<p>I'm currently a high school senior and it's getting down to those final months and almost time to make my decision. I'm hoping, after undergrad, to work a year or two on Capital Hill in a congressional office and then either attend law school or graduate school. The final product I'm hoping for (at the moment) is a job a lobbying firm.</p>
<p>My question is this though: I know law school is expensive. It's a possibility I may get into UPenn for undergrad and end up incredibly in debt. On the same note, Randolph-Macon College in Richmond is currently offering me a fairly substantial scholarship. Assuming I'd do well at either college (and I'd totally pick lesser debt if it won't hurt me in the long run), would attending a school of lesser prestige hurt me in the law / grad school process? I'm not hoping to attend Harvard or Yale for grad or law, but possibly Georgetown or Brown.</p>
<p>edit: and I just noticed there's a thread already made that's somewhat similiar to this one...</p>
<p>At the moment, it looks as if American and Wake Forest may be giving me money, as well as being instate of U of MD. Randolph - Macon basically leaves me in the least prospective debt.</p>
<p>Prestige doesn't matter. Go with the cheapest one and get the highest GPA, LSAT. I used to want to go to law school until I realized I could go into ibanking and make a lot more and do the same work.</p>
<p>Although supposedly only GPA and LSAT scores matter, I'd still recommend picking the better school over the other ones. (I haven't heard of any of the others.) The quality of your undergraduate education does matter. If you pick a school with tougher undergraduate academics, it may help prepare you for the curriculum at a top law school. </p>
<p>On a personal level, I got the Regents scholarship to UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, full-ride to a state university, and partial scholarship to U Michigan, Ann-Arbor, but I'm at Berkeley, with no school-funded scholarship money. Maybe I made the wrong decision, but hey, so far there are no regrets.</p>
<p>"I used to want to go to law school until I realized I could go into ibanking and make a lot more and do the same work."</p>
<p>Huh???</p>
<p>Anyway.</p>
<p>OP: While the "prestige" factors is not that important for law school admissions, there is no guarantee that you will stick to the plan of attending LS. For that reason, it would be wise to choose the best school you can go to. That way, if you change your mind you will still have many options and doors open to you.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, if you decide to attend a "lesser" school, you would will certainly need near perfect numbers to compensate. A personal friend decided to attend a no-name state school, instead of the prestigious ones she got admitted to; she aced the LSAT and maintained a 3.9 GPA, and was accepted to Harvard Law. She graduated a couple years ago from HLS --so, I guess, it can be done.</p>
<p>A less known school does not hurt your chances of getting into a school like HLS; however, attending a well known school does help. If you look at the profiles of entering classes at top law school, you will see that the preponderance of students come from top tier institutions.</p>
<p>Eckie, I would definitely chose Maryland or Wake over Randolph Macon. Obviously, if Penn is going to cost you $180,000 to attend and Randolph Macon is going to cost you like $30,000 to attend, you should pick the program that makes the most financial sense. However, if Randolph Macon will still cost you like $90,000 to attend, you wouldn't be getting your money's worth. But like I said, Maryland would be a better option than RM and I doubt it will be much more expensive.</p>
<p>I have one question for you. Are you better than 90% sure that you want to study Law? Because let me tell you, if you decide to change from Law to say Business or academe, turning down Penn for Randolph Macon would be a serious mistake.</p>
<p>By the way, I took the liberty of checking out where the first year Law students at the UVA School of Law and Georgetown University Law School earned their undergraduate degrees, and let me tell you, not one of them attended Randolph Macon. Considering that RM is located in Virginia, not too far from either Charlottesville or the District, I'd say that's an alarming stat...especially since those two Law schools are among the biggest in the nation, enrolling close to a 1,000 new students between them annually.</p>
<p>Alexandre, you post was extremely helpful, thank you.</p>
<p>I'm continually hearing from my mother and her doctor friends, "It's not where you undergrad at that matters!" However, I'm also constantly worried I'll shy away from law after studying it at a collegiate level, decide against at post undergrad education and have shorted myself a degree from a more impressive institution.</p>
<p>if you can get into penn, and you're in VA, than maybe you'd be better off going to UVA for your undergrad, in state tuition shouldn't be too bad, and it's a great balance between top school and great price.</p>