Top Feeders to Law School (JD Programs)
Updated July 2021
Aspiring lawyers know that excellent undergraduate grades and superb LSAT scores are the primary keys to getting into an elite law school. However, the undergraduate school that you attend can also play a role in the law school admissions process. Attending an elite law school can be particularly important because many of the best clerkships and post-graduation offers of employment will go to alumni with a prestigious academic resume. This is why you should be aware of the top feeders to law school.
The two lists that follow showcase the top 30 “feeder” schools into the most highly-ranked JD programs. On the first list, for each school, we look at the raw number of students who go on to attend elite JD programs, as well as the two JD programs enrolling the most graduates from that undergraduate school. The second list looks at the top 30 producers when adjusted for a school’s undergraduate enrollment, which allows us to highlight schools that may be smaller in size, but that still send a consistent flow of graduates to the world’s premier law schools.
In order to identify "top feeder” colleges, we relied on publicly available data from LinkedIn, a professional networking site featuring profiles of approximately 170 million workers across the United States. Specifically, we identified and analyzed the undergraduate backgrounds of nearly 8,000 individuals who enrolled at 14 of America’s most reputable JD programs, including those at Yale University, Stanford University, Harvard University, Columbia University, University of Chicago, New York University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia, Northwestern University, University of California Berkeley, University of Michigan, Duke University, Cornell University, and Georgetown University.
Top Feeder Rankings (by total graduates enrolled)
Rank (Total) | Institution | #JD Graduates | Top Law School (#1) | Top Law School (#2) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | University of California, Berkeley | 236 | UC Berkeley School of Law | Stanford Law School |
2 | Cornell University | 222 | Cornell Law School | University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School |
3 | Harvard University | 216 | Yale Law School | Harvard Law School |
4 | Yale University | 215 | Yale Law School | Stanford Law School |
5 | University of Michigan | 180 | University of Michigan Law School | UC Berkeley School of Law |
6 | University of Pennsylvania | 175 | University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School | Stanford Law School |
7 | University of California, Los Angeles | 173 | UC Berkeley School of Law | Harvard Law School |
8 | Columbia University | 166 | Columbia Law School | UC Berkeley School of Law |
9 | Georgetown University | 147 | UC Berkeley School of Law | Harvard Law School |
10 | University of Chicago | 143 | University of Chicago Law School | Columbia Law School |
10 | Duke University | 143 | Duke University School of Law | Stanford Law School |
12 | Princeton University | 136 | New York University School of Law | Columbia Law School |
13 | University of Virginia | 135 | University of Virginia School of Law | Columbia Law School |
14 | New York University | 130 | University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School | New York University School of Law |
15 | Stanford University | 129 | Stanford Law School | UC Berkeley School of Law |
16 | Northwestern University | 126 | Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law | Harvard Law School |
17 | University of Southern California | 112 | University of Chicago Law School | UC Berkeley School of Law |
18 | Washington University in St. Louis | 104 | University of Michigan Law School | University of Chicago Law School |
19 | University of Florida | 99 | New York University School of Law | Cornell Law School |
20 | Brown University | 92 | Harvard Law School | UC Berkeley School of Law |
21 | University of Texas at Austin | 90 | UC Berkeley School of Law | Duke University School of Law |
22 | Vanderbilt University | 85 | Duke University School of Law | Georgetown University Law Center |
23 | University of Maryland, College Park | 75 | University of Virginia School of Law | Georgetown University Law Center |
24 | Emory University | 70 | New York University School of Law | University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School |
24 | University of Notre Dame | 70 | University of Michigan Law School | Harvard Law School |
24 | Boston College | 70 | Duke University School of Law | Georgetown University Law Center |
27 | Dartmouth College | 67 | Harvard Law School | Stanford Law School |
27 | George Washington University | 67 | University of Virginia School of Law | Harvard Law School |
29 | University of California, San Diego | 66 | UC Berkeley School of Law | Cornell Law School |
29 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | 66 | Duke University School of Law | University of Virginia School of Law |
Top Feeder Rankings (adjusted for undergraduate enrollment)
Rank (Adjusted) | Institution | #JD Graduates | Top Law School (#1) | Top Law School (#2) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Yale University | 215 | Yale Law School | Stanford Law School |
2 | Princeton University | 136 | New York University School of Law | Columbia Law School |
3 | Amherst College | 41 | UC Berkeley School of Law | Yale Law School |
4 | Harvard University | 216 | Yale Law School | Harvard Law School |
5 | University of Chicago | 143 | University of Chicago Law School | Columbia Law School |
6 | Duke University | 143 | Duke University School of Law | Stanford Law School |
7 | Columbia University | 166 | Columbia Law School | UC Berkeley School of Law |
8 | Georgetown University | 147 | UC Berkeley School of Law | Harvard Law School |
9 | Pomona College | 31 | UC Berkeley School of Law | Stanford Law School |
10 | Yeshiva University | 50 | New York University School of Law | Columbia Law School |
11 | Stanford University | 129 | Stanford Law School | UC Berkeley School of Law |
12 | Claremont McKenna College | 24 | Stanford Law School | New York University School of Law |
13 | Swarthmore College | 26 | Yale Law School | Columbia Law School |
14 | Barnard College | 40 | New York University School of Law | Georgetown University Law Center |
15 | Dartmouth College | 67 | Harvard Law School | Stanford Law School |
16 | University of Pennsylvania | 175 | University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School | Stanford Law School |
17 | Cornell University | 222 | Cornell Law School | University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School |
18 | Northwestern University | 126 | Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law | Harvard Law School |
19 | Williams College | 30 | Yale Law School | University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School |
20 | Wesleyan University | 43 | New York University School of Law | University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School |
21 | Rice University | 56 | University of Chicago Law School | Stanford Law School |
22 | Washington University in St. Louis | 104 | University of Michigan Law School | University of Chicago Law School |
23 | Brown University | 92 | Harvard Law School | UC Berkeley School of Law |
24 | Vanderbilt University | 85 | Duke University School of Law | Georgetown University Law Center |
25 | Bowdoin College | 22 | Columbia Law School | UC Berkeley School of Law |
26 | Washington and Lee University | 22 | University of Virginia School of Law | Harvard Law School |
27 | Tufts University | 64 | Georgetown University Law Center | Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law |
28 | Brandeis University | 40 | New York University School of Law | Harvard Law School |
29 | Colgate University | 31 | New York University School of Law | University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School |
30 | Bryn Mawr College | 14 | New York University School of Law | Columbia Law School |
Does institutional selectivity matter?
When applying to law school, yes, it appears that institutional selectivity does in fact play a role. In our sample, of the students who went on to enroll at America’s best JD programs, approximately 56% graduated from colleges categorized as “Most Selective” or “Extremely Selective.” However, 24% of elite law school students in our sample did graduate from schools indicated as minimally selective or non-selective, suggesting that attendance at a highly selective undergraduate college or university isn’t a prerequisite to earning a top-flight JD. Click here to see how we group colleges by selectivity.


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