Help me decide on a major . Forum

[Ivan91]

So, I have a question.
I am absolutely set on applying to law schools after college. However, I cannot decide between two majors - Business administration and political science.
I believe business will be much more useful. I will more easily find a job if I fail to get into a good law school, I will then be able to maybe apply to Business schools. In fact, even if I get into the legal sphere, business knowledge can be quite useful.
However, political science is a more traditional major. It requires a lot of reading and writing, just like law schools do. I have heard stories that law schools don`t particularly like applicants with business majors. They are considered somehow..too easy.
I would rather do business, seems like much more interesting and useful. I even think I shouldnt have any problems getting a stellar GPA in business since I find the classes I am currently taking (macroeconomics and marketing) very intriguing.
What do you think ?

[Hawkeye Pierce]

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[Ivan91]

Yeah, right ? I just cannot see what can I do with a Poli science major if law doesnt work out .. and even if it does, the major cannot really help me .

[Hawkeye Pierce]

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[buckilaw]

I'd go with the business major because you will have more options should you not decide to go to law school. Also, consider doing a philosophy minor, the subject matter is interesting and if you can start thinking in a more reasoned way it could make studying for the LSAT easier.

[Ivan91]

Eco sounds even better than business admin, but it involves too much math and I am not a math type of a person. I mean, if I work hard enough, I should be able to get about 3.50-3.60 , but it`s not enough for a top law school.
BTW, why do you think philosophy majors score higher on the LSAT ? Isn`t philosophy similar to pos science ?

[fatduck]

Eco sounds even better than business admin, but it involves too much math and I am not a math type of a person. I mean, if I work hard enough, I should be able to get about 3.50-3.60 , but it`s not enough for a top law school.
BTW, why do you think philosophy majors score higher on the LSAT ? Isn`t philosophy similar to pos science ?

A philosophy curriculum probably includes a significant amount of coursework in formal and informal logic.

[Hawkeye Pierce]

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[Ivan91]

Thank you for your advice !

[capitalacq]

you'll probably ruin your life if you go through college with your mind set on going to law school.

[Ivan91]

you'll probably ruin your life if you go through college with your mind set on going to law school.

I cannot disagree more. You are telling me that most of the people who attend T14 law schools didnt know they were going to apply to LSs when they were freshmen ? That they didnt try to build to perfect resume ?

[gwuorbust]

you'll probably ruin your life if you go through college with your mind set on going to law school.

I cannot disagree more. You are telling me that most of the people who attend T14 law schools didnt know they were going to apply to LSs when they were freshmen ? That they didnt try to build to perfect resume ?

you don't need anything close to a 'perfect resume' (whatever the hell that means) for lawl school. all you need is LSAT.GPA, URM. done.

[Blindmelon]

Business admin is the most useless major ever. Worse than poly sci.

[gwuorbust]

Business admin is the most useless major ever. Worse than poly sci.

any degree that people don't not how to utilize is useless. most people jst udon't know how to utilize their biz degree. and I feel that when jobs are not thrown at them most people do not know how to utilize their lawl degree.

[Ivan91]

Business admin is the most useless major ever. Worse than poly sci.

Hmm, how can you prove your point ? What jobs can I find after doing poli science ? Because with a business admin degree I can work virtually everywhere in the financial sphere, depending on my school rank , GPA, experience and stuff.

[Blindmelon]

Business admin is the most useless major ever. Worse than poly sci.

Hmm, how can you prove your point ? What jobs can I find after doing poli science ? Because with a business admin degree I can work virtually everywhere in the financial sphere, depending on my school rank , GPA, experience and stuff.

Ditto with poly sci. Most employers don't care what your UG major is - if you want to do finance, just take enough finance/accounting courses as needed to show competence. Most business classes that aren't finance/accounting are silly and don't really help you develop the critical thinking/reading skills that'll be useful later on. But if you think talking about org development and your myers brigs type will do anything for you, by all means, major in business.

Btw - poly sci major here that minored in econ (to show math/stats competence). I ended up working in business consulting straight out. Most of my coworkers didn't have "business degrees" because many of the top schools don't have business admin programs. To me, its like being pre-law.

[ahduth]

I dunno... since you're sole objective is to get into law school, the major itself doesn't matter, you just need the highest GPA possible in that major. The other consideration is from which department you'll be able to obtain the most positive recommendations. This entirely depends on your school, the class sizes, the opportunities for independent study with a professor, being able to write a thesis... these types of things.

[Patriot1208]

Business admin is the most useless major ever. Worse than poly sci.

Hmm, how can you prove your point ? What jobs can I find after doing poli science ? Because with a business admin degree I can work virtually everywhere in the financial sphere, depending on my school rank , GPA, experience and stuff.

Ditto with poly sci. Most employers don't care what your UG major is - if you want to do finance, just take enough finance/accounting courses as needed to show competence. Most business classes that aren't finance/accounting are silly and don't really help you develop the critical thinking/reading skills that'll be useful later on. But if you think talking about org development and your myers brigs type will do anything for you, by all means, major in business.

Btw - poly sci major here that minored in econ (to show math/stats competence). I ended up working in business consulting straight out. Most of my coworkers didn't have "business degrees" because many of the top schools don't have business admin programs. To me, its like being pre-law.

This is pretty stupid. Although, many of the top schools don't have business. If you go to a school like Penn, Northwestern, Michigan, Wustl, etc it is definitely more valuable to have a business degree than poli sci. Also, most of the people I know at bain or Mckinsey have business or econ degrees. Of course, a good amount don't, but the majority do.

[ahduth]

I am absolutely set on applying to law schools after college.

It's really not terribly relevant how saleable a business degree is at strategy firms, since he's "absolutely set" on heading to law school. I'm leaning towards poli sci because he'll probably be able to get better recommendations out of those professors. Do business majors even write theses?

[Patriot1208]

I am absolutely set on applying to law schools after college.

It's really not terribly relevant how saleable a business degree is at strategy firms, since he's "absolutely set" on heading to law school. I'm leaning towards poli sci because he'll probably be able to get better recommendations out of those professors. Do business majors even write theses?

Normally, No. Also, normally, poli sci majors don't write a thesis either. And the difference here is that he is a freshman, the average freshman changes his/her major 3 times. People change what they want to do all the time. At my school, less then half the people who start at pre-med end up going to med school. And my school has one of the best pre-med and medical schools in the country. I'm not saying that this person will definitely not go to law school, but really, this person likely isn't informed enough to for sure know what he/she really will want to do.

[capitalacq]

you'll probably ruin your life if you go through college with your mind set on going to law school.

I cannot disagree more. You are telling me that most of the people who attend T14 law schools didnt know they were going to apply to LSs when they were freshmen ?

Yes

That they didnt try to build to perfect resume ?

you try to build a good resume anyway. you can start thinking about law school junior year, but it's dumb to pigeonhole yourself and miss out on other career opportunities/experiences

[Bumi]

Business admin is the most useless major ever. Worse than poly sci.

Hmm, how can you prove your point ? What jobs can I find after doing poli science ? Because with a business admin degree I can work virtually everywhere in the financial sphere, depending on my school rank , GPA, experience and stuff.

I work in the "financial sphere". I've never met someone working at my company who has a business administration degree.

[Patriot1208]

Business admin is the most useless major ever. Worse than poly sci.

Hmm, how can you prove your point ? What jobs can I find after doing poli science ? Because with a business admin degree I can work virtually everywhere in the financial sphere, depending on my school rank , GPA, experience and stuff.

I work in the "financial sphere". I've never met someone working at my company who has a business administration degree.

A lot of people at my school go into Ibanking, consulting, industry financial jobs, etc. All of them will say that their degree is in Finance, Economic Strategy, etc. But all of them technically got a BSBA with a concentration in finance.

[bostlaw]

interest and grades.

[Bumi]

Business admin is the most useless major ever. Worse than poly sci.

Hmm, how can you prove your point ? What jobs can I find after doing poli science ? Because with a business admin degree I can work virtually everywhere in the financial sphere, depending on my school rank , GPA, experience and stuff.

I work in the "financial sphere". I've never met someone working at my company who has a business administration degree.

A lot of people at my school go into Ibanking, consulting, industry financial jobs, etc. All of them will say that their degree is in Finance, Economic Strategy, etc. But all of them technically got a BSBA with a concentration in finance.

I don't know anyone with those either. Most of my coworkers have engineering degrees, economics degrees, or finance degrees - real economics and finance degrees though, not pretend business ones.

Take what I'm saying with a grain of salt, of course - I'm only one guy at one company.

Also, I'm not saying you can't get a job in the "financial sphere" with a degree in business. I'm saying you can't assume you'll get a job virtually anywhere with that degree.