Pick my UG! Forum

[Opie]

Then again, if you major in basketweaving, make a 4.0, then go to HYS, then this won't be an issue.

Now if only I had considered that 57 credit hours ago...

I just decided a year ago to go into law, I have wanted to do it since I was a teenager, but due to repressive religious beliefs I literally was not "allowed" to do it, because if I did I would love $$$ to much and go to hell, not to mention that ALL attorneys are no good lying, cheating, stealing reprobates. I finally got out of that dogma for good about 2 years ago, and my new pastor started teaching me I could do anything I wanted... The sad part is that this is all true, people live under the thumb over religion, and never really stop and read the Bible. They end up serving a man, and making him a god of sorts...took me 30 years to figure this out...

Sorry, I got distracted there.

Hey congrats on your breakthrough. That's really great.

[Elston Gunn]

If all you care about is getting into law school, and assuming your GPA will be the same, I think TCR is philosophy.

The single most important part of your application will be your LSAT score. If you're serious about studying, it's a learnable test, but some parts are more learnable than others. Most people, with a couple months of studying can get good at logic games, even if they totally suck at them at first. Logical reasoning is harder, but many people find that with a lot of drilling and identifying mistakes, they can significantly improve at them. Reading comprehension, on the other hand, is often very difficult to improve, even with months of work. It really takes years to get good at RC (and these skills significantly affect your LR score, as well). For all that people say reading stuff like the Economist helps, RC passages are dense and deliberately boring. You have to know how to read and understand very dense, clunky writing without having to make a million notes or return to the passage over and over.

Studying philosophy is the best way to develop these skills. I got -1 on RC and -4 on LR the first practice test I ever took, and I'm convinced it's because I spent four years reading stuff like Aristotle, Aquinas, Kant and Hegel. The LSAT stuff seemed easy in comparison. The LSAT writers may make their subjects intentionally boring, but even they have trouble being more convoluted than Hegel.

It also helps that, for some people at least, philosophy is one of the most interesting things to study, even if it doesn't give a clear path to a job.

I agree with most of this. Personally, I wish I had majored in philosophy, both for the personal enjoyment and the LSAT skills.

However, I don't know if this is the right answer for OP, who seems to be looking for a major that also works as a fallback option. Philosophy does not.

Yeah, I agree. That's why I prefaced it as if you only care about getting *in* to law school. But you're right.

[BiglawOrBust]

Double-major in finance (or some other useful business major) and philosophy or do finance with a minor in philosophy.

[westinghouse60]

If you want to go to law school, whatever will get you the highest gpa while still leaving you plenty of time to study for the LSAT.

This will sound like heresy on TLS, which prizes big numbers over anything else, but I would much rather spend my 4 years of undergrad taking not necessarily the easiest courses but those in which I'm most interested. You will never have a wider or more interesting array of classes from which to choose. Why not take advantage?

+1

I really regret not majoring in math/some kind of science every time I have to go to one of my UG "legal studies" classes.

[BiglawOrBust]

Then again, if you major in basketweaving, make a 4.0, then go to HYS, then this won't be an issue.

Now if only I had considered that 57 credit hours ago...

I just decided a year ago to go into law, I have wanted to do it since I was a teenager, but due to repressive religious beliefs I literally was not "allowed" to do it, because if I did I would love $$$ to much and go to hell, not to mention that ALL attorneys are no good lying, cheating, stealing reprobates. I finally got out of that dogma for good about 2 years ago, and my new pastor started teaching me I could do anything I wanted... The sad part is that this is all true, people live under the thumb over religion, and never really stop and read the Bible. They end up serving a man, and making him a god of sorts...took me 30 years to figure this out...

Sorry, I got distracted there.

Nice metamorphosis into the ubermensch, but the abyss gazes also, my friend.

[niceopposum]

but even they have trouble being more convoluted than Hegel.

made my day

Double-major in finance (or some other useful business major) and philosophy or do finance with a minor in philosophy.

this, an excellent combination

[Elston Gunn]

but even they have trouble being more convoluted than Hegel.

made my day

Ha. Yeah, if you can't tell I'm still a little resentful about the absolutely insane amount of The Phenomenology of Spirit I had to read.

[jared6180]

to be honest I gave Philosophy a fair shot, it is really interesting, however not something I think I could ever fall back on if I got in a bind. I am a non-traditional student, I need to get it right the first time, and not waste time.

[westinghouse60]

but even they have trouble being more convoluted than Hegel.

made my day

Ha. Yeah, if you can't tell I'm still a little resentful about the absolutely insane amount of The Phenomenology of Spirit I had to read.

I read it on my own this past summer haha. Easily the most difficult book I've ever read though.

[MachineLemon]

If not a philosophy major, do a philosophy minor. A lot of philosophy minors are pretty small. Stick mainly with logic courses and courses in the analytic tradition. Also, tack on a history course or two for context.

[Elston Gunn]

but even they have trouble being more convoluted than Hegel.

made my day

Ha. Yeah, if you can't tell I'm still a little resentful about the absolutely insane amount of The Phenomenology of Spirit I had to read.

I read it on my own this past summer haha. Easily the most difficult book I've ever read though.

Seriously. I consider myself a pretty smart guy. I mean, I thought the Critique of Pure Reason was FUN to read. But if I understood 20% of that book, I'd be surprised.

(Also extremely impressed you read the whole thing on your own, especially if you got a lot out of it.)

[dr123]

All of these majors sound horrible.

[westinghouse60]

I read it on my own this past summer haha. Easily the most difficult book I've ever read though.

Seriously. I consider myself a pretty smart guy. I mean, I thought the Critique of Pure Reason was FUN to read. But if I understood 20% of that book, I'd be surprised.

(Also extremely impressed you read the whole thing on your own, especially if you got a lot out of it.)

I surprised myself that I finished it, but I wouldn't say I got an incredible amount out of it haha.

I really don't think anyone has- if you look at the theories that have been interpreted out of Phenomenology- e.g. theory of alienation, master-slave consciousness, the thesis-antithesis-synthesis, (which Hegel may or may not have actually wanted to be interpreted that way)- that's less than half of the whole book. The rest goes sort of unmentioned.