Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A spinoff of sorts from the chasing merit thread.

https://hls.harvard.edu/jdadmissions/apply-to-harvard-law-school/jdapplicants/hls-profile-and-facts/undergraduate-institutions/

Look at all the schools that are represented in Harvard’s L1 class for 23-24.

You don’t need a highly ranked school to get into an excellent grad program. This isn’t 80% of the class from T50’s. These schools are all over the board in ranking.

You clearly didn't go there or you would know what is wrong with your post. There are only 147 undergrad institutions given there. The entering class of Harvard Law is 560. The remaining 413 come predominantly from only from the Ivies + Stanford with Harvard undergrads making up about 30% of the entire class (in my year). So if you really want to go there you go to Harvard undergrad, then Yale, Stanford, etc. The leftover 147 are the valedictorians or token reps to fill in the rest of the class.

How do you now this? How do you know that only 1 student came from each of the 147 schools listed?

Anonymous wrote:Someone on the other thread said undergrad matters when applying to top programs like law schools. I posted this to show that it doesn’t. They claimed most - if not all - students came from top undergrad schools. This is clearly not the case.

People constantly make the statement here that ranking matters for undergrad when you’re trying to get into a top grad program. It’s simply not true.

The only reason it seems that way is because A) those who can afford to attend a "top law school" are often the same ones who could afford to attend a Top undergrad. The kids who turned down T50 undergrads for financial reasons are likely also attending law schools that are also more affordable to them.

Med school and Law school (and most health professional programs) are solely based on high MCAT/LSAT/Scores and GPA. The smart HS kids who went to non-T50 undergrads likely excelled at undergrad and will get into top professional programs as well. It's just there are not as many kids from Schools ranked 100+ who will even have Harvard Law on their radar.

An impressive undergrad can act as a backstop, though. I started my law career with a kid who went to Yale for undergrad (very rich family, legacy, donors, etc) but did terribly and ended up at a third-tier law school. Due to a combination of connections and having Yale on his transcript he got offers from several V25 firms.

He would introduce himself as a "Yale Man" which was really ridiculous but worked on the old white guys it was supposed to work on. He's a partner now.

Anonymous wrote: The leftover 147 are the valedictorians or token reps to fill in the rest of the class.

cough, diversity admits, cough

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Point taken about the class size. But the point still stands (from the misconception on the other thread) that almost all of the class is not from top schools.

Are you saying that a student is just as likely to get into HLS from a non-top school as someone who attends a top school, all else being equal?

I would imagine that a student from a directional state school with the same grades and LSAT would have a better chance of being admitted to HLS than a Harvard undergrad student. Of course, besides that HLS admits students from a wide number of colleges, we are dealing with mainly conjecture without more information.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A spinoff of sorts from the chasing merit thread.

https://hls.harvard.edu/jdadmissions/apply-to-harvard-law-school/jdapplicants/hls-profile-and-facts/undergraduate-institutions/

Look at all the schools that are represented in Harvard’s L1 class for 23-24.

You don’t need a highly ranked school to get into an excellent grad program. This isn’t 80% of the class from T50’s. These schools are all over the board in ranking.

You clearly didn't go there or you would know what is wrong with your post. There are only 147 undergrad institutions given there. The entering class of Harvard Law is 560. The remaining 413 come predominantly from only from the Ivies + Stanford with Harvard undergrads making up about 30% of the entire class (in my year). So if you really want to go there you go to Harvard undergrad, then Yale, Stanford, etc. The leftover 147 are the valedictorians or token reps to fill in the rest of the class.

Good job. Some of the people on this board are idiots.

Anonymous wrote:Point taken about the class size. But the point still stands (from the misconception on the other thread) that almost all of the class is not from top schools.

Are you saying that a student is just as likely to get into HLS from a non-top school as someone who attends a top school, all else being equal?

Everyone agrees that undergrad doesn't matter for law school, until you realize their child goes to Amherst for the resources and alumni network that leads to...becoming a lawyer.

Anonymous wrote:Imagine if we could answer questions in more nuanced, less black-and-white ways.

For example, when asked whether where you go to undergraduate matters, perhaps the answer is "Somewhat but 1) not nearly as much as many people think; and 2) more for some career paths than others."

OP here. I’m down with that.

My original intent was just to show some peeps on the other thread that they were basically talking out of their a$$.

Anonymous wrote:Imagine if we could answer questions in more nuanced, less black-and-white ways.

For example, when asked whether where you go to undergraduate matters, perhaps the answer is "Somewhat but 1) not nearly as much as many people think; and 2) more for some career paths than others."

I would add that when it does matter the benefit fades with time.

Imagine if we could answer questions in more nuanced, less black-and-white ways.

For example, when asked whether where you go to undergraduate matters, perhaps the answer is "Somewhat but 1) not nearly as much as many people think; and 2) more for some career paths than others."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A spinoff of sorts from the chasing merit thread.

https://hls.harvard.edu/jdadmissions/apply-to-harvard-law-school/jdapplicants/hls-profile-and-facts/undergraduate-institutions/

Look at all the schools that are represented in Harvard’s L1 class for 23-24.

You don’t need a highly ranked school to get into an excellent grad program. This isn’t 80% of the class from T50’s. These schools are all over the board in ranking.

Undergrad matters. Sorry.

It really does not, sorry. Look where Goldman is recruiting. No longer the usual 15 or so schools. Test optional has accelerated this trend.

Goldman is very much still recruiting at the usual 15 or so. Even then, they aren't where finance students are aiming.

Plenty of people would be plenty fine with Goldman.

https://law.yale.edu/admissions-financial-aid/jd-admissions/profiles-statistics/undergraduate-institutions-represented-yls-2020-24

Similar for Yale

Anonymous wrote:Undergrad matters to those that have spent money and effort to go to or send their children to top schools and they love to tell everyone how much it matters. For everyone else, not so much.

Ha! This right here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A spinoff of sorts from the chasing merit thread.

https://hls.harvard.edu/jdadmissions/apply-to-harvard-law-school/jdapplicants/hls-profile-and-facts/undergraduate-institutions/

Look at all the schools that are represented in Harvard’s L1 class for 23-24.

You don’t need a highly ranked school to get into an excellent grad program. This isn’t 80% of the class from T50’s. These schools are all over the board in ranking.

You clearly didn't go there or you would know what is wrong with your post. There are only 147 undergrad institutions given there. The entering class of Harvard Law is 560. The remaining 413 come predominantly from only from the Ivies + Stanford with Harvard undergrads making up about 30% of the entire class (in my year). So if you really want to go there you go to Harvard undergrad, then Yale, Stanford, etc. The leftover 147 are the valedictorians or token reps to fill in the rest of the class.

Point taken about the class size. But the point still stands (from the misconception on the other thread) that almost all of the class is not from top schools.

And this 147 you speak of - you know it’s only 1 person from each of these schools?