<p>I'm interested in pre-law at Princeton. What can I do now (freshman year in HS and beyond) to make myself look like a competitive applicant? What contests in particular or awards should I shoot for? Thanks.</p>
<p>Read read read. If you do end up here (or at any top school really), you will need to work extra hard to maintain a high GPA since only a limited # of As are given. Superior reading skills will be of tremendous help so you can get your work done faster. No matter what anybody else says, almost every law applicant is part of a game, and that is of trying to get their GPA and LSAT as high as possible since those are practically the only factors law schools care about (ECs are minimally important). You should of course major in something you like (this would help you do better anyway) but at the same time, you would be unwise to "only care about learning" and take it easy with the grades when so much is at stake, not at a place like Princeton where everybody around you is an overachiever and you're graded on a curve. So yes, to prepare for college and the law admissions process, read a lot---especially a lot of dense material you DON'T necessarily like (you will be forced to do this on the LSAT so you might as well get used to it now).</p>
<p>Pre-law at Princeton is pretty bad.
Only few people from Princeton are admitted to top law school. </p>
<p>At Yale Law school 2009
82 Yale UG are enrolled
63 from Harvard UG
36 from Stanford
26 from Columbia
20 from Brown</p>
<p>and only 17 from Princeton. </p>
<p>Yale</a> University Bulletin | Yale Law School 2009?2010 | Law School Students</p>
<p>That's probably because we give out fewer As than those institutions making it hard for so many students to maintaing a skyhigh GPA. That said, if you do manage to be one of the top students, then all the better for you. </p>
<p>German_car, if you don't think we can tell, we all know your obsession with our stats shows you have a personal vendetta against the school. You would do best to get past your insecurities about being denied and move on.</p>
<p>As I've written before, there's probably not much point in engaging this particular poster who has appeared on the Princeton forum under various names and always with the same distorted and negative agenda.</p>
<p>Here is the truth. </p>
<p>Princeton provides excellent pre-law preparation for those interested and its graduates do extremely well at admissions to the top law schools in the country. What is also true is that a smaller percentage of Princeton graduates apply to law school than graduates of Yale or Harvard where it is more popular. As another poster has pointed out, Princeton graduates have been heavily recruited into jobs in finance and consulting (about the same as Harvard and far more than Yale) making law school a less necessary or popular choice. I suspect that another one of the reasons a smaller percentage of Princeton graduates apply to law school is that there are far more engineering majors who are highly unlikely to go that route. When they do apply, they do very well.</p>
<p>Last year only 6% of the Princeton graduating class applied to law school (a total of 74 students). It appears that all were accepted to at least one of the schools to which they applied and they were accepted at high rates (much higher than the average acceptance rates) at all of the top law schools. The average LSAT scores for graduating seniors at Princeton are the same as Yale's and second only to Harvard's.</p>
<p>Comparison of Average LSAT scores for graduating seniors from one year ago (180 is a perfect score)</p>
<p>166---Harvard
165---Princeton, Yale
164---Stanford
163---Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke, MIT, Penn
162---Chicago </p>
<p>The accomplishments of Princeton lawyers are significant. In fact, despite Princeton's small size, more of its undergraduates have become Supreme Court Justices than the graduates of any other college in the nation. Currently, there are two Princeton graduates among the nine Supreme Court Justices. Only Stanford is as well represented among undergraduate alma maters on the current court.</p>
<p>Like many of my friends, I attended Harvard Law immediately after Princeton. Also like most of them, I had my pick of the leading law schools in the country.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Last year only 6% of the Princeton graduating class applied to law school (a total of 74 students).
[/quote]
This is not true. Far more than 74 applied to law school. Probably only 74 reported to alumni/career office. </p>
<p>Average LSAT scores of 'those who reported to alumni/career office' is as high as other schools but GPA of Princeton grad is far lower than other Ivy grad's GPA.</p>
<p>Harvard Yale Columbia Stanford UG also receive very strong preferential treatment from their own Law School.
e.g. Harvard Law admitted 300 Harvard UG while admitting only 50 Princeton UG.
Columbia Law admitted 160 Columbia UG and admitted only 30 Princeton UG.</p>
<p>THis means even though Princeton grads are as smart as other ivy students, they have significantly less chance of getting into top law schools because of grade deflation and because Princeton does not have law school.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Law</a> School «*Office of Career Services « Princeton University</p>
<p>Suffice it to say that it's safe to ignore most of what the above poster writes. I'm always surprised at the pettiness of particular posters who go out of their way to spread falsehoods while hiding behind different aliases. I suppose the lesson for all users of the internet is to be skeptical, ask questions and be aware. If you are such a person, you'll fit into Princeton perfectly.</p>
<p>
[quote]
In the 2007-2008 application year, 74 seniors applied to law school.
[/quote]
This number is clearly wrong. Please stop providing false information.
At Harvard law 50 Princeton UG enrolled.
17 at Yale Law.
20 at Columbia Law
15 at Stanford Law
20 at NYU law
ther are at least 10 each at Berkeley Michigan UPenn Cornell etc..</p>
<p>German_car, I highly doubt that Princeton's Career Services are providing false information to students. You're forgetting about the alumni who apply every year. The number of alumni who apply is much greater than the number of Princeton seniors who apply every year.</p>
<p>The reality, Peyton, is that the above poster probably is aware of the facts. The point of postings like his are simply to spread doubt through manipulation and misrepresentation. The best one can do is counter with the truth and do so repeatedly. If you check this particular poster's history, you'll see that nearly all of his posts consist of negative comments here on the Princeton board.</p>
<p>
[quote]
You're forgetting about the alumni who apply every year.
[/quote]
Yes there are huge number of Alumni who apply every year.
The total number of princeton grads who apply to law school (seniors and alumni) is about the same as other ivy schools. However, only few
are admitted to the top law school. (e.g. only 17 at Yale Law)</p>
<p>question: i'm a HS senior and interested in law school. if i were hypothetically accepted to both princeton and UVa (in-state), and i were to get a higher GPA at UVa, how would law schools look at this? basically, how do amazing grades at a decent school compare to decent grades at an amazing school?</p>
<p>
[quote]
However, only few
are admitted to the top law school. (e.g. only 17 at Yale Law)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>More than 17 were admitted to Yale law (# of matriculates are way less than # of students admitted). About 16% of Princeton applicants were accepted at Yale law, over twice Yale's regular acceptance rate. About 22% of Yalies were accepted - only about 6% better. The difference is even smaller at Harvard: 28% for Princeton and 32% for Yale.</p>
<p>After you take into account grade deflation, it's pretty clear that Yalies get no advantage over Princeton applicants.</p>
<p>Link ? where did you get the acceptance ratio ?</p>
<p>I am pretty sure that Yalies get much stronger preferential treatment from Yale Law School.
Harvard UG also get preferential treatment from HLS
Columbia UG gets preferential treatment at from CLS.</p>
<p>Princeton UG get preferential treatment from .......... NOWHERE.</p>
<p>Jomjom/german_car/whatever you're calling yourself these days...</p>
<p>Yeah, we get preferential treatment from nowhere because we don't have a law school. Is that all that surprising? Is that terrifying? Is that unexpected? Is it so "great" for the pre-law programs at other school that they get preferential treatment from their OWN law school? 1) that doesn't sound particularly noble, and 2) that's only 1 law school. Fine, maybe I'm considering going to Harvard College. Now I get an advantage at ONE Top 14 LS. So MAYBE if I perform really effin well in college, and MAYBE if I decide that I want to be an attorney and MAYBE if I insist staying at my college for law school, THEN going to that college would be better for me than going to Princeton. That's a lot of maybes.</p>
<p>i am also worried about the prelaw program at princeton. </p>
<p>i mean, seriously, grade deflation?</p>
<p>:/</p>
<p>I think Princeton has fewer pre-law because less people that go to Princeton are interested in law.</p>
<p>To answer the ?: I would say read a lot, practice for law school :D.</p>
<p>I hope you don't mean "Pre-law" to be a major. Because pre-law majors in top law school admissions are viewed somewhat like criminal justice majors (jokes).</p>