Corporate Law with a Poli Sci Degree?? Forum

[shaq896]

Hey, so I'm thinking about doing M&A or securities law after law school (Class of 2015) dealing mainly with tech companies. I plan on taking some programming classes over the summer, and have already interned with an internet company that filed for an IPO (might do it again this summer too). I have fairly good numbers (169, 3.75) and hopefully I can continue to do well at a T14 school but how much will my undergraduate major affect job prospects?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[bk1]

No, your undergrad major will not inhibit your ability to get a corporate law job.

ETA: Taking programming classes isn't going to matter for a job doing M&A or securities work for tech companies either since that kind of work doesn't require any science background at all.

[kaiser]

1. Undergrad major doesn't matter

2. Tons of law school kids majored in poli sci, and these kids scatter off into every imaginable practice area

[Napt]

Firms dgaf about your ug major unless you're going into IP.

[071816]

Happens all the time from what I understand. I know a kid who did corporate big law work with a history degree last summer and he said that it wasn't terribly uncommon. I think grades and willingness to learn and work hard are probably much more important. A business background is not a prerequisite for corporate transactional work.

[R2-D2]

Doesn't matter one bit. I'm personally a History major, but you can major in music, anthropology, or biology, and still get into a T-14 law school. Your undergrad degree doesn't matter at all (there are no pre-reqs for law school), your LSAT and GPA are the only things that matter (and both need to be very high). I don't even think your future employer will even look at your major; all they'll be looking at are your law school grades, and where you went to law school.

[ThreeRivers]

Semi- on topic, but related enough I figured I'd post it in here without starting a new thread

What about UG you attend. I heard a lawyer state once that "just so we heard of your UG before it doesn't really matter." Is this common? My ug was a complete small little joke school that litterrally NO ONE has ever heard of unless you live right by it. Will this have much of a negative impact on my future employment?

[R2-D2]

Semi- on topic, but related enough I figured I'd post it in here without starting a new thread

What about UG you attend. I heard a lawyer state once that "just so we heard of your UG before it doesn't really matter." Is this common? My ug was a complete small little joke school that litterrally NO ONE has ever heard of unless you live right by it. Will this have much of a negative impact on my future employment?

Trust me, if you have a high LSAT, high GPA, and you came from a T-14 or T-50 law school, firms won't care if you came from Boondock State University or not.

At the end of the day, all firms care about is the law school you came from, definitely not undergrad.

[Napt]

Semi- on topic, but related enough I figured I'd post it in here without starting a new thread

What about UG you attend. I heard a lawyer state once that "just so we heard of your UG before it doesn't really matter." Is this common? My ug was a complete small little joke school that litterrally NO ONE has ever heard of unless you live right by it. Will this have much of a negative impact on my future employment?

I heard uber-selective firms (e.g. WLRK, W&C, Cravath, a few others) are somewhat snobby about UG just because they have their pick of so many HYP-UG+HYS-LS kids that they have the luxury of doing so. Not sure how credited this is or how prevalent it is at the less selective firms though.