<p>Specifically, how hard would it be to maintain a high GPA as a linguistics major. I want to be admitted to an excellent law school and therefore need to maintain a close to 4.0 gpa, how doable would that be with linguistics? I'm also entertaining Philosophy and International Studies, so how would those compare?</p>
<p>For pre-law I’d suggest going into philosophy or international studies, or maybe both. The analytical skills needed to succeed in either (or both!) of those majors is closer to what you will have in law school than linguistics. Linguistics is far more science-based and less writing intensive, and about language acquisition and audiology. If you’re more into writing, see if you can take rhetoric classes (sometimes they’re under the english dept. or under philosophy).
But in terms of what will be easier with GPA, it depends on what you’re best at – writing or science?</p>
<p>Linguistics is more about the study of language - how it came to be, developed, how is it structured, differences around the world. Philosophy would be a better compliment simply because concepts in classes like “ethics” and “logic” are readily used in law school and on the job. My ethics teacher always talks about how lawyers apply the logic concepts we’re learning about. Also you would be writing a lot of papers and I’m sure that writing skills are important for your career as well.</p>