<p>I'm debating between USC (Presidential) and Duke; problem is, I really like both schools and can't make up my mind. My parents seem to want me to go to Duke because of prestige--they cite law school admissions as their reasons for favoring more prestigious schools. But is it really that big of a difference? I got no money from Duke.</p>
<p>I’m currently a law student at a top 10 school (and the mother of a high school senior). I think prestige of undergrad can make a difference (though I went to a no-name state college in the middle of nowhere and still got into several top 10 law schools) but I don’t think there is really a prestige difference between USC and Duke. Neither are Ivy.</p>
<p>GPA and LSAT. That is all that matters in law school admissions. Prestige of undergraduate is factored in to a certain extent but only for large differences, i.e. Cornell vs. CSU-Fresno.</p>
<p>saradsun would know more about this than I do, but the general advice that I have seen here for pre-law is that your overall GPA and your LSAT scores are much more important than the name on your diploma. If attending Duke would require taking on a lot of college debt, the usual advice here would be for you to choose a less expensive option. Law school is fiendishly expensive. Save your money for law school.</p>
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<p>^What does “neither are Ivy mean”? You consider only Ivy schools as truly prestigious? You think law school adcoms are Ivy blinded, and are not aware of the relative regard for all the elite schools. Duke is not more prestigious than Brown (or USC for that matter) or of similar prestige to UPenn? U Chicago or Northwestern are not more prestigious than Cornell? Etc, etc.</p>
<p>I have no insight into how much weighting law school adcoms might give to the prestige of undergrad school, but if it is considered, I would not agree that it’s based on whether or not the school is a member of one particular sports conference.</p>
<p>Others are absolutely correct that LSAT and GPA are king. Having a higher LSAT is better than a 4.0 with a 162 LSAT however. But anything under a 3.75 is going to limit your options, regardless of LSAT.</p>
<p>hinsdale1, I don’t quite understand the combativeness from your post. In the realm of law school admissions, I don’t think there is a prestige difference between USC and Duke. If one were Ivy (or Stanford, etc), it might make a difference. I went to a no-name state college in the Midwest, so either USC or Duke is loads more prestigious than mine! And if your argument is that Ivy league schools are NOT more prestigious, well, I beg to differ. </p>
<p>I agree with others, limit your debt! Law school is super expensive and there is no guarantee of a well-paying job at the end of it. Before going to law school down the road, check out the bi-modal distribution of law salaries (for instance: <a href=“http://www.nalp.org/startingsalarydistributionclassof2009[/url]”>http://www.nalp.org/startingsalarydistributionclassof2009</a>).</p>
<p>^My post was not meant to be combative and I apologize if it was worded poorly. Your remark confused me and I was just asking questions to determine your meaning. Duke is regularly considered as a Top 10 undergrad school by many measures, where Cornell or Brown (or USC) rarely are - so your point that Duke was not Ivy and therefore did not result in any prestige advantage seemed strange to me. </p>
<p>Based on your reply, however, I have gleaned that perhaps you were referring to HYPSM as the only schools that would receive a “prestige” advantage, and that you did not really mean Ivy. So my questions have been answered, I believe.</p>
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<p>No. Duke is regularly considered a peer of the middle-Ivies. College rankings don’t place all the Ivies above nearly all the non-Ivies. Rather the Ivies are fairly evenly distributed through the top 20. MIT, Stanford, Duke, Chicago, Hopkins, Caltech, Northwestern are all not in the Ivy League.</p>
<p>sigh</p>
<p>None of these differences that may (or may not) matter if you are getting a job right after college are going to matter much, if at all, in the law school application game.</p>
<p>So I guess the consensus is to take the money? </p>
<p>I won’t owe anyone money (my parents are fine with funding even Duke at full tuition. But I feel INCREDIBLY guilty at the idea of passing up money–although they seem to think it’s worth it for Duke’s prestige).</p>
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I think Duke is a better school than USC. Given that your parents are willing to foot the Duke bill, I’d vote Duke.</p>
<p>Here is a good thread for your parents to read through that was started by an honors graduate of a public university nowhere as “good” as USC <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/905843-top-student-3rd-tier-school-four-years-later.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/905843-top-student-3rd-tier-school-four-years-later.html</a></p>
<p>As a parent who had to make a very specific choice about my own daughter’s education because of our family financial situation, it is truly difficult for me to recommend that anyone turn down a significant scholarship in the name of “prestige”. I don’t know whether or not one of these two is really “better” enough to justify the difference in cost. In my (admittedly limited observation) whether someone thinks that Duke is “better” than USC seems to be mostly a matter of geography.</p>
<p>Prestige might not help so much in law school admissions but if you were to change your mind about pursuing law, the Duke name on your resume would act somewhat like a safety net.</p>
<p>If your parent can truely afford to pay(with all of their retirement funds set), you may take the Duke option. However, I would personally not recommed it for the following reason:
- As stated by someone above, getting better GPA is critical. It is a bit easier to get higher GPA in a less competitive school.
- Looking at a school, I would use Return On Investment model. Is it really worth it to spend the money for the difference in education (assuming there is any) you get in return. Is there a guaranteed job at the end of the Law School?</p>
<p>Well, on the other hand, President Nixon was a Duke graduate. Has there been any Presidents from USC? I don’t know.</p>