Hey guys!
I’m desperately in the need of some advice and I’m confident that you guys can help me out.
I’m actually going back to school after taking a two year break (I served as a voluntary missionary for two years) and I’ve decided that pursuing a career in law is a good path for me. I know from research and many personal acquaintances what a career in law is and isn’t so yes I do have an idea of what it can potentially be like depending on which area of law I ultimately choose to go into. I didn’t make this decision based on watching Suits!
That being said, this decision directly affects the course of my undergraduate studies. I am a transfer student to one of the UC’s. I’ll currently be a senior this year and this year I’ll be switching my major. Now just to be clear, my junior year at said UC was a little bit of a mess, at least the first two quarters were. I transferred as a math major with a 3.98 from community college. My first quarter I wasn’t able to get into any math classes and out of the three classes I took I received an A, a B+, and a C-. During winter quarter, I took four classes, one of which was the class in which I received a C- and ended up getting an A- this time around. For winter quarter I was able to get into two math classes , but by the end of the quarter I dropped out of them because after seeing what upper division math is like, I no longer wanted to major in math. I finished winter quarter with an A- in my other class. With spring quarter right around the corner, and with no idea in regards to what I wanted to major in, I chose to take classes relating to a specific culture and language since I would be spending the next two years in a foreign country as a voluntary missionary. I took four classes and finished spring quarter with a 4.0
During these two years that I was gone, my interests changed dramatically. I never thought I’d want to major in something like this but now, I really want to major in study of religion. Essentially, it’s a major that deals with the histories, practices, cultures, etc. of various religions. That being said, and here comes the age old question, is this an acceptable major for law school? From what I’ve researched, there is a general consensus that law schools don’t care about what you major in. However, and this is my concern and question, I have also found numerous sources that suggest that law schools DO look at the academic rigor of majors and prefer applicants with majors that require research, serious thought, and analysis. I’m specifically basing these last comments on Ann Levine’s comments to Business Insider in 2013. Levine flat out says that applicants shouldn’t major in criminal justice and I’ve read other sources that echo the same sentiment and even add pre-law majors to the list of no-no. Would study of religion get thrown into a category of say a criminal justice or pre-law major? Does department size and the number of students that major in a given major matter to law schools i.e. is the perception of law schools of a student’s gpa affected by how many students at that school chose the same major as that student? I know that there are not many students that major in study of religion.
Regardless of how interesting I find the subject, which I really do, ultimately my goal is to go to law school and a great one at that. Is it realisitc if I maintain a great gpa (3.9+) and ace the LSAT to have a shot at a T14?
With the school year about to start and with my future literally ahead of me, I want to make the best possible (and informed) decision that I can make so know that I truly do appreciate any and all feedback. Thank you so much in advance 