Help me pick a school please (sociology + political science) [pre-law; WIlliams, Bowdoin, Vassar, Swarthmore, Georgetown]

Two wonderful choices, congratulations!

I want to respond to the comment that law schools see Swarthmore gpas differently – while true, there is a lot of nuance there that could be missed. Law school admission is almost entirely based on undergrad gpa and the LSAT score, as those stats contribute significantly to law school rankings. Granted, US News keeps changing its methodology so no one is really sure what will matter next, but law schools protect their median gpa and scores and are always trying to increase them. I’m a law professor and I see how much energy goes into this each year.

Being a Swarthmore student may push the scale toward admission when a student is otherwise well-qualified for admission – typically, well above the median stats. For ex., Swarthmore’s reputation might make a difference for a law school with a 3.8 median gpa when deciding between a Swarthmore grad with a 3.92 and a College of Wooster grad with a 3.95. But a 3.5 from Swarthmore is not getting in over the 3.94 from Wooster (barring some other extraordinary circumstance).

So, go where you think you can flourish and be happy, as that is the sort of environment in which a student can excel academically.

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