<p>
</p>
<p>I believe her.</p>
<p>As for the ad hominem issue: whether or not her actions amount to a technical commitment of that fallacy, she was indeed bringing up boston1993’s qualifications rather than directly addressing the claims – a rather objectionable practice.</p>
<p>Yes, GPA and LSAT are the most important law school admissions criteria. But it is certainly not true that a 3.8 from West Central State University (formerly West Central Teacher’s College, etc.) is the same as a 3.8 from Harvard. BEFORE the law school admissions committee looks at where you stand on their grid, your GPA is handicapped based on your school. See the article below that was widely circulated a few years ago.</p>
<p>Adjusting for Grade Inflation
As an example of adjustments for grade inflation, the L.A. Times (Grading the Grades: All A’s Are Not Created Equal, 7/16/97) reported on how UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law re-formulated the G.P.A.'s (Grade Point Average) of student applicants. Under the Boalt formula, each college is ranked according to how its students perform on the standardized law board exam, the LSAT, and how common a certain G.P.A. is at that school.
Students from schools ranked 79 and above have points added to their G.P.A.'s. Those from schools ranked 72 to 78.9 get no adjustment. Those whose school ranked 71.9 and below have their G.P.A.'s lowered a bit.
Below is the table of colleges and their rankings. Schools which get an upward adjustment to grades are in red print. Those which get a downward adjustment are in bold blue print. Schools which get no adjustment are in black italic.
Is this fair? The point adjustment formula is one point of contention in a complaint filed recently by civil rights group and now being investigated by the U.S. Department of Education. These groups allege that the University of California’s admission policies are discrimatory because added weight is given to grades from elite Eastern colleges, such as top-ranked Swathmore. But grades from most Cal State campuses and from predominantly black schools, such as Howard University, are devalued.
Is this fair? What about fairness to the students who attend harder schools? Should their G.P.A.'s be weighted equally with students who get A’s and B’s for effort rather than learning. How can Cal State campuses be considered as good as other schools when their students are so ill-prepared that more than half of them need remediation in math and English? Can a year of remediation make up for what these students should have had in the 12 years prior to their enrollment in college?
CollegeRankCollegeRankCollegeRankCollegeRankCollegeRank
American71.0Cal Poly SLO74.5Howard57.5Oregon73.0Texas78.0
Amherst84.5Carleton88.0Illinois78.0Pacific69.5Trinity U.77.5
Arizona71.0Catholic U.69.5Indiana72.5Pennsylvania83.0Tufts83.5
Arizona St.69.5Chicago87.0Iowa73.5Penn State74.0UC Berkeley78.5
Barnard80.5CCNY59.0J. Hopkins87.5Pepperdine67.0UC Davis75.5
Bates85.5Clrmt. McK.82.5Kansas70.0Pomona85.0UC Irvine73.0
Boston College77.0Colby81.5Loyola Mary.71.0Princeton86.0UCLA75.5
Boston University74.5Colgate88.0Maryland71.0Purdue73.5UC Riverside68.5
Bowdoin83.5Colorado75.0Massachusetts74.0Reed84.5UC S. Diego78.5
Brandeis82.0Columbia80.5Miami68.0Rice83.0UC S. Barbara77.0
BYU73.0Cornell86.5Michigan81.5Rochester79.0USC70.0
Brown80.0Dartmouth87.0Michigan St.75.0St. Mary’s61.5Utah68.5
Bryn Mawr83.0Denver63.5Middlebury86.0San Diego68.0Virginia85.0
CS Chico68.5Duke88.5Mills71.5San Francisco57.5Washington76.5
CS Fresno62.5Emory79.5Minnesota73.0Santa Clara76.0Wisconsin77.0
CS Fullerton63.0Florida76.5MIT85.5Smith80.0Vanderbilt84.5
CS Hayward63.0Fordham70.5New Mexico68.0SMU73.5Vassar83.5
CS Long Beach63.0Georgetown80.0NYU72.0Stanford80.5Wash. U.81.0
CS LA58.5Geo. Wash.75.5N. Carolina79.5SUNY Albany73.5Wellesley80.0
CS Northridge67.0Hamilton83.0Northwestern82.0SUNY Bing78.0Wesleyan87.0
CS Sacramento65.0Harvard86.5Notre Dame81.5SUNY Buff72.0Whitman C.79.5
CS San Diego69.5Haverford85.0Oberlin83.0SUNY Stony72.0Wm & Mary84.5
CS San Fran.66.0Hawaii64.5Ohio State73.0Swarthmore89.5Williams89.0
CS San Jose63.0Hofstra69.0Oklahoma69.5Syracuse70.0Yale82.5</p>
<p>Berkeley changed this practice pursuant to a consent decree after that article was written. They do appear to take “degree of difficulty” into account in some respects now:</p>
<p>“There is no disadvantage if you began your college studies in a community college program before transferring to a four-year institution. However, we do want to be assured of your potential and success in a rigorous university setting, so make the most of your years at the four-year school.”</p>
<p>Here’s some info from Columbia University’s law school:</p>
<p>Q: What undergraduate major(s) should I pursue?
A: Columbia Law School does not require or prefer any specific major or minor. A recent review of our entering class finds the following undergraduate majors substantially represented:</p>
<p>25% Political Science/Government
10% Literature/English
12% History
14% Economics<br>
9% Social Sciences (other)
7% Science/Engineering/Mathematics
Other concentrations include, but are not limited to, anthropology, art history, finance/accounting/business, humanities, international relations, language studies, philosophy, policy studies, psychology and religion.</p>
<p>Back to top</p>
<p>Q: From what undergraduate institutions do you generally accept students?
A: The Admissions Committee is dedicated to admitting and enrolling students from a true cross-section of colleges and universities throughout the country and the world. In fact, there are over 200 undergraduate institutions currently represented in our J.D. program. </p>
<p>Regardless of institution(s) attended, the Committee carefully considers:</p>
<p>Rigor, breadth, and depth of curriculum
Grade trends over time (upward or downward)
Institutional grading trends (grade inflation)
Special honors, awards, and fellowships
Letters of recommendation
Professional and extracurricular experiences
Community service and political activity</p>
<p>Here’s some information frol Columbia U.'s law school admissions site:</p>
<p>Q: What undergraduate major(s) should I pursue?
A: Columbia Law School does not require or prefer any specific major or minor. A recent review of our entering class finds the following undergraduate majors substantially represented:</p>
<p>25% Political Science/Government
10% Literature/English
12% History
14% Economics<br>
9% Social Sciences (other)
7% Science/Engineering/Mathematics
Other concentrations include, but are not limited to, anthropology, art history, finance/accounting/business, humanities, international relations, language studies, philosophy, policy studies, psychology and religion.</p>
<p>Q: From what undergraduate institutions do you generally accept students?
A: The Admissions Committee is dedicated to admitting and enrolling students from a true cross-section of colleges and universities throughout the country and the world. In fact, there are over 200 undergraduate institutions currently represented in our J.D. program. </p>
<p>Regardless of institution(s) attended, the Committee carefully considers:</p>
<p>Rigor, breadth, and depth of curriculum
Grade trends over time (upward or downward)
Institutional grading trends (grade inflation)
Special honors, awards, and fellowships
Letters of recommendation
Professional and extracurricular experiences
Community service and political activity</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>. .</p>
<p>Greybeard, I would take that consent decree with a few grains of salt.
The top law schools care a lot about whether applicants have the intellectual horsepower to do well in school and in an intellectually demanding profession. A 3.8 in philosophy or physics from Swarthmore will trump a 3.8 in kineseology from Florida State every time, LSATs being equal (though I think not many FSU kineseology majors are scoring 179). Whether the handicapping is done by formal metric, or just by “feel,” I am pretty sure that it’s done.</p>
<p>Beware of Law School. </p>
<p>I am, by the way, a licensed attorney. Visit jdscam.blogspot.com. That’s not my site, it just has lots more on this sordid subject.</p>
<p>Here’s the rule, stated plainly: If you are not going to an elite law school (generally, a top-14 school) DO NOT, DO NOT go to any lesser-ranked law school unless you meet one or more of the three following caveats, seriously: 1) you are a very attractive young lady; 2) you are a well-connected young man or woman, this includes those of you who will be joining the “family firm” or who have political or business contacts; 3) you are independently wealthy.</p>
<p>That’s it. That’s the rule. The legal job market is abysmal now and likely to be so for the foreseeable future. Third tier diploma-mill schools abound and are PUMPING out law grads at an ever-accelerating rate, exacerbated by the fact the ABA’s 2008 outsourcing opinion has shifted much of the “document review” grunt work traditionally done by the kids to places like India. The market is flooded by former, mostly, liberal arts undergrads trying to ride out the recession in law school, with horrid results. If you do not end up in the upper percentiles of your non-elite law school class, AND you fit none of the above caveats, your chances in the job market, legal and non-legal, are terrible.</p>
<p>BEWARE of non-elite law schools, kids. The JD degree is unique among degrees for its crippling potential. That is, if you do not obtain legal employment, it must be kept in mind that non-law employers loathe the JD. You will be highly suspect in your attempt post-law school to gain non-legal employment, as you will be deemed overqualified. </p>
<p>Be very, very careful about law school right now.</p>
<p>wtidad,</p>
<p>I believe I provided the requisite salt. That’s why I stated that Berkeley does appear to continue to take “degree of difficulty” into consideration, despite the consent decree, and why I included the quotation about community college graduates needing to subsequently demonstrate “… potential and success in a rigorous university setting…”</p>
<p>Does anyone have the website where applicants to law school post their stats on where they got in, waitlisted, rejected, etc with their GPA, LSAT scores, EC summary, etc…
I have seen one for the law schools and another for college admissions…it is not the one in CC…
It is a very nifty database and tool to use…</p>
<p>[LSN</a> :: Welcome to LawSchoolNumbers.com](<a href=“Recently Updated J.D. Profiles | Law School Numbers”>http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com/)</p>
<p>Be an a**hole</p>
<p>Lol at JustinDC.</p>
<p>I have a law enforcement background and I have JD degree, have practiced in local government. I relocated, took the bar in the new state and passed. I am now having a hard time finding legal employment.</p>
<p>Even the federal jobs have higher regards for a Masters degree for non-legal jobs, i.e., job grades.</p>
<p>Law School look at the following:
<p>wait so if your black you could have weaker SAT scores and still get in?</p>
<p>“wait so if your black you could have weaker SAT scores and still get in?”</p>
<p>In general, there is some measure of affirmative action for certain group including Hispanics, blacks, Native Americans, and the disabled (blind, deaf, etc).</p>
<p>Yep. Apply.</p>
<p>if u want to get into top 10 law school u need to do an honors major and get an amazing gpa not just a regular major with an amazing gpa. everythings much more competitive</p>
<p>where are these books of published personal statements?
seeking advice for a young man who’s waiting for LSAT scores.
i read Med school statements–which are obviously not the same.</p>
<p>COlumbia has no real parameters.
‘can’ you point me in a direction where i could read a few good statements from recent college grads? </p>
<p>help</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>As a personal statement is intended to let people know something about who the author is, I wouldn’t recommend starting by reading how other people describe themselves.</p>