Law school admission and elite colleges

Data10
Tue, 29 Jun 2021 02:18:07 +0000

CU123:

That is quite an assumption and one which I disagree with. It implies that UCB students would like to go to UCLA over Stanford when they know that the law school they attend matters. It is an irrational decision.

CU123:

Could you empirically define what other factors would account for such a large disparity? Are you suggesting that applicants from other top schools aren’t applying to Yale in significant numbers?

In short the same 2 factors mentioned in my post above – law school applicants who attended Yale for undergrad averaged higher stats than any other undergrad college, so a larger portion have stats in range where admission is likely. And students attending Yale for undergrad are more likely to apply to Yale for grad than other colleges after controlling for stats – both due to distance and similarity of colleges/preferences.

The LSAC provides reports that list number and stats of applicants, accepted, and matriculated; which sounds like what you are looking for. However, most schools to not put this online. An example one for Emory is at http://www.career.emory.edu/_includes/documents/pre_law_2019.pdf. A list of the most applied to law schools among Emory undergrads below. Note that the most applied to law school among Emory undergrads is Emory Law school. I expect a similar pattern occurs for most colleges. Kids who attend undergrad at college x are far more likely to apply to college x’s law school than average, so college x is expected to be far more overrepresented among law school matriculating students, after controlling for stats.

Also note there is a regional bias in which law schools received most applications among Emory undergrads. There also seems to be a bias towards large cities, which fits with Emory being located in Atlanta. Many, many law schools received more applications than Yale Law. .

Most Applied to Law Schools Among Emory Undergrads
1 . Emory – 35/109 admitted (51% of Emory undergrads applied to Emory Law)
2. Georgetown – 13/96 admitted
3. George Washington – 16/69 admitted
4. NYU – 12/64 admitted
4. Vanderbilt – 13/64 admitted
6. Columbia – 7/61 admitted
7. Duke – 9/56 admitted
7. UCLA – 13/56 admitted
9. Texas – 7/54 admitted
10. UVA – 9/53 admitted
…
Low. Yale – 3/21 admitted