Surprise: Where Harvard Law Students Got Their Undergrad Degrees

Today I’m passing along a fascinating list that comes from Harvard Law School. The list you see below includes the 261 colleges and universities where members of the Class of 2013 law school students come from.

Michelle Kretzschmur, the creator of Do-It-Yourself College Rankings sent me the link to the list because she knows how strongly I believe that students don’t have to attend schools favored by the college ratings gods to gain admission into excellent graduate and professional schools.

Michelle sent the link after reading this recent post of mine: 50  Schools That Produce the Most Science and Engineering PhDs

I checked out Harvard Law School’s site to see how many  students seeking a J.D. degree gain admission to the institution each year and I calculated that it’s approximately 560.  So obviously with this class size, graduates of elite undergraduate institutions are not represented in greater numbers than the students who hail from Central Connecticut State,  Eastern Kentucky University and  William Jewell College.

Undergrad Schools of Origin for Harvard Law School’s Class of 2013

Bottom Line:

As I’ve emphasized repeatedly on this college blog, where you attend college isn’t nearly as important as what you do when you get there. Just ask the folks at Harvard Law School.

Lynn O’Shaughnessy is the author of The College Solution: A Guide for Everyone Looking for the Right School at the Right Price.



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  1. Lynn was making an important point rather than giving a year by year breakdown. Very interesting post. You could juxtapose the college list with the average/median last score at each college for greater analysis. For example the aggregated median LSAT of Harvard College students was 165 ~ which is 95th percentile which is why you see linkedin profiles with a lot of harvard undergrad and say Boston College Law School.

    This highlights just how hard kids have to work to get into a top tier school in a America.

  2. To get a fuller picture I would be interested to know how many students attend HLS from each of the schools listed. I would also like to know how the list changes year after year. If only one student from a particular school attends every 10 years, the chances of being that one student is very small. However, if every year a school sends several students to HLS, than the chances of admittance are higher. As the list illustrates it is possible to attend HLS from non-Ivy League schools, but the list alone does not give the whole picture.

    1. Hi,

      It would be impossible for many schools to have multiple grads attending Harvard Law School. For the 2016 law school class there were 564 slots and the law students came from 171 schools.

      Lynn O’Shaughnessy

    2. There’s a business in publishing stats on time series information on grad schools and where their students completed their undergraduate studies. Most education decisions are made with incomplete data in an environment of apparent abundance of it.

  3. Hey Lynn,

    Awesome list!

    I try to convey this to community college students. Start out at community college, transfer to a 4-year-college and you can go anywhere!

    In some cases, there are community college transfers that get into Harvard!

    Great site. I’ll try to connect with you via social media as well 🙂

    Chad

  4. Hi Lynn,

    I love your website. I compared the list above to Harvard’s site and the list is different. Odd. What am I missing? For example, Southern Methodist and Reed are missing. Thanks.

    ADELPHI UNIVERSITY
    AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
    AMHERST COLLEGE
    ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
    BARNARD COLLEGE-COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
    BATES COLLEGE
    BETH MEDRASH GOVOHA
    BIOLA UNIVERSITY
    BOSTON COLLEGE
    BOSTON UNIVERSITY
    BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
    BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
    BROWN UNIVERSITY
    BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY
    CAMPBELLSVILLE UNIVERSITY
    CARLETON COLLEGE-MN
    CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE
    CLARKSON UNIVERSITY
    COLBY COLLEGE
    COLLEGE OF THE HOLY CROSS
    COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY
    COLUMBIA
    CONCORDIA UNIV-SIR GEO WILLIAMS CAMPUS
    CORNELL UNIVERSITY-NY
    DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
    DENISON UNIVERSITY
    DEPAUL UNIVERSITY
    DUKE UNIVERSITY
    EMORY UNIVERSITY
    FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
    FORDHAM UNIV. FORDHAM COLLEGE @ ROSEHILL
    FURMAN UNIVERSITY
    GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
    GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
    GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
    GRINNELL COLLEGE
    HAMLINE UNIVERSITY
    HARVARD UNIVERSITY
    HENDRIX COLLEGE
    HOWARD UNIVERSITY
    HUNTER COLLEGE – CUNY
    INDIANA UNIVERSITY-BLOOMINGTON
    JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
    LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY-BATON ROUGE
    MACALESTER COLLEGE
    MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECH.
    MCDANIEL COLLEGE
    MERCER UNIVERSITY-MACON
    MIAMI UNIVERSITY OXFORD
    MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
    MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE
    MISSOURI VALLEY COLLEGE
    MOREHOUSE COLLEGE
    MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE
    MUHLENBERG COLLEGE
    NEBRASKA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
    NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
    NORWICH UNIVERSITY
    NYU
    OBERLIN COLLEGE
    OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE
    OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY-COLUMBUS
    OHIO UNIVERSITY
    OXFORD UNIVERSITY
    PATRICK HENRY COLLEGE
    PEKING UNIVERSITY
    POMONA COLLEGE
    PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
    QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY
    RICE UNIVERSITY
    RUTGERS U SCH OF ARTS & SCIENCES
    SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY
    SAINT OLAF COLLEGE
    SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE NY
    SH’OR YOSHUV RABBINICAL CL NY
    SMITH COLLEGE
    SPELMAN COLLEGE
    STANFORD UNIVERSITY
    SWARTHMORE COLLEGE
    SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
    TEMPLE UNIVERSITY
    TEXAS A & M UNIVERSITY – COLLEGE STATION
    THE COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY
    TOURO COLLEGE
    TRINITY COLLEGE-CT
    TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY
    TUFTS UNIVERSITY OF ARTS & SCIENCES
    TULANE UNIVERSITY
    UNION UNIVERSITY
    UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY
    UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY
    UNIV. OF DELAWARE
    UNIV. OF MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA
    UNIVERSITY OF AKRON
    UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA
    UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
    UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS-FAYETTEVILLE
    UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-BERKELEY
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-DAVIS
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-LOS ANGELES
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-SAN DIEGO
    UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
    UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA
    UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
    UNIVERSITY OF DALLAS
    UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON
    UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
    UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA-ATHENS
    UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA
    UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
    UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
    UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE
    UNIVERSITY OF MAINE-ORONO
    UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND-COLLEGE PARK
    UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS-AMHERST
    UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI
    UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN-ANN ARBOR
    UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN-DEARBORN
    UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA-MINNEAPOLIS
    UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA
    UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA
    UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN
    UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA-CHAPEL HILL
    UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA
    UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME
    UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
    UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
    UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH
    UNIVERSITY OF PORTLAND
    UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER
    UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO
    UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
    UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS – AUSTIN
    UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS – DALLAS
    UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH
    UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
    UNIVERSITY OF TULSA
    UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
    UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
    UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
    UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
    UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN – MADISON
    VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
    VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY
    WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY
    WALLA WALLA COLLEGE
    WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY
    WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
    WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
    WEST BENGAL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
    WESTERN UNIVERSITY, CANADA
    WHEATON COLLEGE-ILLINOIS
    WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY
    WILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY
    WILLIAMS COLLEGE
    YALE UNIVERSITY
    YESHIVA UNIVERSITY
    YONSEI UNIVERSITY
    YORK UNIVERSITY

    1. Hi Karen,

      The list on my post is correct because it is a screen shot from Harvard’s website. Maybe we were looking at different law school classes. Mine is for the law students who will be graduating from Harvard in 2013.

      Lynn O’Shaughnessy