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I'm a undergraduate freshman majoring in risk management. I'm at the point where I need to choose between two minors, environmental studies or professional communications. Which of these would look the best for law schools? Any suggestions are welcome.

Law schools generally don't care what you major in, let alone what you minor in. Pick whichever one is most interesting to you.

Law schools won't care. Employers (legal or otherwise) will care to the extent that it shows an interest in a given field. "Professional Communications" does not sound like a real thing and is not going to impress anybody. Environmental studies would help with certain employers, so if you are indifferent between them I would go with that.

Really not a big deal though.

Whichever is easiest to get A's in

Depends what kind of law you want to practice. Also, in my opinion, wasting 4 years of education that you are gonna pay for anyway to get the easiest A possible is stupid.

Mike

swampman wrote:Law schools won't care. Employers (legal or otherwise) will care to the extent that it shows an interest in a given field. "Professional Communications" does not sound like a real thing and is not going to impress anybody. Environmental studies would help with certain employers, so if you are indifferent between them I would go with that.

Really not a big deal though.

I was thinking similarly, thank you for replying.

pamphleteer wrote:Law schools generally don't care what you major in, let alone what you minor in. Pick whichever one is most interesting to you.

+1

mike0331 wrote:Depends what kind of law you want to practice. Also, in my opinion, wasting 4 years of education that you are gonna pay for anyway to get the easiest A possible is stupid.

Mike

^ Not at all stupid, whether you're trying to go to law school or just get a job. Universally most people only give a damn about the fact that you got an A and not that it was in intro to underwater basket weaving. For the most part they only ask for transcripts just to check and make sure you're to lying about your GPA. You can only take so many elective courses anyway (minors included- you don't have to graduate with a minor) that you may as well take interesting, cupcake courses. Also, don't listen to him because he signs all of his posts. Completely unnecessary.

mike0331 wrote:Depends what kind of law you want to practice. Also, in my opinion, wasting 4 years of education that you are gonna pay for anyway to get the easiest A possible is stupid.

Mike

He didn't ask what the best way to spend his 4 years of undergraduate study was, but rather which minor is better for law school admissions purposes. The correct answer to that question is "whichever you can get the better grades in."

I'd pick the one you like the best, because for law school purposes your grades are super important and if you actually like the classes you're taking, you'll probably do better. I don't know if one would "look better" to admissions counselors, but if you minor in something + join the related club or something along those lines, at least they'd see you were passionate about it. Your GPA is most important though in this situation.

To be honest, minors matter very little from an employer's/grad school's perspective. The extra line on your resume won't open up a field to you after graduation or distinguish you from another student with a single major. The only reason to minor in something is because you love the subject so much that you would have taken the required courses anyways.

A professor once wisely told me to focus on doing the best possible job in one major. I foolishly ignored his advice and split my attention bewteen two majors. I wish I would have put all of my time in getting a great GPA in one major instead of doing OK in both.

With a minor in addition to you major, you lose flexibility in your schedule and can wind up with either an extra course or an overload of difficult courses. I know it's tempting to graduate with as many notches in your belt as possible, but knocking the coursework in your major out of the park should be priority #1.


If you are required to take one of those, professional communications would help you develop skils helpful for law school (public speaking, debate, argument, clear communication) while environmental studies could add weight to a personal statement about wanting to do environmental law.