<p>Does the prestige of your undergraduate school matter when applying to law school. If I went to a state school for undergraduate(basically to save money) and got really good grades because a state scchool is going to be easier than going to any ivy. Would that be better than getting mediocer grades at the ivy. Does the fact that you are applying from just a state school hurt your chances compared to someone applying from an ivy or other private school?</p>
<p>If dosn't matter the prestige of your undergrad school, only your grades and lsat score, why spend the exta 35k a year to go to the private school? Considering when you try and get a job out of law school it dosn't matter what your undergrad school was right?</p>
<p>so, hypothetically, if a person graduated with the same grades and the same lsat score from harvard college and another from Arizona State, you think they would both have a similar chance applying to somthing like yale law?</p>
<p>I don't think so...
people keep saying that it doesn't matter where you go to undergrad, but if you look at the enrollment for Harvard Law, you can see that they accept MUCH more people from Harvard, Yale, etc. than they do from state schools. </p>
<p>But re: good grades at state school versus meh grades at an Ivy...it's hard to answer. It reminds me of what adcoms would say to "What's better? A in a regular class or B in an honors class" and they would always say "A in an honors class"</p>
<p>Arguably the best reason to go to an Ivy vs. going to a state school is that an Ivy is 'safer'. At most Ivies, with the possible exception of Cornell, as long as you do the work, you know you are going to graduate. Almost nobody actually flunks out, and those who leave do so because they want to leave, almost never because they're forced to leave. State schools tend not to care about whether you graduate or not. Their attitude is if you do well, good, if you don't, oh well, there will be another batch of students coming along next year.</p>
<p>I totaly agree there are plenty of reasons to go to an ivy or other top private school versus a state school. But assuming your only undergrad goal is to get into the best law school would it be better to go to a state schol.</p>
<p>At the state school the work is most likley to be easier. Which could lead to higher grades than at the ivy and also it would be Much cheeper.</p>
<p>So if you had better grades at the state school than you could get at the ivy would that be more bennificail or does just "the fact that you went to any ivy for undergrad" hold any weight in law school admissions?</p>
<p>I think money is a good reason to go to a state school instead of a top private, but if you're trying to outsmart the system, I don't think it'll work.
Your personal level of achievement will come through if you go to state school or private, imo. Think of it like college admissions...is it better to be #1 at a poor public school or #20 at a top prep? The college (in this case, Law school) will be familiar with how difficult your school is, and judge you based on that.</p>
<p>the work might be easier at a state school, but your grades might not be as high. I think if you just want to get into law school, you should look for a place that gets some respect and has out-of control grade inflation so that you end up with a 4.2 GPA or something.</p>
<p>But that's not necessarily the best option for you as a person, or for your education.</p>
[quote]
I think if you just want to get into law school, you should look for a place that gets some respect and has out-of control grade inflation so that you end up with a 4.2 GPA or something.
<p>They don't discount school with inflation considering much of the time, that law school is part of a University that does the exact same thing (i.e. going to Yale Law from Harvard).</p>
<p>
[quote]
I totaly agree there are plenty of reasons to go to an ivy or other top private school versus a state school. But assuming your only undergrad goal is to get into the best law school would it be better to go to a state schol.</p>
<p>At the state school the work is most likley to be easier. Which could lead to higher grades than at the ivy...
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I'm not entirely sure that's correct. In fact, in many cases, I would argue that it's actually HARDER to get higher grades at a state school. Yeah, that's right, harder. Why? Grade inflation. Like I said, at many if not most Ivy courses , as long as you do the work, you're going to get a decent grade. Maybe not an A+, but a decent grade. At a state school, the grade curves are lower such that you can work extremely hard and still end up with a bad grade. </p>
<p>Obviously the specifics vary from course to course and school to school. But the point is you cannot simply assume that you will end up with a higher GPA at a state school than at an Ivy. Often times, the opposite is true. </p>
<p>The other aspect is cultural. Let's face it. Many state schools have lots of students who, quite frankly, don't really want to study very hard. They'd rather spend all their time blowing off class to party and drink. And when you're around people who don't want to study, you will tend to not want to study too. It's a cultural thing. People are social creatures and tend to copy the behavior that they see around them. When you see people goofing off, blowing off class, and not studying, you will tend to want to also goof off and blow off class and not study. It takes a very strong person to choose to study when you see people around you partying and having a good time.</p>
<p>I had no idea that Ivies graded on a curve that consistently. I think I remember two, maybe three classes total that utilized a curve at my state university.</p>
<p>The "curve" is relative at top institutions. Considering that most of your peers are smarter in general, you will find yourself lower on the curve than you would at a state school. This is why they make the curve a little easier. There is usually a huge cluster of B range grades and only a handful of A-'s and maybe one or two A's. In humanitites classes, it is almost impossible to get below a B- unless you plagiarize or are completely off topic. In math and science classes, it is possible to fail and they usually give out a good dozen of C's.</p>