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Unknown Undergrad School

Raphael RiveraRaphael Rivera Alum Member
in Law School Admissions 176 karma

So I have a question that has been on my mind the entire time I have been studying for the LSAT, how important is your undergraduate institution?

In High School I had no hope of ever going to College and actually failed to meet admissions requirements for in-state schools. During senior year I decided that I would want to attend college and enrolled in a tribal university (university for Native-Americans only). I worked extremely hard and managed to get a 3.87 GPA and for the LSAT I hope to get a 161, and everything I have done to this point leads me to believe that I will score around that point. I do not have dreams of attending top law schools but somewhere around top 50 or so (realistic goals for my metrics).

I met with admissions counselors and they are normally very positive in their responses about meeting admissions requirements but when I asked if my institution would affect my chances they gave a very worrisome response and sort of dodged a direct answer but implied it was a big factor. I was told that admissions officers are able to check the general scores of people applying to Law school from the same institution but if there is insufficient data it will be blank and they will not have a benchmark to compare myself with.

I understand that a high GPA from my institution does not carry the same weight as a large research university, but to what extent does it affect me and is there anything that I can do to lighten the burden?

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Comments

  • tringo335tringo335 Alum Member ⭐
    3679 karma

    It is my understanding that if the school is accredited it should not be a problem. Obviously students applying from a more prestigious UG might carry more weight in that area but that doesn't rule you out of the ranking. I sat on admissions Q&A with Harvard and asked them this same question and they were very clear, passionate and genuine about the fact that it did not matter what UG you attended. They also noted that they get that question often and like to stress that people from all backgrounds are encouraged to apply as they don't want a class of cookie cutter students.

  • AlexAlex Alum Member ⭐
    edited June 2017 23929 karma

    @tringo335 said:
    It is my understanding that if the school is accredited it should not be a problem. Obviously students applying from a more prestigious UG might carry more weight in that area but that doesn't rule you out of the ranking. I sat on admissions Q&A with Harvard and asked them this same question and they were very clear, passionate and genuine about the fact that it did not matter what UG you attended. They also noted that they get that question often and like to stress that people from all backgrounds are encouraged to apply as they don't want a class of cookie cutter students.

    Attending a top undergrad is a nice soft. However, as the data will show, someone from ASU with a 3.9/172 will beat out a Yale grad with a 3.8/170.

  • Brazil020511Brazil020511 Alum Member
    429 karma

    Hey, so, I learned that when you send your CAS report to the law school admission office. There is essentially a chart in that report that tells about your school's average LSAT and GPA. They get this data from all the students who graduated from that undergraduate college. So, if they are not familiar with your school, they will put your stats against your schools stats. So, if you have a 3.8 and your school's average GPA is a 3.4 then you will look really good to them despite them not knowing much about your school.

  • Daniel.SieradzkiDaniel.Sieradzki Member Sage ⭐
    edited June 2017 2301 karma

    As the above posters have stated, your UG is largely irrelevant (just a soft factor/feather on the scale). What matters is your GPA and your LSAT score.

    This issue actually reveals why the LSAT is actually a really good thing for most people. In the past, the only way you could get into a top law school was to have gone to an ivy-league school for undergrad. After WW2, a bunch of soldier who did not go to ivy UGs applied to law school. Thus, a lot of top law schools were hit with applications listing schools they had never heard of. In order to address this issue, the top law schools developed the LSAT in order to create a standardized way to compare applicants. This is a great thing for us because we can prove our skill despite having maybe gone to a less prestigious school.

    If you have time, I highly recommend watching this video by a law professor (Alex Johnson) at the University of Virginia. It explains the history lesson I gave above along with some other awesome information about the LSAT and some of its issues.

  • tringo335tringo335 Alum Member ⭐
    3679 karma

    @zil020511 said:
    Hey, so, I learned that when you send your CAS report to the law school admission office. There is essentially a chart in that report that tells about your school's average LSAT and GPA. They get this data from all the students who graduated from that undergraduate college. So, if they are not familiar with your school, they will put your stats against your schools stats. So, if you have a 3.8 and your school's average GPA is a 3.4 then you will look really good to them despite them not knowing much about your school.

    That's awesome!

  • tringo335tringo335 Alum Member ⭐
    3679 karma

    @"Daniel.Sieradzki" said:
    As the above posters have stated, your UG is largely irrelevant (just a soft factor/feather on the scale). What matters is your GPA and your LSAT score.

    This issue actually reveals why the LSAT is actually a really good thing for most people. In the past, the only way you could get into a top law school was to have gone to an ivy-league school for undergrad. After WW2, a bunch of soldier who did not go to ivy UGs applied to law school. Thus, a lot of top law schools were hit with applications listing schools they had never heard of. In order to address this issue, the top law schools developed the LSAT in order to create a standardized way to compare applicants. This is a great thing for us because we can prove our skill despite having maybe gone to a less prestigious school.

    If you have time, I highly recommend watching this video by a law professor (Alex Johnson) at the University of Virginia. It explains the history lesson I gave above along with some other awesome information about the LSAT and some of its issues.

    had no idea this is how the LSAT begun. Now maybe I can appreciate it a little. ?

  • AlexAlex Alum Member ⭐
    23929 karma

    @tringo335 said:

    @"Daniel.Sieradzki" said:
    As the above posters have stated, your UG is largely irrelevant (just a soft factor/feather on the scale). What matters is your GPA and your LSAT score.

    This issue actually reveals why the LSAT is actually a really good thing for most people. In the past, the only way you could get into a top law school was to have gone to an ivy-league school for undergrad. After WW2, a bunch of soldier who did not go to ivy UGs applied to law school. Thus, a lot of top law schools were hit with applications listing schools they had never heard of. In order to address this issue, the top law schools developed the LSAT in order to create a standardized way to compare applicants. This is a great thing for us because we can prove our skill despite having maybe gone to a less prestigious school.

    If you have time, I highly recommend watching this video by a law professor (Alex Johnson) at the University of Virginia. It explains the history lesson I gave above along with some other awesome information about the LSAT and some of its issues.

    had no idea this is how the LSAT begun. Now maybe I can appreciate it a little. ?

    I love this video! I feel like so many of the sagers I've met have also seen it. Being AA URM, it definitely opened my eyes to many things. I actually watched it right when I started prepping and before I had a good understanding of the LSAT's history as well Tringo!

  • tringo335tringo335 Alum Member ⭐
    3679 karma

    @"Alex Divine"

    Same here; very enlightening.... and comforting to know that the LSAT is such a strong indicator of whether or not you will do well in law school.

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