I am an English major. Thus far I have gotten straight As with the exception of two B+s and one C+ (I am in the middle of my second year). I have been considering taking on a minor in Business to strengthen my application, but I am not sure if it is worth it: I'm not particularly good at math and I'm worried the business classes could lower my GPA.

Alternatively I could minor in "Leadership" or "Entrepreneurship" but those sound kind of like jokes to me.

So basically: does an English major make me uncompetitive? Is it better to have a high GPA studying English, or a potentially lower GPA with a strong minor?

It's much better to have the higher GPA. The only reason to choose the Business minor would be if you just absolutely loved Business classes, or if you wanted to like go into business or something... yeah, stick with the English major. There may be tons of English majors applying but that only means you're well-prepared for success in law school.

Gee, testa, you're really have a low opinion of your major. As one English major to another, I'll say this: don't worry. An english major is ideal for law school. There's a reason why there's a reading comprehension section on the LSAT. Don't minor in something you don't like. Just focus on your UGPA. Law schools don't really care about minors anyway.

Too bad, mine was fun. I didn't list it on most of the applications but it is on my resume. Anyway, it shouldn't hurt.

The advice here is good. Business majors are lame anyway It will be much more productive/easier/more pleasant if you major in something that you like and are good at. Whatever bump is given to people in engineering or physics is probably not enough to compensate for the often drastically lower GPA.

Thanks to all of you for your input. I guess I've just gotten discouraged lately because all too often I come across people who see English strictly as a major for slackers. Now that I think about it, a law school admissions board is likely to look at it very differently.

Id rather have a 3.5 in some BS major than my 3.2 in engineering, as far as the application process goes.

Of course, Id rather have my engineering degree

If you read Ivey's book, she mentions that pre-professional majors (business is one of them) are frowned upon by ad-comms, with the main complaint being that they do not instill the skills deemed valuable to a law school student (reasoning/writing/research/etc). If getting a business minor would LOWER your GPA, I'd say stay very, very far away.

The gold standard is to major in whatever you can get the highest GPA in. Also, I've heard that law schools actually don't like business majors in general because it is "too practical." Sure, there are a lot of english, philosophy, and political science majors in law school, but a high GPA in any of those majors along with one or two "extra" things that distinguish your applicantion will be enough to help you stand out among the crowd.

Funny - my friend is a business major and I still have no idea what they do. And the theoretical aspect is certainly missing as well... what's left?

- not a fan of 'business'

If you really feel like taking on a little something extra in addition to your standard English major, you should try for departmental honors. Showing that you're capable of conducting serious, in-depth academic research and writing a formidable thesis will probably do more for your application than a minor.

For law school admissions I'd rather have a 3.9 than my 3.66 in engineering. Especially since I spent on average 2-3 more hours per day studying than my friends who did other majors and are now in a better spot for law school.

That being said, I like my engineering degree .

Also, my engineering degree is the key to patent law. So maybe in a few years I'll be happier I have it.