<p>hi- i'm a female college junior looking at colleges. i want to be a poly sci major and eventually work in legislation. since i want to work in politics and i'm looking into law, i'm starting to think about law school (i know it's too early to be deciding these things, but i know the general field that i want to go into so i want to keep all this in mind).</p>
<p>so i have two main questions.
1- does it make sense for someone to go to law school to get involved in politics? or would it be better to pursue a PhD in political science or something like that?
2- what liberal arts colleges send the most students to high-ranking law schools?</p>
<p>(the main two schools i'm looking at are swarthmore and oberlin, though i also like reed, vassar, and nyu abu dhabi)</p>
<p>I don’t think you need a PHD to get involved in politics. That would be more for academics. Many people in government and politics are lawyers, so it could be a good route. Law schools only look at LSAT scores and grades with a slight bump for top tier schools. I would guess that the top LACs generally send more students to the top law schools than less selective ones because those high SAT scoring students do well on the LSAT. So just find the best place academically that you can get into and begin considering what size and location feel right for you. D.C. would be interesting, but those are mostly large schools. Maybe look at Georgetown and GW? Top LACs----Amherst, Williams, Middlebury, Swarthmore if you can get in. Macalaster is a little more funky, I think, if Oberlin and Reed appeal to you, and it is supposed to be strong in international relations which will be important for politics.</p>
<p>If you want to get into politics, I’d be focused more on getting internships in Capitol Hill and/or with your local and state politicians during my time in college. Find colleges and universities which will enable you to get those internships during the summers or in schools with a 4-1-4 system like Oberlin, during your winter term. You may also want to do an internship in a law office to see if the legal working environment is right for you.</p>
<p>Speaking of Oberlin, I did know of a few politics students who did internships for various politicians and political lobbying groups. Also knew a few Oberlin students who went off to law school including some in the top-20 like UVA and Georgetown. </p>
<p>However, be mindful of the fact that the Oberlin student body has a reputation for being radical progressive-left politically. This may impact you if you are planning to intern with politicians or groups falling on the right end of the political spectrum despite the fact we have alums who have gone on to be prominent conservatives such as Michelle Malkin. </p>
<p>Knew of a few Oberlin students whose Rhodes scholarship candidacy were non-starters because one of the assigned interviewers was a conservative retired military officer who upon hearing the name of the school asked him whether he “attended a school full of [homophobic slur].” Went downhill faster after that. </p>
<p>Oberlin students IME also tend to be extremely intellectually-oriented and not very pre-professional. Moreover, they tend to HATE pre-professional students who clearly exhibit the attitude that they’re in college solely for the sake of entering a profession and not actually interested in learning or being engaged with the learning process. </p>
<p>Especially if they gain a reputation of grade-grubbing and/or complaining about a low grade with a Professor in class “because I need it for [Med/Law/Grad/Business/professional school]”. Grade-grubbing of any kind was considered crass behavior among Oberlin students during my time there.</p>
<p>Your undergraduate degree will be a factor in your application to law school. The universities generally use a formula which takes your undergraduate institution and major, assigns it a mathematical score (scores are already pre-determined) and inputs these figures into an equation. This leads to a raw score which is used when comparing applicants. This way, a 3.9 gpa from some state school with a degree in Basket Weaving is not held higher than a graduate from a national university with an engineering degree but has a 3.2 gpa. </p>
<p>A really great book you should read is Law School Confidential. It onlines how law schools admit applicants and also discusses the application process generally and law school generally.</p>
There’s a mistake you’re making right here. You seem to have the belief that the schools somehow “send” students to law school, that some magic they do gets students in to top schools or that some schools have names that make top law schools think “admit”. It may be true that more kids get into law school from one place than another, but that’s going to be due to what the students themselves wanted to do, how smart they were, etc. You seem to be imagining a world where the student body at LACs are all the same as far as anybody can measure but the outcomes are different and hence can be attributed to the school – this is quite a stretch to believe.</p>
<p>"Also, note that Poli Sci is not a very useful degree for lawyers. Business or a hard science degree is really what you want to look for. "</p>
<p>Since she said she wanted to enter politics, a hard science degree is not going to be particularly useful. </p>
<p>As for business, unless it is from a topflight undergrad business program like Haas, NYU Stern, or Wharton…business majors tend to be treated quite skeptically by law school admissions…especially by the top-20 schools who prefer students with a liberal arts background…with the only exception being engineering majors.</p>
<p>^ this is incorrect. The t14 law schools do not view business majors suspiciously. If anything, most of their graduates will end up at large law firms and a business degree is preferred over a poli sci or criminal justice degree by the large firms. Social sciences and liberal arts degrees are overly common in the law school community, and they are of little benefit once you actual start your practice.</p>
<p>Main issue is that outside of the top undergrad business programs like Wharton, Haas, or NYU Stern, most school’s undergrad business programs are “gut” majors for students who want to seem “pre-professional”, but who don’t really want to study hard. </p>
<p>If business majors outside of the very top are so useful, why are so many top wall street firms and corporations prefer liberal arts majors from Ivies/Ivy-level institutions over business majors from most schools except those at the very top like Wharton? </p>
<p>Moreover, HR colleagues at one mid-sized bank I used to work for tended to regard business majors outside of the topflight institutions as less desirable than even liberal arts majors from lower-tiered state universities. They told me that outside of the very top undergrad b-schools like Wharton, most business majors they’ve hired in the past had poor communication, research, critical analysis, and writing skills. Worse, their quantitative skills were just as poor and often worse than the liberal arts majors from lower-tiered state universities.</p>
<p>hi- i’m a female college junior looking at colleges. i want to be a poly sci major and eventually work in legislation. since i want to work in politics and i’m looking into law, i’m starting to think about law school <a href=“i%20know%20it’s%20too%20early%20to%20be%20deciding%20these%20things,%5B/B%5D%20but%20i%20know%20the%20general%20field%20that%20i%20want%20to%20go%20into%20so%20i%20want%20to%20keep%20all%20this%20in%20mind”>B</a>.</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>Are you a college junior (as your post states) or are you a HIGH SCHOOL junor???</p>
<p>GPA/Rank:
-4.3 weighted for 9/10 grade, not sure of my unweighted gpa but it’s probably around 3.8
-my school doesn’t rank but shows the amount of people getting each gpa range by .5, so i’m for sure in the top 20% but i’m guessing i’m in the top 10%</p>
<p>PSAT score from Sophomore Year: 213</p>
<p>Courses:
(My school is very tough academically and is known to be particularly challenging)
*</p>
<p>You’re in a good position to score high enough this year to make National Merit! :)</p>
<p>I think someone who pursues a PhD in Poly Sci is probably more likely going to be an academic. I would think someone who’s interested in politics would more likely go to law school.</p>
<p>PhDs in political science aren’t involved in politics per se. They analyze them from a scientific standpoint. Law school is a much better choice if you want to be a politician.</p>
<p>Claremont McKenna is known for their government programs and their students’ involvement in politics, despite the school being on the opposite coast from DC. I also advocate considering some schools in DC, although I would say Georgetown and American but not necessarily GWU (overpriced). You could do an internship with the government during term-time instead of competing with everyone during the summer.</p>
<p>Also consider prestigious women’s colleges - Wellesley, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Bryn Mawr, Scripps. Many of the women in the current Congress are graduates of women’s colleges, and many women who achieved important firsts (first female Secretary of State, first female Nobel Peace Prize winner, first woman to manage a presidential campaign, first female vice presidential candidate, etc.) were women’s college graduates.</p>
<p>BTW, this is entirely false:
“The universities generally use a formula which takes your undergraduate institution and major, assigns it a mathematical score (scores are already pre-determined) and inputs these figures into an equation. This leads to a raw score which is used when comparing applicants. This way, a 3.9 gpa from some state school with a degree in Basket Weaving is not held higher than a graduate from a national university with an engineering degree but has a 3.2 gpa.”</p>
<p>At one time, at least one school used some kind of formula, but it would never adjust that much. Most schools do not use formulaic adjustments, and most don’t adjust significantly at all - maybe Yale or Stanford will, but you still need at least a 3.8 even from the favored schools - a 3.2 has no shot, regardless of school/major. Any 3.9 will fare than any 3.2 and almost certainly better than any 3.7. Where “adjustments” might come into play is more in the 3.75 vs. 3.8 battle.</p>
<p>Please disregard julliet saying that GW is “overpriced.” My daughter attends and loves it. She is majoring in poli sci and wants to go to law school. We are in the income level where we didn’t qualify for need based aid but are not able to pay the full cost of an expensive school either. She had great stats and got a very generous merit scholarship so that she could attend. She didn’t even apply to Georgetown because they only give very rare and very small merit scholarships, mostly need based aid, so we knew it would be unaffordable for us. We did thorough research on this before all apps went out. American gave her a very large merit scholarship as well but she liked GW better. So, beware when someone tells you a school is too expensive until you have all the information and see how it fits your own family situation. Best of luck! I have to say, being in DC if you are interested in politics is a great idea.</p>
<p>“There’s a mistake you’re making right here. You seem to have the belief that the schools somehow “send” students to law school, that some magic they do gets students in to top schools or that some schools have names that make top law schools think “admit”.”</p>
<p>I couldn’t agree more. I think the reason that a lot of students at top law schools went to undergrad at top feeders HYPS, Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia, etc. is not because the students from those schools are given a prestige-of-undergraduate-institution boost, but rather students at those schools have among the highest LSAT scores.</p>