<p>If I were to transfer to Berkeley, major in rhetorics, get at least a 3.75 gpa, get a 165 on the LSAT, would that be enough to get into Boalt? Or would I have to double major to "stand out there"? I have heard they like people who have different interests, for example someone who majored in biology and minored in music, stuff like that.</p>
<p>No. The double major would not help. The varying interests might help a little bit.</p>
<p>They don't care what you major in, and they don't care much about a double major. They also wouldn't care that you went to Berkeley. Law school admissions is almost entirely a numbers game, your GPA and LSAT is really all that matters as long as you have at least done something in the soft areas of your application (extracurriculars, etc.). BoalT Hall places more emphasis on the GPA than any other T14 school, so you might be able to slide with a 165 on the LSAT but 167 is their median so I wouldn't bank on it, especially with only a 3.75 GPA, their median is 3.79. My advice would be to take whatever major you enjoy most and are good at so that you can achieve the highest GPA you are capable of. If you can get that GPA up to say a 3.85 then a 165 on the LSAT would probably be fine. But if it's a T14 your focusing on and not just Boalt Hall in particular, you should definitely work on improving your LSAT because Boalt tends to let in students with a slightly lower LSAT than other T14s so long as their GPA is superb.</p>
<p>While TT070's philosophy is right, he's considerably too optimistic with his numbers. Notice:
Graphs:</a> | LawSchoolNumbers.com</p>
<p>Boalt admits practically zero 165's, 166's... all the way up through 168. Even with a 169, you'd need a GPA above 4.0. If you want to get in with a 3.85, then your LSAT score had better be 171 or higher.</p>
<p>Furthermore, they usually don't care what you major in, except that there are a few majors they don't like. Rhetoric is probably one of those. They're looking for more academic disciplines. A double helps, like you said, only if they're very divergent -- and even then, it only helps a little bit and both solid academic majors.</p>
<p>Yea, I knew I was too optimistic :( I wanted to use italics to emphasize how unlikely some of the scenarios were, but alas, I do not know how to use italics.</p>
<p>What do law school hopefuls USUALLY major in?</p>
<p>Political science is the most common, but it's still under 50% so there is no "usual." Different people have different theories on what best prepares you for the LSAT, some people say things like physics will help with your analytical skills or something like that. I say just major in whatever you want so long as it is a legitimate major, avoid 'legal studies' at all costs, and like BDM said 'rhetoric' sounds kind of iffy.</p>
<p>Almost any major is just fine; rhetoric is one of the few that is not. Economics, History, Sociology, Math, Physics, Chemistry, Engineering, Political Science, English, Psychology... it's a very long list.</p>
<p>Even if you major in legal studies high enough numbers would trump it. I think any major in fine as long as it does not involve the law in some way.</p>
<p>Common pre-law majors include political science, economics, history, English, and philosophy.</p>
<p>In an interview, Dean Tom of Boalt Hall noted that he looks at an applicant's essay before he glances at their scores. This can work to your favor if you remember that Boalt allows for a four page personal statement rather than the standard 2 pager. Also, the school allows for you to submit two essays in the same document if you prefer, as long as the limit of four pages isn't surpassed by too much. </p>
<p>I know a couple people with outstanding essays and relatively low LSATs (164, 166) who were *********s. Don't be discouraged.</p>
<p>hows finance as a major?</p>
<p>My assumption is that the essays were outstanding because they were about outstanding things (e.g. interesting life stories), not that they were standard essays written in a very good way. In other words, they're essays that most people couldn't truthfully write.</p>
<p>When it comes to personal statements, I think that virtually everyone has the potential to write something outstanding, regardless of their background. I've seen amazing essays about years spent in the Middle East and even better ones about an individual's commitment to her family. I guess the issue can also boil down to what you define as a "standard essay." </p>
<p>Looking back, the people I knew who got into schools that were numerically out of their reach were the best writers, not the ones who had lived the most exciting lives. In fact, the aforementioned individuals who were automatically admitted (which got censored in my last post) to Boalt wrote about things which most people have experienced to some degree: the death of a relative and a relatively low key internship.</p>
<p>Interesting. Would have loved to sit in on those adcom meetings. Not sure what happened there.</p>
<p>Finance and other business majors are fine, but they aren't optimal since they're regarded as less academic than other majors.</p>
<p>finance isn't like other business majors. Its unique in its own way because of the amount of analysis that is put into financial decision making. thats why businesses pay people lots of cash to manage their money.</p>
<p>if you major in finance, getting into business school and being successful wont be that hard if you decide that law school isnt for you...</p>
<p>*Almost any major is just fine; rhetoric is one of the few that is not. Economics, History, Sociology, Math, Physics, Chemistry, Engineering, Political Science, English, Psychology... it's a very long list.
*</p>
<p>What led you to that conclusion? Everyone I've heard from has said that the Berkeley rhetoric program is killer, and is similar to a really hard English major. The department is small and new, but they have some very good professors. </p>
<p>I've heard of highly intelligent Econ/Science/Eng majors bombing Intro Rhet courses at CAL, scraping by with C+/B-s when they have As in other, more "academic" courses.</p>
<p>So in terms of being "academically rigorous", I think it more than qualifies for law school (intensive logical analysis of texts). As a major that would give an easy inflated GPA, the opposite.</p>
<p>The question is not one of difficulty.</p>
<p>Then how would you qualify a certain major as "law school approved", and another like Rhetoric, not?</p>
<p>It's confusing because among the majors you listed as "Ok" was English. Rhetoric can be easily considered as another branch of that subject.</p>