I want to major in political science and minor in economics in undergrad and then go to a good law school and I was curious as to where to apply?
Stats? Home state? How much can your family afford?
Should you qualify for admission to them, these would be some schools to consider:
Williams
Hamilton
Claremont McKenna
Vassar
Holy Cross
Bates
Macalester
Bowdoin
Amherst
Harvard
UC-Berkeley
Princeton
UChicago
Stanford
NYU
Columbia
Yale
UC-San Diego
UCLA
UW-Madison
Go somewhere cheap/free for undergrad. Law school costs a fortune and they care most about GPA and LSAT.
Re #3: However, at a prominent law school such as Yale, for example, no students – almost unbelievably so – most recently matriculated from any public university in the six-state New England region. Factors such as this should be considered by students when they are selecting their undergraduate institutions.
Yes coming from a “prestigious” undergrad helps at many schools but also keep in mind that if you go to a more competitive school you will be competing with kids who average higher grades, SAT, etc. from high school. Grades are more important than where you go to school so if you go to a school where you’re at the top of the class and getting stellar grades then you’ll be better off than struggling at a more competitive university. Yale Law, for example, has an median GPA of 3.93 (this is your college GPA). If you have a 3.5 at an Ivy versus a 4.0 at a state school and equal LSAT scores I’d put my money on the person from the state school.
If you want the Yale Law education keep in mind it’ll cost you about $240k just by graduation and more based on how long it takes to pay off your debt (cost per year including housing is over 80k). Undergrad can vary up to around 60k/year (also 240k at graduation). Although it’s true that more competitive schools usually have great need-based financial aid and if you’re lower income (or even at around 100k) you could likely expect some aid from these schools. Don’t expect merit aid at the most competitive schools though.
@merc81 do you have a more detailed breakout than this? From the looks of it all kinds of public Us are represented.
Try “Entering Class Profile – Yale Law School,” then “Undergraduate Institutions Represented.”
Students came from ten New England schools, which included six private LACs and four private universities, but no public schools of any type. Nationally, there is a greater range of schools represented, however.
Regarding a conclusion, my intent was not to make a firm one. A suggestion, though, that some schools better prepare students for the LSAT and acceptance to law school – by effectively over-performing educationally – appears reasonable.