Undergraduate Major for Law School???????? Forum

[classygent235]

I'm thinking I may want to go to law school.

I'm currently a finance major but I'm thinking I may want to change my major to a double major in Psychology and Philosophy with a possible minor in English. (I did not choose these majors as an attempt to stand out to admissions officers, but rather these topics truly interest me)

Do you think this would be a good choice of majors for law school?

Any thoughts are really appreciated. Thanks.

[im_blue]

Pick whatever major will give you the highest GPA.

[merichard87]

Major in whatever interests you. Adcomms will not care much about the UG major unless you want to go into IP(specifically patent) law (which requires a background in engineering/sciences) or something like that. Also, if you decide later in life that you are tired of law your UG degree may end up being your meal ticket.

So ----> Major in basketweaving if it makes you happy. (And you can maintain decent grades.)

[r6_philly]

Search?

I have personally participated in no less than 3 of those threads that went multiple multiple pages. And I have only been here for 3 months.

[TTH]

Pick whatever major will give you the highest GPA.

This. Major or not, a philosophy class or two on logic wouldn't hurt.

[green]

Major in whatever makes you happy. Let's not forget that there are other things in life besides law school. I did math and economics (Economics is seriously helpful, though, probably more helpful than philosophy. Almost every class draws upon economics to some extent. I don't think you'd be at a disadvantage if you didn't take it, though).

[D. H2Oman]

Education. Guaranteed 3.8+, even if you're a total idiot.

[Cupidity]

philosophy will prepare you best. Get a high GPA, but don't let your mind go soft.

[KG_CalGuy]

First of all, there is no best "pre-law" major. The most common tend to be political science, history, and english (with a lot of business/math/econ majors as well.

That being said, keep these things in mind: 1) Pick a major you'll ENJOY. If you don't enjoy it, you are going to do horribly (and GPA matters big time on your apps). 2) Pick a serious major. NYU Law states plainly on their website, "The competitiveness of school and major are taken into account, as are special honors and awards." Most standard college majors will be fine, Kinesiology (sorry for those of you that majors in those) might not be considered as rigorous. 3) Think about the types of skills you'll need for law school. You are going to need strong reading, writing, and analysis skills. Any major that provides you with those skills will be just fine. 4) If you know what kind of law you want to do, gear it that way. Patent law usually requires some sort of scientific knowledge and I would argue that a basic understanding of business and econ can't hurt for most private practice jobs.

Personally, I majored in history with a minor that was a fusion of poli sci, philosophy, and english.

[jarofsoup]

Philosophy. You could also do Critical Theory(literature,but a lot of philosophy) or Rhetoric. Something you enjoy and you do well at.

[RickyRoe]

Pick whatever major will give you the highest GPA.

Major in whatever makes you happy.

I disagree. Major in a field that you could see yourself working in if law school doesn't work out. You obviously don't know that you want to be a lawyer, so find a field that would give you a decent plan B if law school doesn't work out. You don't want to wake up in 3 years and realize you don't want to be a lawyer, but you are forced to go to law school anyways because that degree in basket-weaving doesn't exactly have employers fighting over you.

[270910]

I disagree. Major in a field that you could see yourself working in if law school doesn't work out. You obviously don't know that you want to be a lawyer, so find a field that would give you a decent plan B if law school doesn't work out. You don't want to wake up in 3 years and realize you don't want to be a lawyer, but you are forced to go to law school anyways because that degree in basket-weaving doesn't exactly have employers fighting over you.

Conceptually sound advice, but the problem is that very few undergrad majors prep you for specific lines of work. Now some do, so if you give up your legitimate interest in chemistry or civil engineering and instead major in interdisciplinary international human rights entertainment studies then that's a problem. But most people graduate from college with 'useless' degrees, and it's hardly the end of the world - it just means you join the rest of the working world where your undergrad credential is a more a check box than a step along a career path, and there's nothing inherently wrong with that.

[thexfactor]

I think ECON will help you the most in law school. A lot of the concepts in contracts, torts and property are based on economic principles.

[heyguys]

I realize this is an exceptional case, but at YLS I know profs who explicitly eschew accepting accounting/finance majors, fwiw.

[hoyas2010]

"heyguys"- have you ever heard the reasoning behind that? I'm just curious because I feel like accounting/finance would be quite helpful if one wanted to practice certain types of corp law.

[Clint Eastwood]

Education. Guaranteed 3.8+, even if you're a total idiot.

Is it easier than Communications?

[98234872348]

Education. Guaranteed 3.8+, even if you're a total idiot.

lol.

[Iuvo]

Math or Economics will help a lot too, on top of Philosophy.

[crazycanuck]

Accounting is just plain useful for anything.

[JOThompson]

In addition to selecting an enjoyable, yet somewhat challenging major, I would choose a major that has practical applications. You don't want to be saddled with a nearly useless History degree if you decide not to move onto grad school.

[singingvontrapp]

Michael Jordan majored in Geography.

[Leeroy Jenkins]

Michael Jordan majored in Geography.

Do you have a point or do you just open your mouth to listen to yourself speak?

[Knock]

Education. Guaranteed 3.8+, even if you're a total idiot.

Is it easier than Communications?

No, definitely education is easier the communications.

And, honestly, the supposed easiness of communications is way overblown. Sure, it is easy to get a C, or even a B, but A's are still challenging, especially because most of your grading is subjective.

Honestly, many otherwise extremely intelligent people would have trouble standing up in front of a class and giving a speech or presentation. I've had a few engineers/scientists admit as much to be during conversations.

A lot of communications is not giving speeches or presentations though, contrary to popular belief. A lot of the "easy" rep comes from the athletes who take communications because, i'll admit, it's pretty difficult to fail a communications class, and not too hard to get a C or B.

I would say that Communications is on the same difficulty tier as other liberal arts majors, such as English and Psychology.

[chanchito]

Pick a major that makes you read a lot. That looks good and gives you practice for LSAT/law school: poli sci, philosophy, history, etc

[RayFinkle]

Michael Jordan majored in Geography.

Do you have a point or do you just open your mouth to listen to yourself speak?

Well, to be fair... he is typing, not speaking and he would be seeing his writing rather than hearing it. Usually when someone makes a similar reference I let it go, but you're whole point was based around it... carry on.