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I know Criminology majors have been discussed on this forum before, but it seems like a lot of the points against crim are more against the kind of people who choose the major (bad lsat takers, apparently stupid, etc) than the degree itself. I was wondering if anyone could help me out, especially anyone with personal knowledge of crim majors getting into law school.

Since high school, I have been 100% independent from my family. As a result, I spent my first 3 years out of school primarily working, taking a few classes at community college every semester (or no classes at all). When I turned 21, I started University of Maryland - College Park...with the help of some hefty loans while I waited for in state status. I started as an Arabic major, but quickly dropped that when none of my prior work in Arabic transferred with me. I took some crim classes for my COREs, liked them, and declared myself a CCJS major. From the looks of this forum, that might be the worst decision I have ever made in my life. I'll be a junior this upcoming year, giving me time (theoretically) to add another major, or to extend my UMD experience until 2013 by double degreeing in Anthropology or by receiving my masters in Crim. Is Crim so bad that these options are necessary? For what it's worth, here are the rest of my stats:

GPA (LSAC): 3.78
Practice LSAT score: 167 (i have yet to take a prep course)
Softs: Prosecutor for mock trial (we are the five time national champions...granted, not while I've been on the team, but that can easily change ), 5 years self-employed as a freelance marketer, Alpha Delta Pi, first generation college student, in the process of joining Big Brothers/Big Sisters

I've spent my whole life in DC (and my job is here) so I'd love love love to go to Georgetown. Other than that, I'm looking at UVA, Emory, George Washington, Penn (which offers a JD/Criminology program!!), and I guess MD...though I really hate Baltimore, our MT coach works there and I'm in state. The only reason I'm going to ug full time is because I want to go to law school, so please help!

It is not clear what you are really asking in your post. The crim major is not ruining your chances.

You need a real LSAT score to make any feedback valuable. If you take a prep course and get a 175, then you could have majored in basket weaving, and you'd still get into all of your listed schools (assuming your GPA where it was).

Is it too late to minor in Arabic, get some type of proficiency in Arabic certification, and maintain your GPA? If you did that and cracked 170, then Georgetown would probably gladly take you.

jdhonest wrote:s it too late to minor in Arabic, get some type of proficiency in Arabic certification, and maintain your GPA? If you did that and cracked 170, then Georgetown would probably gladly take you.

UMD offers Egyptian Arabic, and I studied Syrian. On my application to Gtown, would they care about private tutors, study abroad, and testing that wasn't done through UMD? If so, it's completely possible for me to do that.

jdhonest wrote:you could have majored in basket weaving

Ha from some of the stuff I read on here when I searched "criminology" it seemed like basket weaving would have been a better choice!

Thanks so much for your help!!

OK, don't worry about your degree field. It is true that crim majors have just about the lowest average LSAT. But that is to a large extent self-selection (which is to say that those who are not bright choose it as their major (in greater numbers than in other majors). I bet that you are a very bright person, and will do well on the LSAT if you prep hard enough.

manduh wrote:

jdhonest wrote:s it too late to minor in Arabic, get some type of proficiency in Arabic certification, and maintain your GPA? If you did that and cracked 170, then Georgetown would probably gladly take you.

UMD offers Egyptian Arabic, and I studied Syrian. On my application to Gtown, would they care about private tutors, study abroad, and testing that wasn't done through UMD? If so, it's completely possible for me to do that.

jdhonest wrote:you could have majored in basket weaving

Ha from some of the stuff I read on here when I searched "criminology" it seemed like basket weaving would have been a better choice!

Thanks so much for your help!!

They might, depending on the level. For example, if all of that led to you being fluent, then that would make your application stick out. If the testing was something official (sort of like a TOFEL for foreign languages) then I'm sure it wouldn't hurt at all.

hey man I studied soc and crim too. worst part is that its actually a pretty revered program at my school. two upper level classes requiring a 40 page paper with 40 sources (20 of them had to be books), a 3 hour seminar, a midterm and three short research papers per class...worked to the bone.

kill the LSAT and nobody will care what you majored in.

pattymac wrote:kill the LSAT and nobody will care what you majored in.

Credited.

What matters first and second are your LSAT and GPA. Your major is like ... a distant seventh. Focus on the LSAT, spend money on a prep course if you have to, but 170+ is your ticket to stardom here. Don't worry about your major, at this point, worry about the LSAT.

vanwinkle wrote:

pattymac wrote:kill the LSAT and nobody will care what you majored in.

Credited.

What matters first and second are your LSAT and GPA. Your major is like ... a distant seventh. Focus on the LSAT, spend money on a prep course if you have to, but 170+ is your ticket to stardom here. Don't worry about your major, at this point, worry about the LSAT.

+1. I have a Criminal Justice major and it didn't hurt me at all.

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