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I'm going in my fourth year this fall, and I'm still deciding on a major. I was originally a business marketing major, and after taking my first marketing class, I hated it! I also hate accounting, economics, and the majority of my business classes. (I don't mind finance so much - might consider it as a major). I was also considering Journalism as a major, as I know writing will be very useful for law school. I don't think my writing skills are the greatest, but I've always gotten As on most of my papers. And I'm going to have a write a lot in law school, so I might as well start now? But what do you guys think? Do I need to be a superb writer to major in journalism (and also delay graduation by switching majors at the last minute), or should I stick with business (which I don't love as much, but it's an easier A)?

Also I read somewhere that law schools love journalism majors????

I'm taking the LSAT this summer.

If you do journalism and change your mind about law school, you'll be stuck with a degree that isn't doing so well these days. If you like finance, go with that. You'll give yourself more options even if you are set on law school.

Don't worry about your major. Worry about your GPA.

Pick the one you can get straight A's in. Law school admissions is a numbers game so do everything in your power to max out your gpa and LSAT.
Just my 2 cents

if you're considering journalism mainly because it will help your writing skills, don't. ap style =/= normal writing.

Don't delay graduation (which entails taking more classes, and as such, incurring more debt for UG) to switch majors. Law schools don't care. If you're getting good grades in your classes, just finish up.

major in buggy whip engineering

Do you guys think I should bother getting a minor in English or anything?

if it is even somewhat of a hassle, no.

My pre-law advisor at UG specifically told me not to study journalism. He said law schools thought it was a joke and that English was a better major for writing & critical thinking. That was just his opinion and I don't know if law schools actually care.

I majored in English and took some journalism classes (intro to media studies, reporting, etc). My experience was that journalism doesn't help in critical thinking or arguments. Journalism's basically who/what/when/where/superficial why. Media studies might be different though.

I would suggest minoring in becoming an LSAT bad ass, or even double majoring in it of you can make it happen. But seriously, the LSAT should be your primary concern right now. Don't underestimate how important it is.

Doesn't matter to adcomms. Pick the one you like better and maximizing your GPA as much as possible.

Journalism is a crappy field if law doesn't work out. Have you looked into strategic comm? Its a degree that is marketable but still has a lot of the elements of a degree like journalism, like a lot of writing on your feet.

Whatever you choose, just make sure you can get great grades. Major seems to be a pretty minimal soft factor outside of hard sciences.

hersh3yz wrote:I'm going in my fourth year this fall, and I'm still deciding on a major. I was originally a business marketing major, and after taking my first marketing class, I hated it! I also hate accounting, economics, and the majority of my business classes. (I don't mind finance so much - might consider it as a major). I was also considering Journalism as a major, as I know writing will be very useful for law school. I don't think my writing skills are the greatest, but I've always gotten As on most of my papers. And I'm going to have a write a lot in law school, so I might as well start now? But what do you guys think? Do I need to be a superb writer to major in journalism (and also delay graduation by switching majors at the last minute), or should I stick with business (which I don't love as much, but it's an easier A)?

Also I read somewhere that law schools love journalism majors????

I'm taking the LSAT this summer.

Who is paying for your college?

What is your gpa?

Can you double major?

Can you pwn the Lsat?

Journalism is a sinking ship. Don't do it.
At least with business, if the law school thing falls through, you have a decent back-up plan.

To Desertfox,

1. My tuition is paid through a scholarship.
2. My GPA is 3.7
3. A double major would take me another 2 years to graduate.
4. I hope so.

hersh3yz wrote:To Desertfox,

1. My tuition is paid through a scholarship.
2. My GPA is 3.7
3. A double major would take me another 2 years to graduate.
4. I hope so.

Unless you can boost your GPA I wouldn't. But if you can great.

But yea, focus on LSAT.

Business. But if you like Finance, and can ace the classes, take that instead of marketing.

I actually was a successful journalist at a major media corporation after college, but I had an English major. I actually don't remember that any one there had an undergrad degree in journalism (an MA in journalism is a different story). Even journalists prefer an English major for your BA, I think, as it provides a broader education, and I would think that law schools would feel the same way. Either way, people are right about boosting you GPA. I'm lucky to have gotten into some great schools with my 3.7, but I felt like it was a struggle.

I was a Comm degree/journalism major. Then I worked 7 years in the biz. Luckily, I left on my own accord.

I doubt adcomms care about journalism majors as much as they do journalism careers. And even then, let me tell you from my cycle so far, if your LSAT isn't up to snuff, they don't give a hang anyway.

Also: You definitely don't have to be a great writer to be a successful journalism major (or, certainly, a successful journalist). And: I don't guess journalism study does teach much about critical thinking. But the proper practice of it does (who/what/when/where is of course easy; it's addressing the why that makes it interesting and develops critical-thinking skills).

That all said, a journalism major is crazy easy. But you won't learn much of anything. It's practically worthless, even if you aspire to the career (and not just b/c the news industry is in such jeopardy). And it's doubly so if you don't. To this day, I do not regret my first career, which was amazing, but I do wish I had majored in something else (particularly history, and maybe, now that I think about it, economics).