I’m a criminal justice major and a Business minor who will graduate after 3 more semesters of college. I’m planning to go law school. I’m preparing for the LSAT right now. I’ll be taking the LSAT next summer. If I have a GPA around 3.7 and a 170-180 on my LSAT’s, what are the chances of me going to top 25 law schools? Also, do colleges care about the fact that my major is criminal justice? I want to change it to Accounting but it’s too late. I realized last semester that I have a real knack for Accounting. I also took a logic class last semester and I did really well in the class. I also applied for an internship at the State House. So, what are my chances? PLEASE ANSWER ASAP!
I really regret taking Criminal Justice as my major.
Colleges don’t care about your major as long as you have a strong GPA and good LSAT score.
Actually, criminal justice really isn’t that well considered from top 25 law schools. Look at your Pre reqs: any chance you can major in accounting or philosophy while minoring in the other one? What traditional major matches the classes you’ve already taken? Criminal justice prepares you well for law enforcement not really for law school. Philosophy, math,history, foreign languages, English, political science, any science… Would prepare you well.
Scoring 170 is very hard to do. if you look at average scores per major you’ll see philosophy and math majors do best. English majors do very well, too.
You have three semesters to go. If you add one more, can you fit accounting or something else?
yeah but the thing is… i was originally a biology major and then i switched to criminal justice. Is it possible for me to switch to accounting and finish my degree within 2 years. I also registered for the courses next semester. So, Who do i ask this question about switching major to?
Your adviser?
So, you only took one semester of cj but took gen eds, right ?
What classes do you have as of now?
no…i contacted my adviser and made an appointment for tomorrow to see if it is possible for me to graduate within 2 years, If i were to switch to accounting. I’m 36 credits away from graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and a minor in business. If i do switch into accounting, wouldn’t I be better off taking the CPA exam rather than going to law school?
And yeah i took gen eds
If you obtain a 170+ score on the LSAT, you have a very strong chance for admission to a top 20 law school. That said, if you looked at how many folks, say score above 171, its literally in the 1-2% range. So, of the 21,000+ folks who took the LSAT last year, the scores that were above 170 were only obtained by only several hundred test takers. Best to you—
You can always become a CPA and then go back to law school if you see fit. You may come to find the economics don’t make sense (tuition, opportunity cost from 3 years away from the work force, etc.).
I agree that CPA is better in the short run than law school. Certainly better employment prospect s than cj especially if you have a knack for accounting. Do note though that you’ll need a 5th year to prepare for CPA. If you organize things well with a summer session, considering you have 3semesters to go and no burning desire to work in law enforcement whereas accounting has both good salary and job prospects, it seems switching to accounting would be a good move.
You can always try law school after a few years of work under tour belt. Many people do that anyway.
@ MYOS1634 I know I have to do 30 semester hours after a bachelors in accounting to take the CPA exam. I don’t understand the 5th year that you mentioned.
Well, 1 semester = 15 hours, so 30 hours = 2 semesters = 5th year. Most students pick up a Master’s at their state flagship or something of the kind.
What state are you in?
massachussets
Well, there aren’t too many choices. The only accredited programs are at Suffolk, UMass Amherst, and Bentley.
So, I guess I have to pick between these three schools then…
At least for the Master’s in Accounting.
Do you already attend there or would you go for the Master’s only?
A good place for the Master’s in Accounting is Baruch, in NYC. Top-flight
and not too expensive for tuition, but housing costs are insane so if you have
friends in NYC it’s to be thought about.
No, I don’t attend any of those colleges. people are giving me shit about me switching my major. I really wish i had taken Accounting as my major when I first started college.
Changing your major to one that will result in a lifetime of career opportunities is certainly worthy of consideration. An extra couple semesters to get that accounting degree may well be time and money well spent.
@arc918 Yeah I’m very much considering it. I’ll find out whether If i am going to switch tomorrow, after my appointment with my adviser.