<p>Hello all, I am only going to be a freshman at Stanford next year, but I plan to attend law school in four years. I have been considering double majoring in econ and chinese, the former because it is practical and the latter because I find it interesting and think it might at the very least give me an edge in admissions for being somewhat unusual in my scope of study and/or perspectives I bring to the table; however, the core of my problem is wether it is good to maximize my gpa by only single majoring or to take the risk of having my gpa take a slight hit while majoring in two subjects, one of which may have the benefits I mentioned previously. Thanks for your advice.</p>
<p>There are two ways to approach this question. If you are absolutely, 100% dead-set on going to law school, then GPA maximization should take precedence over double-majoring. So if you think one major will give you an advantage over two majors, then don't double-major. HOWEVER, I would stress that you still have four years to figure this out. You have yet to experience college, and many things can change for you and your outlook. I personally feel it would be a mistake to tailor your college experience to getting into law school. </p>
<p>The other approach, then, would be to take the courses you want. If you study what you enjoy, then you'll probably put more effort into it and earn strong grades anyway. </p>
<p>As an aside, I would stress that choosing Chinese as a second major would probably not have any impact on your application. There are tons of Chinese majors out there, so admissions officers aren't going to be particularly awed by it. Really, this is true for virtually any major. Admissions care about the LSAT and the GPA. Everything else is secondary (not to say other things don't matter, but the numbers account for probably a good 75% of the application, if not more).</p>
<p>Assuming market reforms continue in China, being fluent in Chinese could provide new opportunities for you in the future. Combine that with a law degree and you would have a somewhat specialized skill set. As we all know, when developing countries move from state control to free markets the legal system usually needs an overhaul for investment and business start-ups to take place. Command-style economies can often have overly complex regulatory structures that hinder growth. That being said, understanding Chinese, law and the Chinese legal system (which would likely require instruction from a specialized institution) has the potential to be a profitable skill.</p>