Top Law Schools

I must admit to being reasonably excited about all these. I like all the areas, but I have not found an UG "love" are yet, where I just feel like I have to get my UG in "_______"

I will say I want to get out of UG as quickly as I can, so I can get going on Law School.

FYI... When I get to Law School and eventually become an attorney I want to stay FAR away from Family Law and Criminal Law, not sure if that matters at all for this question, but it could.

I want to have something to fall back on for a year if my LSAT is less than 165. With Legal Studies I could be a paralegal, with Business I could work at a large investment firm locally, with Political Science...not really sure outside of something with the government making $25k/year...

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.

WHY OH WHY DO PEOPLE NOT USE SEARCH

Def not legal studies

If'n I was starting UG now, with an eye at Law school, I'd pick something that I could get a job for a few years before law school. Also, I'd pick a school that I could graduate from with no debt.

tennisking88 wrote:Def not legal studies

Business for utility. Poli sci for the gpa.

jared6180 wrote:]I want to have something to fall back on for a year if my LSAT is less than 165. With Legal Studies I could be a paralegal, with Business I could work at a large investment firm locally, with Political Science...not really sure outside of something with the government making $25k/year...

This shows that you have done minimal research on jobs. You don't have to have a degree in legal studies to be a paralegal. You most certainly do not need a business degree to work in investing. Study what interests you. If it's politics, do Pol Sci. If it's business, study business. Don't waste your UG years obsessing over LS.

Of the choices listed, I think accounting would be the best bet.

It would give you some expose to business, as well as giving you a marketable, real-world skill if you want to get some work experience prior to law school.

On that point, I'd highly reccomend taking some time off between UG and LS. Work experience would help not only with getting into LS and with OCI, but it would help you mature and be a better, more focused student.

Veyron wrote: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?

tennisking88 wrote: This shows that you have done minimal research on jobs. You don't have to have a degree in legal studies to be a paralegal. You most certainly do not need a business degree to work in investing. Study what interests you. If it's politics, do Pol Sci. If it's business, study business. Don't waste your UG years obsessing over LS.

I have done the research, but would like a degree at the end of this, not a certification. I guess I don't even need to get that if I want to work for minimum wage...

Personal Finance...Business Finance...Politics...Real Estate... those are my biggest interests. I imagine I can get the best GPA in Legal Studies though, my wife is doing the paralegal program, and is getting a 3.8 GPA. The biggest obstacle in Political Science is one professor who doesn't believe in giving out an A no matter how hard you work.

Just do sales.

tennisking88 wrote: 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?

I agree completely.

tennisking88 wrote:

Veyron wrote: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?

Law school ad coms care about your grades, not your level of interest. Life isn't all sunshine and cute little puppy dogs, get over it. Besides, the easiest majors are often the most interesting.

Accounting is most likely to get you a job when you find out you don't really want to go to lawl skool.

I'd go with Finance or Accounting.

Priority 1: Pick a major in which you can get good grades.

Priority 2: Pick a major that could be useful in the real world. If you go to a great undergrad, this could mean business or finance. Otherwise, it probably means accounting. This way, you can get meaningful pre-law school work experience. Also, you will have something to fall back on if law school doesn't work out or you decide it's not your thing.

.

Accounting major here with a 3.84

If you only take accounting it will not prepare you for law school since you will not be required to do much reading. Your lsat score may be lower since you will struggle with reading comprehension. I would advice a double major in accounting and English. Or a minor in english

I think poliscience and legal studies are too easy to prepare you for law school

Adm.Doppleganger wrote:

top30man wrote:

tennisking88 wrote:Def not legal studies

Business for utility. Poli sci for the gpa.

Ya definitely Business for utility and gpa--but mostly gpa. Poli Sci where I come from is much harder than business. Probably most places:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/educa ... wanted=all

I go to a business school so for me its the exact opposite

john1990 wrote: I think poliscience and legal studies are too easy to prepare you for law school

In what way?

.

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.

Elston Gunn wrote: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.

Have you considered trying to become a fireman or an astronaut?

Gecko of Doom wrote:

Elston Gunn wrote: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.

To add to the anti-philosophy post- if you don't make top 10% at your law school, your UG degree can matter. Interviewers will place value on science/accounting/finance skills in roughly that order. Philosophy, not so much. PoliSci? They see those all day. I've had several interview questions begin- "With your background in finance..." I couldn't imagine the same with philosophy.

I know of at least one student at my school (SMU) who is not near the top 10% who got biglaw because he was an EE major.

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

HBK wrote: 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.