<p>First, let me thank whoever takes the time to read and respond to this thread. As you've probably already figured after reading the title with a sigh, it poses and extremely broad question.</p>
<p>I'm a freshman at the University of Denver. I came to this school interested in finance and accounting. Now that I've been up here for a couple months, I'm starting to get interested at the idea of business law.</p>
<p>The pre-law advisor here said that there is no set curriculum for pre-law, and that it's a "weird" set up. He told me that GPA is incredibly important and that law schools heavily scrutinize the classes you've taken - that they look for "meaty" classes (i.e. history, political science, philosophy, literature classes, writing and creative expression classes). How true is this? I know GPA is important, but what about classes? I do enjoy creative writing and liberal arts classes, is that a good sign that I'm on track for business law?</p>
<p>As of now, I'm an undeclared business major, and I'm not sure what to do with it. Should I switch it to finance or accounting? Should I be a political science major, history or English major to do business law? Should I become a general business major? I'm just not sure how to set everything up and gear it towards law schools' liking.</p>
<p>Also, how important are extra curricular activities? Should I try to join as many clubs as I can, or should I focus on my GPA? I've been looking at Alpha Kappa Psi (a business frat), but I'm not sure if it's for me.</p>
<p>I need some guidance and I figured this would be a good place to continue.</p>
<p>GPA and LSAT are key! Make sure to take philosophy, english, poly sci, and history classes. It doesn't matter what your major is. I think they take science, music and math people too. But, if your GPA and LSAT aren't high, your chances will decrease. What colleges are you looking at?</p>
<p>Thank you for replying! I'm not sure yet, but I would like to attend a very good graduate school. Will being a finance major work for law school?</p>
<p>Let me take these one at a time; others chime in as you will.</p>
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<li><p>Most important for getting into a law school are the GPA and the LSAT. Most everything else pales in comparison. So if law school is an objective, look at the grading practices of the business school and the various departments at UD to make sure that you aren't hurting your chances by choice of major.</p></li>
<li><p>Aside from that, the choice of major isn't that important in connection with getting into a law school or with your success there. That's because most majors have no relevance to what is taught in law schools. It's true that majoring in a subject such as philosophy, political science, history, etc., can give you excellent writing skills. It's equally true that majoring in a science, math, or accounting can give you very good analytical and computational skills. Both types of skills are needed in lawyers, including business lawyers.</p></li>
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<p>The very top law schools probably scrutinize the undergrad courses of applicants because they scrutinize everything, just as they do with college applicants. However, I suspect that the other law schools scrutinize undergrad courses only to the extent necessary to make sure that that high GPA wasn't earned in course like underwater hip-hop studies and the like.</p>
<p>So (with consideration of point no. 1), major in whatever you like. Just be sure that it's a subject in which you are at least very interested, if not passionate, about. All work and no play makes Chris a very dull boy or girl, and taking courses in subjects you don't care much about in order to get good grades is work.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>In the same vein, do whatever ECs you like, so long as they don't affect the GPA (or if they do, reconsider going to law school - you won't be the first person to do that). You might want to join a club that is law-related (for example, one that works on civil rights or on some other legal issue) or you might want to join the underwater rapping club. Be sure to have some fun in whatever clubs you join.</p></li>
<li><p>Finally, if you are thinking of going to law school and getting an MBA, be aware that many graduate business schools only admit students for MBAs if they have some work experience (also, there's another entrance exam that some schools require).</p></li>
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