Best Pre-Law Schools

College Search & Lists
21

@MrAustere I wouldn’t let that acceptance rate sway you. The acceptance rates at all 4 schools are pretty low and even the higher ones, like northwestern’s, are artificially inflated by athlete recruitment for that Big 10 football team. ED should only be used on the school you genuinely want to attend the most. You don’t want to look back at your college years and wonder “hmm, would I have been happier at Johns Hopkins if I hadn’t applied ED to Northwestern?” If you are sure that Penn is your number 1 choice, then why not take advantage of the fact that the admissions office admits to looking more favorably upon ED applicants and take your chances? ED is everyone’s best chance to get into Penn-- it’s smart to apply early if you know there’s nowhere else you’d rather be. But if you aren’t sure if Penn is your number one, then for the same reasons, ED isn’t the right move. it sounds like you clearly have Penn as your first choice, however, and I thus recommend boosting your odds with ED :slight_smile:

Good luck! Happy to answer any questions you have about Penn or top law school admissions from Penn. I know an ungodly amount about both :wink: Feel free to send me a message!

Also Top 15 is a super random cutoff just as a side note. Wash U in St Louis used to be top 15 but now this year it’s not. And Despite never being top 15, i don’t think anyone would consider Georgetown to be lesser than Wash U in any way, shape or form. If you are qualified to get into any of these schools ED, you’re qualified to get into them RD too. The odds are obviously less in your favor during RD because there are more applicants but if you are qualified and you apply broadly, you’ll probably get into a “Top 15-Caliber” school which definitely includes more than just those currently listed in the top 15.

22

OP don’t kid yourself… a degree from Penn and Northwestern will be viewed as essentially the same thing by top law school adcomms, and even then it doesn’t really matter where you get your degree as long as the school has a decent reputation. Law School admissions is 95% a numbers game, especially now that applications are down. Things like extracurriculars, teacher recs, etc. don’t matter as much as people here make it out to seem. The one exception to this might be Yale Law.

Also, do you know what the PRACTICE of law is like? The hours will be very long and It is nothing like what you see on TV FYI.

23

@WildestDream Yes, I know what the practice of law is like. We have several lawyers in the family.

24

It will make zero difference where you go among those schools for getting into law school (or medical school).

Apply ED where you think you would be happiest and excel the most.

25

@Dimnarion I’m down to NU, Penn, and JHU

26

LOL please don’t listen to anyone that says that professors’ law school recommendations don’t matter anywhere except Yale. That is THE most laughable thing i’ve ever read on CC to date. Truly top law schools aren’t hurting that badly for applicants. Apps are down to be sure but student quality has remained nearly constant at places like Columbia, Stanford, and Harvard. They’re doing juuuuust fine. And they definitely care about more than just your numbers. Plenty of kids with 170+ LSAT scores and 3.8+ GPAs are getting rejected from Harvard and Columbia law every year. If you don’t think a letter of recommendation from a Penn Law professor indicating that you are an exceptional candidate for law school doesn’t make a difference then you’re kidding yourself. Don’t forget that the heads of admissions offices at Law schools are usually lawyers who care A LOT about schools and the opinions of others in the profession. And for a lot of schools’ admissions processes, professors opinions of applicants are taken into account during the admissions cycle. If the head of admissions at Penn Law is reading a recommendation from Penn Law Prof Sarah Barringer Gordon (who routinely teaches undergraduate courses and invites undergrads into her law school courses), she’s going to care quite a bit.

27

^ Notice I said things like prof. recs don’t matter as much as people (such as you) make it out to seem for admissions purposes in LS. A 170+ and 3.8 is pretty much a lock at a place like Penn Law nowaways. Adcomms look at LSAT, GPA, Essay…maybe TRULY GREAT teachers recs can push a borderline candidate. Many adcomms don’t care much for letters since they are almost always positive and end up all sounding the same.

If you don’t have the numbers, you won’t be getting in, no matter who writes the letter or where you went to undergrad.

28

<<
Money will not be a factor in my decisions. I’m basically looking for a school that can prepare me for medicine, law, or whatever pretty equally.


[QUOTE=""]

[/QUOTE]

Preparing for law school is different from preparing for medical school. If you want to keep both options open, then you have to prepare for med school.

29

@mom2collegekids Yes, I will complete the requirements for both. What I meant by my statement above was that I want a school that will have the resources and reputation for preparing students for either law or medical school.

30

IMHO you will want to keep UG debt to a minimum. If you have high stats, get a really good education where you will be a great student at a low cost or relative low cost. Cost effective education.

If your UG stats are good, you want to get into a good law school (I believe there is a list of top 25 or top 50). Nephew is in one of those and he is in top 2 of his class. He says it is important to be in top 10%. #1 and #2 of his class were in a top 3 global law firm in NY summer between 2nd and 3rd year of law school, and they will offer them both a job at graduation.

For medical school, you need a number of things in addition to strong GPA and strong MCAT score. So again, you want to go to a low cost school where you will be a strong student.

I do understand not being sure yet of graduate program/professional program. But don’t make expensive mistakes now.

31

<<<<
Yes, I will complete the requirements for both.
<<<<

There are no “requirements for both”. Law schools don’t have ANY course requirements. Just complete the med school req’ts…period.

AND…undergrads don’t “prepare” students for law or med school.

32

@MrAustere If you share your GPA, ACT/SAT, etc… folks here may be able to give you an idea if you are likely to get into these schools. With lower stats, PENN may truly be a super lottery and you may want to ED at a lower tier school that is just as good (Any top 40 school is good - depends on fit whether its good for YOU).

33

GPA: 3.99, 4.25 weighted
IB Diploma Candidate
ACT: 34 (35 superscore, Sept ACT score pending)
My main extracurriculars are music based. I’m a competitive pianist and vocalist.

Is that enough info for you all?

34

Bump

35

Your stats will not get you thrown out of the first read at UPENN. If that is the school u like best (hope you’ve visited) ED there. If there are other schools you love, then don’t ED. I think Penn changed their policy so if you ED there, you can’t apply EA anywhere else. Is that OK with you?

The most likely result is that you will get deferred to RD. Then you are still waiting until March 31 for results. If there is a lower tier school you love, and you ED there, you would likely be in.

36

@suzyQ7 Penn is definitely my first choice due to the fact that it’s on the east coast. I’m from Minneapolis, so Chicago is kinda too close to home! I’ve been told that if I ED to NU I’ll likely get in. If I get differed ED from Penn what are my chances RD?

37

Deferred**

38

@MrAustere

@PennCAS2014 is accentuating Penn’s strengths without noting that Northwestern and JHU could provide, essentially, the exact same advantages. Law Schools, as I understand it, care very little about the proximity of a great law school near the undergrad of their applicants. “Pre-law” students at, say, Princeton or Dartmouth or Williams or Amherst are in no way disadvantaged because these undergrads don’t have a great law school connected to their school.

Yes, if you go to Penn, you could get possibly get a rec from a Penn Law professor, but if you go to NU or JHU (or Dartmouth, or Brown, or Swarthmore, or…), you could find comparable endeavors that make you just as impressive as a candidate. Further, for federal clerkship purposes (and it’s crazy to think about this before undergrad), the biggest determinant will be law school grades - and about 90% of law students from all top schools (outside of Yale, Harvard, and possibly Chicago and Stanford) are shut out of federal clerkships because their grades aren’t high enough. Don’t go to Penn undergrad because you feel it’ll strengthen your potential clerkship applications 6-7 years from now - that’s a terrible way to choose a college. Going to Penn undergrad won’t help if you’re not in the top 10% of your class at almost any law school. And if you do end up a superstar at a great law school, no one is going to care that you went to NU or Hopkins instead of Penn or Duke.

To echo what others have said, apply ED to whichever college you like the most. Between UPenn, JHU, and Northwestern, functionally, there is no difference.

Further, try and choose a college where you’d be most comfortable exploring potentially new territory - where you could take a class in sociology or journalism or whatever, and all of a sudden find a new passion. You don’t have to commit yourself to law school just yet.

(In my mind, the school with the most comprehensive array of top-flight programs is Northwestern - it has a great liberal arts college, a great engineering school, and “pre-business-y” majors, but it also has a journalism school that, to use @PennCAS2014 vernacular, is “one of the best in the world,” a top-flight program for drama, music, etc. I’ve always been really interested in NU undergrad - it has great programs in areas where prestigious schools typically don’t have great programs. Further, the Big 10 sports component is a nice touch. at least to me. In some ways it takes what Penn does well - having sociable, smart students, a fairly good sports culture for a top school, etc. - and takes it to another level.)

39

@Cue7 Thank you for the great advice. Ya I’m honestly so split between Penn and NU. Obviously my first choice is Penn, but the fact that I have a pretty high chance of being admitted ED to NU makes we want to do that despite loving Penn!

40

@MrAustere

What makes you prefer UPenn to Northwestern? You should delve into that a little more. Whatever realizations you come to should then inform where you apply ED.