Anonymous wrote:I went to a name-brand school. I worked as a paralegal for two years and then went to an elite law school, so I don’t know how much the name of my undergrad has helped me relative to the name of my law school (which I think is much more important). But here’s where it did, for sure, help:
(1) I had mediocre grades in college and was still hired as a paralegal at a DC biglaw firm. I specifically remember that they didn’t ask for my grades, because I was extremely relieved when they didn’t. When I left for law school, I helped interview for my replacement, and we absolutely did look at/consider the grades of applicants from UMD and similar schools.
(2) I have had a number of professional mentors who have taken an interest in me because they were alums of my undergrad. This could happen with any school that has a close-knit alumni network, though. One partner at the firm I was a paralegal at (who I had never worked with) was a fellow alum and approached me to proactively offer to write me a law school recommendation.
(3) I was admitted to a reach law school despite my mediocre grades (much lower than the median GPA of admitted students in my class). I don’t know if my undergrad helped get me in, but it was probably one factor.
(4) People have given me the benefit of the doubt and assumed I’m smart in both professional and social situations just based on my undergrad school. Not necessarily merited, but people have literally said things like “you went to XYZ, you’re smart.”
So while I don’t know that my undergrad is worth the $250k COA today, it has provided some benefits. Not that the above things are by any means exclusive to attending a name brand school; you just might have to work harder for them otherwise.
+1
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