<p>It doesn’t mean anything that I can discern. Can you tell me what it means? Does it mean that Cornell students are being admitted with lower GPAs and LSATs? Nope. There is no indication that this is true. In fact, UF students might be the ones getting in with lower GPAs and LSATs. There’s no evidence of that, either, but the statistics don’t disprove it. So what good are they? There is absolutely no evidence that Cornell students have better chances or an easier time getting into law school.</p>
<p>how can you say that when there is an overwhelming number of Cornell grads at top law schools and very few from UF? I don’t think the question is whether the adcoms favor ivy league students but HOW much they favor them.</p>
<p>Just so you know I’m not trying to be an elitist here, I am neither a student at an Ivy League nor do I have the opportunity to become one at this point I’m just interpreting what I have gathered from research into law school admissions.</p>
<p>It’s not hard to see why this is faulty reasoning. Do you think med schools favor Asians over blacks? That’s the logical conclusion to draw from their representation in med school, right? It must be way easier to get into med school if you’re Asian.</p>
<p>Obviously I am not being clear enough, if you had read my previous posts I mentioned that the Cornell applicants are generally higher quality but it is my belief that there is at least some degree of favoritism based on name alone. I could be completely off base here but it is just what I have gathered.</p>
<p>Also I am not saying that brand name is any replacement for high LSAT/GPA, I’m just offering the conclusions I have drawn. Students from lesser name schools will need more to distinguish themselves from the more connected Ivy leaguers. Just like I’m sure that those within these prestigious institutions have intense competition to distinguish themselves from each other.</p>
<p>I’m not trying to argue with anyone here, if you totally disagree then feel free to elaborate.</p>
<p>While I actually do agree with your argument*, I disagree very strongly that the piece of evidence you have presented (different numbers at top law schools) is in any way a piece of evidence in favor of that argument.</p>
<p>The argument is not that you’re wrong. The argument is that you haven’t proven that you’re right.</p>
<p>(*I have no evidence for my belief, either.)</p>
<p>I’m also taking into account that Yale favors students from Yale, Harvard students from Harvard and so on…</p>
<p>It could be argued that these students have a better understanding of what is required of the school but then again the way I see it is that at most of the top Ivies the difference in quality of education is minuscule if it exists at all; therefore all things being equal the same amount should be admitted from most of the top Ivies rather than favoring those at their own institution.</p>
<p>I don’t know, I’m sort of arguing it with myself more than anything and I know I haven’t proven anything; just offering my unqualified opinion :D</p>
<p>As a current Cornell student, I’m obviously biased in favor of Cornell, but anyway, think less about law school than about what you want out of college. You might not even want to be a lawyer in a few years, so just think about where you think you will have the best experience as an undergrad. If you are totally 100% certain on law school (which is a very difficult thing to be sure about in high school without any internships or real world experience), then coming out of UF debt free is probably better. If you aren’t absolutely certain about law school, coming out of Cornell rather than UF carries some weight in other arenas (for example, if you decide you want to go into investment banking).</p>
<p>That schools give preference to students from their own institution could be true. It makes sense from a fundraising perspective, as graduates with two degrees from the same school are probably more likely to give money later on down the road than graduates with one degree, especially graduates with one degree who were rejected by their undergraduate institution’s law school. Probably a very tiny advantage though, if any at all.</p>
<p>Yes, but .25 of the national standard deviation is quite substantial relative to the standard deviation among schools as excellent as Florida and Cornell. 200 points is only one national standard deviation, but it’s a huge gap within either of those two schools.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, the usual SAT —> LSAT converstion begins with dividing your SAT by about 20.7. So 50 SAT points ends up being about 2.5 LSAT points – definitely small, but conceivably noticeable. </p>
<p>(How many 169’s would rather have a 172? And how many 172’s would rather have 174? Or, in this example, how many 164’s would rather have a 167? Again, small but noticeable.)</p>
<p>In the absence of actual data – because idiot me deleted the spreadsheet where I kept it – we can pretend that Cornell gives out disproportionately higher grades, in which case the higher grades and LSATs would probably be the entire explanation.</p>
<p>We can also pretend that Florida gives out higher grades, in which case the higher grades cancel out the slightly lower LSATs and we’d have to resort to school reputation as the explanatory factor.</p>
<p>The kid is going to get the same LSAT whether he goes to UF or Cornell. The school’s average scores don’t matter. Going to UF isn’t going to make him less intelligent because he is around slightly less intelligent students. </p>
<p>Cornell may have a reputation for deflated grades, but the top schools don’t care that much. Maybe he would get a slight reputation-bump if he were at HYPS, but Cornell…</p>
<p>We all know admissions is based primarily on LSAT/GPA. He will get a higher GPA at UF where he is in the top 10% of their admitted student class. He will get the same or possibly a higher LSAT (more time to prep). He will be debt free, and have spent four years in paradise. If you’re sure about law school, go to uf.</p>
<p>I’m not 100% sure of this – although I would not be confident about disagreeing with you, either. I think it’s at least possible that Cornell would drill him harder in terms of the amount/difficulty of reading that it expected him to do, which would in fact build his verbal intelligence.</p>
<p>Second, it’s at least possible that he’ll be socially influenced by his peers into what a reasonable LSAT study regimen is like. I know most of my friends at my local institution (UCB) don’t take standardized testing as seriously as my friends at my undergraduate institution (Duke), and I suspect that taking any single kid out of UCB and sending him to Duke might make him study a little harder because he sees everybody else worrying about it more.</p>
<p>I’m not saying that I think his LSAT score will be higher from Cornell. I’m suggesting that it’s possible.</p>
<p>I’m all for being debt-free and going where you think you’ll be happy, but I would certainly not recommend choosing based on the belief that UF will make for a higher GPA or more time to study for the LSAT. I think it’s a dangerous assumption to make, and I know many intelligent, dedicated students for whom the case has been exactly the opposite. Harsher curves, less involvement in classes, the “easy to get here, tough to stay” phenomenon…I don’t know why, but it happens.</p>
<p>I think that if a great GPA and relatively large amount of free time come about from choosing UF, then great. Happy side effect. I’m definitely not saying that the opposite should be assumed, or that this stuff probably won’t happen…just that it’s not definite enough to base a final opinion on (nor would I stake a high schooler’s choice of college on his eventual law school aspirations). I maintain that the choice should ultimately be based on how the OP feels about each of the schools and whether or not his feelings for Cornell outweigh the finiancial ease of UF.</p>
<p>You can get more or less the best of both worlds with UF Honors Program. You get many of the benefits of a small, elite school, but at the price of a public school. Minimum SAT for consideration for admission is 1400 and 4.00 gpa (weighted; as computed by UF). I don’t know the average of students in Honors, but it’s obviously much higher than Cornell’s.</p>