<p>From Above the Law</p>
<p>Tuesday, September 1, 2009 3:24 PM - By Elie Mystal</p>
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We have some interesting statistics that suggest legal sounding majors -- like Prelaw or Criminal Justice -- have a negative relationship with LSAT performance.</p>
<p>Courtesy of Tax Prof Blog, Professor Michael Nieswiadomy of North Texas, has given us average LSAT scores broken down by 29 differed undergraduate majors.</p>
<p>The bottom of the list is very interesting:</p>
<pre><code>25. Education: LSAT = 149.4
26. Business Administration: LSAT = 149.1
27. Health Professions: LSAT = 148.4
28. Prelaw: LSAT = 148.3
29. Criminal Justice: LSAT = 146
</code></pre>
<p>A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. But is there something going on in criminal justice classes that makes people unable to complete a logic game?</p>
<p>After the jump, let's look at what you should major in if you want to do well on the LSAT.</p>
<p>The bottom of the list was interesting, but the top of the list is pretty much expected. People with difficult majors tend to do well on the LSAT:</p>
<pre><code>1. Physics/Math: LSAT = 160
2. Economics: LSAT = 157.4
2. Philosophy/Theology: LSAT = 157.4
4. International Relations: LSAT = 156.5
5. Engineering: LSAT = 156.2
</code></pre>
<p>Don't</a> Major in Criminal Justice If You Want to Go to Law School - Above the Law - A Legal Tabloid - News, Gossip, and Colorful Commentary on Law Firms and the Legal Profession
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<p>Yup. Old news. But helpful for the new people.</p>
<p>Correlation does not equal causation. Your choice of major and your LSAT score are probably more dependent on your academic skills and personality than your LSAT is dependent on your major. Interesting statistics, but they don’t mean picking a math major will get you into Yale.</p>
<p>that’s interesting that pre-law will get you a low lsat… i just find that amusing.</p>
<p>Pre law does not “get you” a low lsat— what is shown is a correlation, not a causation.</p>
<p>The takeaway message is that a ‘pre-law’ major, clearly a vocationally orientated major designed for potential lawyers, doesn’t even fulfull its purpose. I don’t even know of any universities around here that offer it, but don’t major in prelaw - or criminal justice if your ultimate plan is law school. Majoring in the top majors on the list will stress certain analytical skills that the bottom ones won’t. Of course it’s perfectly valid to choose CJ, Education, and Health Professions for other reasons.</p>
<p>“Your choice of major and your LSAT score are probably more dependent on your academic skills and personality than your LSAT is dependent on your major.”</p>
<p>Lol. The LSAT depends on your personality? Never heard anyone claim that much about any standardized test.</p>
<p>It would be interesting to see if major was still a significant factor when you controlled for SAT scores. Part of the reason some of these majors are at the bottom is that they’re not offered at any of the top schools.</p>
<p>As a criminal justice major, I can attest that it is not the most difficult major out there. However, at least a CJ major has many uses…it is mostly a semi-vocational major for law enforcement, corrections and the private security industry. The purpose of CJ is not prep for law school, and I feel sorry for all the pre-law students that fill up 50 to 70 percent of my CJ classes. The courses are all Criminology, law enforcement, corrections, security or a basic court processes. Absolutley nothing to do with attorneys, and it also does not provide the foundation for the reasoning and writing skills you’ll need for the LSAT and law school.</p>
<p>Pre-law major seems to be only useful for paralegal or other non-attorney court system posistions. It’s termed legal studies at some schools here in Florida. Having sat in on some of these classes as supporting electives for my CJ major, I can say they all seem to be standard memorization and multichoice tests. Not much in the way of logic, reasoning or writing skills. The material is mostly right out of statute books and legal processes…vocabulary and a flow chart. No real independent thinking in the courses I’ve had in the subject.</p>
<p>Neither one is a good choice for anyone wanting to go law school, and I try getting that message across…but still at least 60% of my CJ classes, and 90% of the Legal studies electives classes I take are filled with pre-law students.</p>
<p>BTW, I’m not interested in going to law school. Just trying to get the message across to pre law students to stay out of these majors if they are serious about going to a good law school.</p>
<p>I suppose this makes sense. I’d trust the analytical abilities of a hard science or math major over that of somebody majoring in something as cryptic and vocational-sounding as criminal justice.</p>
<p>I read somewhere that, and this is me paraphrasing, while applying to law school you needn’t be seasoned in all the things an attorney is or does. Rather, you just need to come with the evidence of a skill set that can be shaped to make you into an attorney.</p>