What top undergrad gives you the best chance for a top law school?

[sakky]

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FWIW, my cousin actually went to a lower ranked UC, (UC San Diego) and he now works as a consultant at an IT Consulting firm. Granted, he isn’t working at a Management Consulting shop doing a corporate strategy role like it would be the case if he were to work at MBB, Booz, Mercer, Monitor, or other high-end strategy consulting boutique firm, but he still makes over 80k a year at his IT Consulting gig just 4 years into the job.

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<p>Then let me tell you this. I know plenty of people who graduated from Berkeley - clearly the top UC - who have nevertheless been relegated to working in menial wage-slave jobs such as waitressing and stocking shelves at the mall. {Granted, they did major in the humanities or psychology.} Perhaps your cousin should tell them about the wonderful opportunities in IT consulting that they evidently missed out on. </p>

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However, we need to remember that median LSAT tends to be around 150-155 at most large state schools. Obviously, the vast majority of people from large state schools can’t score high enough to get into top law schools, and they would be better off not bothering with law school in that case.

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<p>On this point, there has never been a dispute. I have never disagreed that those who have to pay hefty fees to attend a non-top law school should probably decline. </p>

<p>Those students with 150-155 LSAT scores are not going to be admitted to top law schools anyway, so for them, the point is moot. I was specifically talking about those students who are able to be admitted to such schools. </p>

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This ultimately leads to the point that: majoring in humanities in college is risky and you risk being completely screwed job-wise.

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<p>Majoring in humanities is indeed a high-risk strategy. And certainly most of those students should have chosen more marketable majors (or perhaps not gone to college at all).</p>

<p>But I was taking it as a given that they had graduated from those majors, and so the only relevant question is, what should they do now going forward? </p>

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Basically, law firm recruiting is very structured and rigid, and there is no second shot at the firm job interviews… If you miss the boat on 2L on-campus interviews, your law school won’t allow you to participate in that 2L on campus interview second-time, no matter what. and, just because you take leave of absence from law school at that point and come back later, you can’t get those interview schedules back again, nor will law firms try to interview you. Basically, you are screwed if you miss your boat on a firm job as a second year law student…if you are intent on working for a large law firm.

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<p>Then just dial back the strategy by 6 months. Instead of withdrawing after 1L, withdraw during 1L, and specifically, over the winter break. By then, you haven’t participated in first-year recruiting. You should know if the economy will be strong in the upcoming summer or not, as that summer will be only 6 months away. </p>

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Or, perhaps pursue second bachelors in engineering, math, accounting, or nursing.

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<p>Frankly, that sounds like an even riskier strategy than attending law school. Even if you’re granted some transfer credits from your first bachelor’s degree, you’re likely still looking at an extra 2-3 years of schooling. Nor are you guaranteed a top job after graduation. For example, one guy (out of 6 reporting) who graduated in 2010 in math from Berkeley - one of the world’s premier math schools - ended up working as a Starbucks barista. </p>

<p><a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Math.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Math.stm&lt;/a&gt; </p>

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Now, imagine people who attend a law school after taking out full loans and miss their boat on Biglaw. That prospect is truly disturbing, and I would agree with this guy that many lawyers out there are indeed worse-off than plumbers and janitors.

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<p>Hey, plenty of people take out full loans for 4 years of undergrad, only to be stuck in menial jobs. And plenty of new college graduates are surely worse off than plumbers or even janitors. </p>

<p>Like I said, the root problem is that too many college students do not develop marketable skills. But that’s not going to change. Given that, attending a top law school may indeed be the best hope for them. Sad but true.</p>