University of Michigan or Michigan State University for Top 20 Law Schools?

Graduate School Law School
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<p>Hi! I was wondering if anyone could provide me with some useful insight to help me make my university attendance decision. </p>

<p>I have to make a difficult decision between attending U of M or MSU. If I choose the MSU route, I will be a member of their Honors College and the James Madison College (a unique public policy residential program). If I decide to attend U of M, my primary goal will be to seek acceptance into the Ross School of Business. If I won’t be accepted into Ross, I will either go into the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy or the LSA Department of Economics. </p>

<p>Is the prestige of a school a factor in law school admissions? My ultimate aspiration is to attend a top 20 law school by the time I graduate; I wish to enter the field of corporate law and possibly the political world in the future. I honestly don't know how to evaluate all the factors of my decision properly, such as the outcome of my GPA by the time I graduate, especially if I attend U of M. Any suggestions?</p>

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<p>I don’t think that prestige of an undergrad school matters a lot for law school admissions, if you mean that having a fancier school on an application makes a difference, all other things being equal. (I am speaking as someone who went though law school, but I’ve never worked in law school admissions.)</p>

<p>However:</p>

<p>Go where you can take classes that will give you a higher GPA. (I found that I did much better in school on subjects that I liked, regardless of where the class was; the prestige of the school where I was taking the class didn’t affect GPA.)</p>

<p>Go where the students that you’re surrounded by, and professors, will have the highest expectations of themselves and you. I went to a much better law school than for college, and the people in law school just expected nothing but #1 while people in college had no expectations of anything. Peer pressure, and peer knowledge of the ins and outs of getting into a law school, will help you get into a better one and will serve you well in the future.</p>

<p>And in general…go to the highest ranked school you get into, if there is a significant difference in the rankings. (#6 vs. #8 doesn’t matter, but #5 vs. #30 does.)</p>

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<p>And, most importantly, the LSAT. You might want 170+ to go to a top-20, let alone a T14 (is Michigan an option for law school?)…</p>