<p>Assuming GPA, LSAT, ECs, internships, etc. are all good, how much will course rigor matter. Im a freshman (graduating in 3 yrs. probably) at UCLA and am in an honors program which basically means that if I take a certain # of classes with an added 1 unit seminar I graduate with college honors (separate from department honors and things like cum laude).</p>
<p>How much (if any) will this make a difference? </p>
<p>Im shooting for the best schools possible (Harvard, Stanford, Yale). </p>
<p>Thanks!!</p>
<p>Probably won’t matter. On the other hand, based on a few (very dramatic) anecdotes, graduating in three years appears to be a pretty major no-no.</p>
<p>Why is graduating in three years bad? It shows you were able to complete the normal requirements in only 75% of the usual time compared to most other people. I know someone from my university who finished high school in community college, got her associate’s degree at age 18, graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree at age 20, and now goes to the University of Virginia law school. Although that’s technically four years of college education, only two of them were at a real four-year institution.</p>
<p>Why it’s bad is really irrelevant. (In general, I suspect law schools have found that kids who are too eager to rush through college are lacking in some other important ways.) It may also be a function of age.</p>
<p>But anecdotally, I’ve seen it negatively impact some applications pretty severely. Not all. (For example, it’s possible that it didn’t harm your friend at all.)</p>
<p>Three years is not a big issue. No effect on anyone at UVA. Whether UVA is an anomaly, that I can’t say. At YS, it might be a negative. At Harvard, probably no effect either. Targeting specific schools without an LSAT score is pointless anyway.</p>
<p>Course rigor may not matter much for law school but if you do not proceed to law school and decide to attend graduate school for a specific program it might matter.
I am also considering law school but no completely sure what I will decide, so as for now I want to get my BS/ BA in Economics along with my major in Political Science.</p>