Click here to go to the NEW College Discussion Forum

Do you have to take pre-law if you want to go to law school? If not, does it count as a negative towards you when I apply to law school without taking pre law? Thanks!

By Hautbois (Hautbois) on Wednesday, July 09, 2003 - 09:10 pm: Edit

No. Some law schools actually frown on pre law, from all I've been told.

My d attended a law week last summer and the professors at the university told her they really do prefer other majors. They encouraged everything - arts, sciences, humanities ....

In addition, they suggested taking good writing courses, saying that good, if not great, writing skills are a necessity!

By Sopranosweety6 (Sopranosweety6) on Wednesday, July 09, 2003 - 09:15 pm: Edit

No! My brother was a history major and is now going to be going to Quinnipiac for their law school. No worries!

By Ariesathena (Ariesathena) on Wednesday, July 09, 2003 - 10:25 pm: Edit

Pre-legal majors perform WORSE in law school than their peers who take majors which are interesting to them. Philosophy and classics majors tend to have the most success in law school; also, engineers do disproportionately well. While some schools might offer courses in law, these should not be taken to such an extent as to preclude taking other classes.

What you do need for law school: good writing skills, excellent analytical skills, a strong background in history, philosophy, and the classics.

Here's what you should do: Look at law school websites... it doesn't even matter which ones. Go to "prospective student," and pretend that you are a college junior/senior looking at schools. See what kind of coursework they are looking for (usually under "requirements for admission" or such), what kind of extracurriculars they want (though that tends to change frequently), how much the LSAT is weighted (often times more than your undergraduate GPA). Law schools do not mind if you study abroad - the diversity of experience can be helpful.

In short... you should not do something because you think it will look impressive to a law school (or not do something because it will look bad). Law is such a general field and is so different from undergraduate work that not much will really help/hurt your chances.

By Thenarrator (Thenarrator) on Wednesday, July 09, 2003 - 10:47 pm: Edit

I'm planning to major in political science and economics in undergrad, get MA in poli sci, then go for JD and LLM at law school

By Momof2 (Momof2) on Wednesday, July 09, 2003 - 10:53 pm: Edit

Ariesathena - good observation. Both my husband and a couple of our good friends are all practicing attorneys with music degrees. Hopefully still practicing musicians, as well!

PS - I have an engineering question for you, if you don't mind. I'll post in a minute under an appropriate topic.

By Giants (Giants) on Thursday, July 10, 2003 - 12:39 am: Edit

No, my sister majored in history and is going to NYU law school so it doesn't matter.

By Arthurd (Arthurd) on Thursday, July 10, 2003 - 09:37 pm: Edit

You can major in virtually anything. I was at a Columbia Law School Seminar and they noted that they generally like to see Liberal Arts and Engineering majors. Anything that shows a rigorous cirriculum is typically welcome.