<p>Which UC or CSU (top 5 each) has the best Philosophy program with emphasis in Pre-Law that will prepare me for Law school, and why.</p>
<p>Top 5 is more than half of the UCs…clearly Cal and LA are on top but, VERY selective.
What are your qualifications and we can help you find an appropriate campus?</p>
<p>@2014CB Both UCLA and UCB have amazing philo departments…I applied to both. I also applied to UCR as a philo major and got accepted. At UCR they have two Philo majors…Philosphy, and Philosophy/Law & Society. i went to check out the campus on Discover day (like an open house type thing) and sat in on a presentation about philosophy and law. Basically you cant go wrong with either majors, and both will definitely prepare you well for law school. One of the professors at UCR went to law school w/ Barrack Obama at Harvard, so yeah…lol. But in any case, look into UCR, UCLA, UCB</p>
<p>Thank you for taking the time to post your comments. With decisions already coming out, it looks like my options are limited.</p>
<p>So far, I am accepted to (in order of preference) - CSU Long Beach, UC Riverside, Cal Poly SLO, CSU Northridge, ASU, SJSU, SFSU and CSU Los Angeles.</p>
<p>For UCs, I am not in the Top 9% and have a UC Score of only 214 (out of 300), so my chances of getting accepted to the other demanding UCs are not very good.</p>
<p>Of those already accepted me, other than UC Riverside (great info @erik346x), any comments on the CSUs.</p>
<p>Philosophy is one of a few majors where SLO isn’t the hands down winner - though the school’s general reputation would make me lean that direction. </p>
<p>To be honest, I didnt even consider studying philosophy at a CSU. Im a transfer student, and I applied as a Business Administration major for all the CSUs and as a Philosophy major for all the UCs. From what I’ve read/heard though, SLO is a legit school so I would have thought the same about that opinion. My personal opinion though, I would go to a UC to study Philo. I just feel like there would be better departments and a better experience at the UCs for this major only because you would do a lot of research and research projects. As you can tell I’m learning hard towards UCR, but im waiting on Berkeley and UCLA. Another cool thing about the UCR philo department is that they recently got a $5 million dollar grant to conduct research on immortality. Check it out…</p>
Sorry for bumping a very old thread. I can’t find any other thread specifically asking which UC or CSU is best for philosophy. To add to what erik346x has said about UCR’s philosophy department, I just want to show that UCR is generally in the top 40 nationally for philosophy. None of the CSU’s come close.
http://philosophy-colleges.com/university-of-california-riverside
Here UCR is ranked #33 nationally
http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/overall.asp
Here UCR is ranked #29 nationally
http://www.phds.org/rankings/philosophy
Here UCR is ranked #30 nationally
I think it’s safe to say that UCR’s philosophy program is top quality. Now that’s not to say rankings alone determine if a philosophy program is good but it at least does indicate that UCR is recognized nationally. I’m a philosophy student here and I have to say that the professors are great and inviting. The department is well funded (I mean, like erik mentioned, we received $5,000,000 to study immortality) and there are many unique opportunities that are given to us.
I am currently a philosophy minor, perhaps a major in the future.
Philosophy is a weird major in terms of finding “the best school.” I looked up rankings in Philosophy, and I did not run into any articles from a well-known source. To be honest, I am not that surprised since philosophers would be against rankings, prestige, and the whatnot for that kind of request.
You need to look at the websites of each school and see where you would like to go to based on the professors as well as their specializations. So in that case, go with the school that has a lot of people emphasizing in philosophy of law, ethics, and logic.
San Jose State sends many people to law school from their philosophy program, but it is not exclusive. I see many sources from well-known authors that philosophy is objectively the best major for law school, period.
But try to go to a university with a law school on-campus, it will help a lot and give you a significant advantage. If you do not get into a school with that kind of facility, then go to a teaching university.
Best of luck!