schools, you may see none, or perhaps one or two students in a class from a particular third tier university, while you will see many students from what are widely considered top universities. Why? I think it is something of a chicken and the egg situation. Students who go to good undergrad schools tend to be good standardized test takers. Although the LSAT is quite different from the SAT, someone who is a good standardized test taker would likely also do well on the LSAT, thus enabling them to get into T14 law schools in large numbers. Are there plenty of other factors at play? Absolutely. Does anyone with good grades and good LSAT scores have a chance? Absolutely.</p>
<p>I note that the OP is a high school senior. None of us have a crystal balls. However, I personally think that just as college admissions has become more competitive for echo boomers, so will law and med school admissions when this cohort goes into the pipeline. </p>
<p>I think we can all agree that a 3.5 in history with a 170 LSAT--without something extra--won't get you into YHS. IMO, you have bad odds at CCN --Columbia, Chicago, NYU--too. </p>
<p>Putting your #s into the official lsac.org site, I found that in the last cycle posted--not sure if it's one or two years ago--fewer than 1 in 4 people with those stats were admitted to each of about 10 law schools. That includes folks who went to more highly ranked UGs.</p>
<p>While a 170 LSAT is top 1%, it is below the median for Columbia this year. I'm only saying this to put things in perspective. </p>
<p>Having said all that, IMO, do what is best for you now. LS is a long way of. You may decide you don't want to be an attorney after all. If you go to a school you enjoy, you'll do better academically. So, choose a college without considering LS admissions.</p>
<p>If you don't agree, then check out where students who attend the PARTICULAR college you are considering go to LS. That's more meaningful data. Most schools do compile this data--so ask to see it.</p>
<p>thanks for all the replies... and jonri i'll take your advice especially about going to a school i think is the best fit for me now. i have numbers to get into most of the colleges ranked 30-50 by usnews (and if i got lucky maybe a little higher) but my top choice right now is a third tier uni... it's confusing for me because a lot of the other kids in my AP classes are always like "why do you work so hard in high school if you just want to go to that school" i don't really know, i guess i just like doing good in school for the sake of doing good... but going to a third tier uni even though that school seems to be the most comfortable for me socially seems to take away a lot of the fun in being able to brag about where you're going to college... lol i guess it sounds conceited for me to say that but it's going to suck when all the smart kids are sitting there bragging about where they're going to college and i'm going to have to say something like "well i got accepted [insert tier 1 school]... but i'm going to [insert tier 3 school]" </p>
<p>i don't think i'll care once i get out of high school but that's going to bug me... kids thinking that they're smarter than me just because they are going to attend a higher ranked school. lmao typing this up just made me realize i have an inferiority complex... oh well once i get to my university i'll be happy there and the other kids will be hating school because they picked the one with the highest rating and not the one that was the best fit for them :)</p>