Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope. Top law schools absolutely take into account how prestigious your undergrad is and evaluate GPA accordingly.

He will need a higher GPA to get in from a lower ranked undergrad.

Incorrect.

based on what? you're the world's expert on law school admissions?

Anonymous wrote:Don’t try to game the system. It’ll backfire. Our neighbor tried to do exactly what you’re doing. Her DC has great GPA in an easy major, but LSAT is horrible. Probably will not get into any good law school. You need to make sure your kid takes classes that actually use critical thinking skills. Otherwise, high GPA a is worthless if you cannot do well on the LSAT.

LSAT is not a function of what one learned in their major.

Don’t try to game the system. It’ll backfire. Our neighbor tried to do exactly what you’re doing. Her DC has great GPA in an easy major, but LSAT is horrible. Probably will not get into any good law school. You need to make sure your kid takes classes that actually use critical thinking skills. Otherwise, high GPA a is worthless if you cannot do well on the LSAT.

Anonymous wrote:OP you are way overthinking.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go to the undergrad that’s the best fit that he’s excited to attend. Then manage course load so it not impossible to maintain a high GPA. Mix rigorous courses in the major with fun ones (don’t take super hard stem and Econ courses just bc your friends are taking it and it’s not your major!!) Prep for LSAT and aim 172+. This is advice I would give to my kid. This is what I learned after the fact and was lucky to attend a top 5 law school.

Not always, as I think law schools like engineering and hard STEM majors and give them somewhat of a break on GPA. Someone has to major in STEM to be able to take the patent bar.

Ok, reading comprehension skills which are very important for the LSAT. Please reread the original post…

Anonymous wrote:If they do too well and are not fortunate enough to have law school funded, they could be stuck in BigLaw paying off BigLoans.

Also, scoring a 170+ on the LSAT is not the piece of cake that DCUM makes it out to be and not something everyone achieves with a little practice. How were ACT/SAT scores?

It's not something everyone achieves with a lot of practice, let alone a little practice. I scored around the 95th percentile and got recruited to teach for Kaplan so I have some insight into this. For the most part, the LSAT tests how you think. How logical you are. How good your reading comprehension is. Deductive reasoning skills. I'm just naturally good at deductive reasoning, it's how my mind works, and my reading comp skills have probably been top 5% if not higher since first grade (and fwiw there is plenty of stuff I'm not good at at all, and there are plenty of people I know who are significantly smarter than I am who did not do all that well on the LSAT because they just aren't super analytical). Will preparation help you with your LSAT score? Yes. Will help all that much? For most people, no. Especially now that the most coachable part of the test is gone (the logic games -- I could teach people how to approach those, and that would increase their score for sure).

I wouldn't think about ACT/SAT scores as a predictor of how one will do on the LSAT. My SAT was not particularly high (I have ADHD and quit paying attention to math around 8th grade).

Finally, I would recommend a basic logic or critical thinking class in college. Doesn't need to be fancy high-level philosophy or anything, just something basic with review of Venn diagrams, etc. That is arguably more helpful for folks who will eventually take the LSAT than LSAT prep classes.

Anonymous wrote:Go to the undergrad that’s the best fit that he’s excited to attend. Then manage course load so it not impossible to maintain a high GPA. Mix rigorous courses in the major with fun ones (don’t take super hard stem and Econ courses just bc your friends are taking it and it’s not your major!!) Prep for LSAT and aim 172+. This is advice I would give to my kid. This is what I learned after the fact and was lucky to attend a top 5 law school.

Not always, as I think law schools like engineering and hard STEM majors and give them somewhat of a break on GPA. Someone has to major in STEM to be able to take the patent bar.

Anonymous wrote:DC interested in law school, and wondering if DC should attend a reach undergraduate college or a target given gpa matters for law school admission (assuming he is lucky to get into several reaches).

I know a few schools he is applying to that dont grade inflate. I would much rather have him attend low target, improve his chances for a 4.0 than a higher ranking competitive school with a 3.7.

Thoughts on strategy?

Unless they are going to go from a 4.0 to a 3.3 or something like that, the LSAT will be a much bigger driver. I don't know anyone with 175+ LSAT that didn't get into T-14 even with academic probation and F's on their transcript. Law school is really the last second chance for the underachievers and late bloomers.

Anonymous wrote:Major in the LSAT

This. Your law school matters the most, and, in my years in BigLaw, there were a number of attorneys who went to "non-elite" colleges who still got into T14 law schools. There were vanishingly few that went to a lesser law school. There are some ultra-snobby firms/partners who use your undergraduate institutions a class marker, and it probably matters to the white shoes still.

There is also a wide range of schools, they're not all Ivy+/SLAC or Bob's Clown College & Basketweaving Aquarium.

Go to the undergrad that’s the best fit that he’s excited to attend. Then manage course load so it not impossible to maintain a high GPA. Mix rigorous courses in the major with fun ones (don’t take super hard stem and Econ courses just bc your friends are taking it and it’s not your major!!) Prep for LSAT and aim 172+. This is advice I would give to my kid. This is what I learned after the fact and was lucky to attend a top 5 law school.

Anonymous wrote:DC interested in law school, and wondering if DC should attend a reach undergraduate college or a target given gpa matters for law school admission (assuming he is lucky to get into several reaches).

I know a few schools he is applying to that dont grade inflate. I would much rather have him attend low target, improve his chances for a 4.0 than a higher ranking competitive school with a 3.7.

Thoughts on strategy?

Go to the more affordable one and be able to afford law school.

Anonymous wrote:Nope. Top law schools absolutely take into account how prestigious your undergrad is and evaluate GPA accordingly.

He will need a higher GPA to get in from a lower ranked undergrad.

Incorrect.

Nope. Top law schools absolutely take into account how prestigious your undergrad is and evaluate GPA accordingly.

He will need a higher GPA to get in from a lower ranked undergrad.

Major in the LSAT

Jeez lady. Let him explore at a college he is passionate about. You are mapping out life and Planning everything to get into law school. A transcript doesn’t tell the story of an education and more than a railroad timetable tells the story of a journey-Bart Giamatti. A paraphrase here.