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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I went to Georgetown and there were students from all sorts of schools.

But I know from talking to admissions that the you need a higher GPA if you are coming from a less prestigious undergrad.

I think it also helps a bit to have a prestigious undergrad when applying for jobs, though that's mostly about GPA, journal, etc.

But overall, yes, she can still go to a strong law school but she will need to have a higher undergrad and LSAT if coming from a lower ranked undergrad.

I am not sure why you think she can get a full ride to a top fifty undergrad. Those are hard to come by. It's more typical to get 10-30k in merit aid.

(Yale Law, the student body has tons of top 5 SLACS and ivies. But chances are, your kid is not getting into Yale Law regardless.) [/quote]

Wrong.  You do not need a higher LSAT score from some undergrad schools than others.  You need a competitive score regardless but it doesn’t vary by undergrad school.  Sure, you may need a higher GPA from a lower ranked undergrad, but LSAT?  Nope.  That’s why they call it a “standardized” test.

Two clearly inaccurate posts in a row. This website can be very frustrating.[/quote]

How can you possibly know this? Do you work in law school admissions for at T14 law school?

I think what the PP said makes sense. Law school admissions needs to evaluate whether an applicant can handle the rigor. If an applicant did well at a known top undergrad program (say an Ivy) that has a track record of sending successful students to the law school, I could see admissions giving them a pass on a lower LSAT score. Whereas an applicant from No-name U with lower standards would need at high LSAT score to show they are qualified. [/quote]

Well you can “see” that all you want but it’s wrong.  Are you really this obtuse?  The whole purpose of the LSAT is to standardize the process.  Top law schools don’t give “a pass” to applicants from elite undergraduate schools with lower LSATs than applicants from lower ranked schools because the process isn’t nearly as holistic as applying to college from high school.  LSAT scores carry much more weight for law school admissions than SAT scores count for college admissions.  You’re treating the two processes as similar if not equal when in fact they’re not.

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This explanation from the web strikes me as about as good as any:

“Stop thinking about the LSAT as a piece of your application. While it is a piece, it’s a gargantuan piece that almost eclipses every other consideration. To illustrate it’s singular importance, let’s say you have a GPA that is acceptable to any law school, a 3.75. From there, your LSAT score is going to predict where you get in something close to 100% of the time, and a lot of the time, moving it up or down by just a couple points will make the difference.

Yes, law schools do use a holistic process of reviewing applications. However, that only affects people on the margins. What I mean to say is, chances are close to 100% that you’ll be judged entirely on your numbers, mostly the LSAT. If you have truly outstanding soft factors, it is possible they’ll come into play. Likewise, if you have very detrimental soft factors, they might hurt you (think an extensive criminal record). Other than that, you are going into either the accept or reject pile based on your numbers alone.

Again, of the two numbers, LSAT is by far the more important. Most law schools use an admissions index to make an initial determination regarding acceptance. From just that index score, you are going in one of two piles: presumptive reject or presumptive admit. The typical index puts something close to 70% weight on LSAT vs. 30% weight on GPA.”[/quote]

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