community college affecting Law school admission

[Rocmavericks]

Im am currently a senior in High School and might go to a Local Junior College in California, i'll probably end up transfering to either UC Berkeley or UCLA. My question is how will this affect me in my Law School admission considering i get a respectable umm lets say 3.7+ GPA from Berkeley as a history Major and Poli Sci minor. The Law school im most interested in is UPENN and Cornell. The reason i am doing this is because it will save me around $40,000 that i will put towards law school.

PS: should i go to a lesser UC school like Riverside or Irvine or should i try and transfer to Berkeley after 2 years from a JC and how will the law schools interpret the classes i took at the Junior college. OH yeah and will going to a JC make me stand out and if so in a good or bad way THANKS i now im rambling on and on and i suck at spelling 

OH yeah i got a 150 Lsat score without studying can i realisticly bring it up to a 170 by the time i take the power score 8 week course and take the insane amount of prep test and prepare like crazy for it?

THANKS ALOT GUYS!!!

[TDPookie1]

Notwithstanding the fact that you called my beloved undergrad a "lesser UC school" and paired it up with Riverside, I'll offer my opinion.

It can't hurt to transfer from a JC; it's a very common thing to do, and adcomms understand that not everyone has the money to go straight to college.  If you have good grades (3.5+), see if your JC of choice has an honors program.  I don't know your area, but Glendale Community College does, I believe.  I don't know for sure, because I went straight to a "lesser UC."

Santa Monica College is supposed to have the highest transfer rate to UCLA, just FYI.

150 is good considering you haven't even gone to college yet.  Wait until you take classes (especially in liberal arts) that enhance your logical thinking skills.  I think a 170 will be very doable.  PowerScore and TestMasters are both great.  (I took TestMasters, and it's nearly identical to PowerScore.)

Not to college choice...  I chose my "lesser UC school" over both of your apparent better UC schools.  I chose it based on location and culture and feel.  I absolutely love UCI.  My parents live in the Pasadena area, so for me, UCLA was too close, and Berkeley was too far.  I visited UCLA and thought it seemed unfriendly, plus my boyfriend at the time was there already, and I knew we were breaking up soon and thought I wanted to go to UCLA for the wrong reasons.  My sister went to UCI before me and loved it, so I was already familiar with it.  I've never regretted going to UCI, until now that I'm doing law school applications.  I wish I had a higher ranked school to write on my application.  Other than that, I totally loved UCI.  I did well there, and maybe I wouldn't have done as well at another school, which would have hurt my application; GPA is more important than undergraduate school.  Go somewhere you think you'll be happy.  Maybe that's UCI, and maybe it's Berkeley, and maybe it's Cornell.  They're all vastly different, and it all depends on what you like.  Visit schools to get a feel for what they're like, talk to other students, etc.

One more thing, $40K isn't that much in the grand scheme of things.  Personally, I counted down the days until I could move out of the house for the last year and a half or so of high school.  There's no way in hell I would have ever considered going to a JC.  And I wouldn't trade anything for freshman year in the dorms.  Best time I had in college

[Rocmavericks]

I'm sorry if i offended you in anyway, UCI is a terrific school and i would consider myself lucky if i had the opportunity to go there. I have visted the campis many times and several people i know go there, and it's like 20 minutes away from the beach . Also Riverside isnt that bad for you to be offened by mentioning UCI in the same sentence as it. GO ARdVARKs!

By lesser UC i ment not as good as UCB for the Humanities and too science oriented, cause i know lots of people who chose to do pre med stuff there.

TDpookie1 if you dont mind me asking what law schools are you applying to and what was your major?(considering that i might go to UCI next year)

[TDPookie1]

I wasn't offended; I was mostly just joking with you.  I am aware that UCI is lower on the rankings than other UC's (particularly UCLA and Berkeley; it's below at least one other, but just barely) and that it is less widely known.  And you can say whatever you want about the quality of education (general "you," not that you specifically were saying anything about it), but I was happy with UCI, and I have nothing to compare it to.

Also, we are far less than 20 minutes from the beach, unless you're including parking, walking, and setting up your beach chair.  It's more like 5-10 minutes to the beach - straight shot down MacArthur.

Doesn't UCI have one of the best English departments?  I know creative writing is/was #1 on the USNWR in the most or second most recent rankings.

On to your question, I double majored in Classics (emphasis in Latin, but also studied Ancient Greek) and Political Science, and I minored in Management (closest thing we have to a Business major).  I'm applying to Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, NYU, Penn, Michigan, Duke, Boalt (Berkeley), Georgetown maybe, UCLA, and USC.  That's in order of ranking, and USC (lowest ranked) is #18.

The better question will be where I get in.  Feel free to e-mail me in a few months to ask how it's going.

Where are you applying to college?  Since you mentioned your desire to save $40K, make sure you apply for financial aid, and do it early (greater availability of funds).  You might decide that it's worth it for you to just go straight to college with the JC step.  Good luck with your applications!

[Rocmavericks]

Im applying to all the UC's but the only ones i would consider going to would be UCSD (if im lucky), UCI, and UCD. I doubt i'll get any substantial fanincial aid because my parents make to much money for those hudge grants but not enough to comfortably afford a UC School. Also my sister is in college right now so that also adds to the fanancial burden. Your stats are excellent you should get into at least Boalt hall, but then again you have to compete with people who are older and have more work experience etc. 

[TDPookie1]

Im applying to all the UC's but the only ones i would consider going to would be UCSD (if im lucky), UCI, and UCD. I doubt i'll get any substantial fanincial aid because my parents make to much money for those hudge grants but not enough to comfortably afford a UC School. Also my sister is in college right now so that also adds to the fanancial burden. Your stats are excellent you should get into at least Boalt hall, but then again you have to compete with people who are older and have more work experience etc. 

Why wouldn't you go to UCLA and Berkeley?

Having another family member in college helps you get some grants.  You may think you won't get anything (and you may be right), but it's worth a try.  Check out some financial aid websites too for more info.  I used FastWeb.com when I was looking, although I never ended up applying for anything cuz I was a slacker.  But I got a scholarship from my PSAT and SAT scores, then some grants, and covered the rest with subsidized loans.  No complaints here

Thanks for the confidence   Berkeley seems to be harder to get into than many of the schools ranked higher than it is because so many people apply.  I can see myself getting into, for example, NYU, but getting rejected from Berkeley.  And that would be fine, because it would just make the decision of going to NYU that much easier. 

[Rocmavericks]

Yeah but your instate so shoudnt that raise your chances alot for undergrad the acceptence rate is 25% but if your applying out of state its like 15% so im assuming this is true for law school as well (correct me if im wrong on this) as to why im not applying to UCB and UCLA i am i just don't expect to get in considering that my stats are bellow the average person admitted to those two schools. THe only draw back to boalt hall is the location Berkeley is extremely ghetto from what iv'e heard, the have homeless people around the campus. The reason i want to attend UCB is because my major will be history and currently they have the second best history program in the nation.

[Rocmavericks]

Pookie what was your first lsat score because i want to score in your lsat score range, and how long did you prep for it?.  Yeah im hoping to be rejected by UCLA and Boalt hall too that is if i get accepted to UPENN because it would make my decision to attend UPENN much much easier considering its like 53K a year.

[TDPookie1]

1. Apply to UCB and UCLA anyway.  It's $80 (unless they've raised the app fee), and you don't need to fill out any other info; just check two more boxes, up the check, and send it in.  You never know.

2. I've heard about the ghettoness of Berkeley.  It was a moot point for undergrad because it was farther from home than I wanted to be, and it might be a moot point for law school.  If I get in somewhere higher ranked, that's probably where I'm going.  If Berkeley is the highest ranked school I get into, then I'm gonna deal with the homeless people.  To me, ranking matters a hell of a lot more for law school than for undergrad.

3. From Boalt's website:

Do in-state applicants have higher preference than those from out of state?

You have a roughly equal chance of being admitted regardless of your residency. We strive to enroll a class that has a majority of residents, but we offer admissions to an equal number of residents and nonresidents in order to obtain the ration we seek.

http://www.law.berkeley.edu/prospectives/admissions/jddegree/faq.html#Q3

It is different for undergrad, of course.

4. My first LSAT score was 163.  I took TestMasters, which is a 10-week course, so that's how long I studied.  I signed up for TM several months early and wanted to study before the class too, but I read on the TM website that they discourage you from studying on your own so you don't pick up bad habits that you have to unlearn.  So I did nothing but TM.  On my later practice tests, I was scoring up to a 177, with an average of 174-5.  I'm still bummed about my final score 

[TheDecline]

I went to a junior college for a year, got my AA, and then went to University of Florida.  I don't really think that going to a community college will have a negative impact, although I'll find out soon since I'm applying this fall.  Admission to the schools you want to go to will mostly depend on your LSAT and GPA, although other factors are considered.  You will certainly save a lot of money, and that can't be overlooked.  It's good to have a plan, but you also have a lot of time.  You might not even want to go to law school after a few years.  The most important thing is to get good grades and do well on the LSAT, and choose whichever school fits you the best.