Help. I need help deciding where to commit. I’ve been accepted into Wesleyan, Uni of Rochester, and Mcgill for the class of 2024 and am extremely unsure. As of right now, I am kinda leaning towards Wesleyan, but all three of these schools offer very different things so I am having trouble. And all of this could be upended by me getting off the waitlist at a few schools.
Anyway, I’m planning to do “pre-law” which for me is gonna be double majoring in political science/government and mathematics.
I am looking for a school with a decent party scene, good enough reputation for law school, and an overall fun collegiate experience.
Very different atmospheres. IIRC, McGill is an intensely urban university, more like NYU or perhaps Georgetown in comparison to the other two. Montreal, of course, is an easy place to have fun, if you have the money to go out every night.
I’ve never been to Rochester, so I can’t comment on how fun it or the town is. I’m sure that academically it has much to offer in the social sciences. Poli Sci and pre-law are not exotic subjects.
I’m a Wesleyan alum and can attest to the fact that it can be a fun place. The party scene begins freshman year with at least one dormitory becoming widely known as “party central” (it shifts from one year to the next., so I can’t tell you which one to apply to - or, avoid for that matter.) And, the campus is surrounded by hundreds of one-family houses that have been converted to use as dormitories. Each one has its own kitchen and “house parties” have become a Wesleyan specialty. Also, if you’re a sports fan, the football field sits right in front of the main library where you can follow the score from the main reading room (in the spring, it doubles as a baseball diamond.)
The “name” of the school won’t matter much when you apply to law school. All that matters is GPA and LSAT score – or about 90% is that combo. There are other small factors . So at which school can you maximize your GPA?
BTW you can start studying for your LSAT now through Khan Academy. The more you practice, the higher your score.
^Perhaps, but where you go to law school counts a lot. Unless, you have the money and connections to hang out your own shingle or already have a job waiting for you (like a relative has their own firm), you want to get into a T14 law school.
Came here to say this. I don’t think it would be McGill, a Canadian school. I also don’t think it would be Rochester, which has a big engineering presence. Wes seems like a good bet.
Thank you to everyone who replied, super helpful!
No, Rochester is fine for prelaw!! (I say that because I went straight to law school from Rochester a very long time ago). People say that the college doesn’t matter, but when I went to law school there was only one other person in my Rochester class who was going to a top 5 law school. I suspect Wesleyan sends more than that. But Rochester doesn’t weed out in the social sciences the way it does/did in premed/engineering classes.
I’d argue that especially in today’s climate you need to go to a top 10 law school, unless you know you want to practice small town law in the state you attend law school.
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OP wrote: “good enough reputation for law school” = not really relevant for law school admissions.
I can only imagine what this is based on since Wesleyan doesn’t have an enginneering program. Perhaps, the poster equates “weeding” out with tough grading (which is possibly true in the STEM departments.) It’s the first I’ve heard of it with regard to the social sciences, though.
Lots of economics departments have weed out courses.
^Still, Economics is one of the most popular majors at Wesleyan. Go figure…