<p>I want to go to law school but I've heard the political science major (what i'd probably be interested in) is ridiculously difficult. Any insight? would NYU help in getting me into a more prestigious law school than lets say USC or Tulane?</p>
<p>I dont think NYU would have any great advantage for law school – its your GPA and LSATs that will matter much more. Its not like the other schools are Podunk U.</p>
<p>PolSci at NYU would probably help you more for law school admission in East Coast (read: top 14) programs than either of the other two undergrad schools, but USC is still great too.</p>
<p>Also, “ridiculously difficult” = great name brand which = great grad school opportunities.</p>
<p>Huh, maybe great opportunities IF you are one of the few with great grades. BUT if not? Just remember, everyone has your quals to get in and someone is getting B-'s.</p>
<p>So maybe if you have As at NYU, you MIGHT be ahead of same guy with As at USC and same LSAT – but if he has As and you have Bs? I dont buy that the NYU name will help overcome the Bs</p>
<p>Well… The above posts are certainly contradictory to most information that is provided by law schools and those who know how law school admissions works. </p>
<p>(1) Where you go for undergrad is NOT extremely relevant. As far as law schools are concerned, there is NO statistical difference between NYU and USC (Assuming you mean University of Southern California) and most likely Tulane as well. Differences in evaluating a student based on their college occurs when, for example, student A went to Harvard and student B went to… Schools below 60 or 70 on the USWR rankings. Law schools admissions officers and deans often recommend students to choose their undergraduate college based on whether or not they believe they will do well at their institution of choice and that they will be all around good students at said institution. </p>
<p>(2) Students are typically differentiated by LSAT scores and not largely on GPA. Typically GPA is evaluated vis-</p>
<p>NYU 2013. I disagree. Go to the Law School board here. GPA does matter, along with LSAT. I do not think that Law Schools will assume grade deflation. They may just as likely think one student is willing to work harder.</p>
<p>I am not particularly impressed with how you think game theory adds to political analysis. It seems more like some kid playing with his toy, even if the toy is not terribly relevant. I’m not certain why a law school would care if you did well with game theory or not, so whats the point of going to NYU if you want to go to law school. Actually, using your game theory, wouldnt it tell anyone whose primary goal was law school NOT to go to NYU?</p>
<p>(1) I never said GPA doesn’t matter. I said LSAT is the more important factor. LSAT is used much the same way as SATs. Typically the difficulty of a school is measured in their average LSAT vs. GPA scores, which determines the quality of any given student from a specific school. It’s used as a universal measurement when comparing GPA. </p>
<p>(2) Also, you clearly seem to misunderstand my posting. The OP asked for the differences of NYU politics department versus other schools. I defined what those differences were. And actually, NYU’s use of game theory would most likely help a person taking the LSAT earn a higher score. Typically, mathematics students and philosophy students are the ones who earn the highest LSAT scores because they typically are trained in the most logic-based areas of study. Now if you realize that game theory is mostly simple logic and math, it will help improve your adeptness and ability to quickly analyze simple mathematical and logic-based questions. </p>
<p>(3) Game theory is USED very often in political science. Most political scientists, given the correct data can predict elections almost perfectly. The only thing that might change this is if the public votes irrationally. It’s also used in conflict analysis, cost analysis, legislation analysis, etc. </p>
<p>(4) Assuming the OP is interested in politics, then NYU is certainly a very good school for it AND the mathematical/logical approach used in the politics department will help prepare him/her for the LSAT, since most of it is logical analysis.</p>
<p>You are confusing cause and effect, correlation. People with math skills may be more inclined to take game theory based classes. Doesnt mean studying game theory will make them better at math.</p>
<p>First you say the NYU political sciense is unique becuase of its constant use of game theory (presumabley at UG level). Then you say it is commonly used in political sciense. Maybe in research, grad school, etc, but if your first thesis is true, that use of game theory makes NYU politics unique, the common use of game theory in research, grad school, etc is irrelelvant at best, and may be detrimental, to people who want to go to law school.</p>
<p>So NYU, what alternatives majors at NYU would you recommend for a pre-law person who wants to go to NYU, and doesnt want game theory?</p>
<p>(1) No, I’m not. If a student takes game theory and has never taken game theory before and becomes adept at it because they learned it and trained themselves to do it, it will in fact be a skill gained that will help on the LSAT. Simple psychology. </p>
<p>(2) And yes, NYU is quite unique in the fact that they uses statistical approach to politics for undergrad. And last I checked, learning a skill that can improve your familiarity and adeptness at logic is something good, not detrimental, for taking the LSAT. Game theory, depending on what type of law is studied and planned on being practiced, could even help in the real world with potential conflict resolution situations. </p>
<p>(3) The fact that NYU is quite unique in it’s politics course of study could in fact help the student, since law schools generally appreciate a well-rounded education. Certainly someone who is familiar with more than just theoretical politics and knows both theoretical and applicable politics has at somewhat of an advantage over the run-of-the-mill standard politics student. </p>
<p>(4) NYU Law shows at least some favor to NYU undergrads. They do not have the same relationship as the NYU med school (which allows an early, non-binding application to NYU med school with a very high acceptance rate). However, it is known among the pre-law advisers here that NYU law does like NYU undergrads. So, if the OP wanted to make it into NYU law, I would say NYU would be an optimal choice.</p>
<p>NYU, I appreciate your time, but honestly I dont think you have support for a lot of what you saying. Like when you started with GPA not mattering so much.</p>
<p>So can you recommend any other majors?</p>
<p>kayf, To answer your question and other students’ concerns about the same topic, look at this:</p>
<p>[Is</a> Law For You?, CAS Prelaw | NYU](<a href=“Prelaw”>Prelaw)</p>
<p>Also, this:</p>
<p>[The</a> Prelaw Curriculum, CAS Prelaw | NYU](<a href=“Prelaw”>Prelaw)</p>
<p>It depends on the person’s interests.
(1) Philosophy at NYU is regarded as one of the best, if not the best, in the country.
(2) The psychology department, while very large, is quite good and well funded.
(3) The linguistics department is quite well regarded as well
(4) English is also a good pre-law major
It really depends on the person’s interest. There is no one major that must be followed to get into law school.</p>
<p>Can we go back to the original question of whether the course level is difficult? I would like to know as well because I’m on the same boat. (Law school)</p>
<p>If you look at the links I provided, there is no set major for a pre-law student per se (Post #12). A lot of people think automatically of Poli Sci for pre-law but honestly, it is difficult for people who are used to political science as one of the social sciences to adjust to what is commonly known as “mathematics-oriented” Poli Sci Dept. (what NYU2013 has defined for us as game theory and such). It is not for everyone. Haha, my son got wind of the emphasis of the Poli Sci Dept. and will now probably major in History/ East Asian Studies. </p>
<p>If you are not used to this particular focus, it may be hard. But I will let NYU2013 speak more to this since she is a student who knows about the dept.</p>
<p>Classes are relatively easy, if you have at least some familiarity with political science and it’s foundations. Intro courses begin with introduction to political methods - game theory, graphing, median voter theorem, extensive form games, etc. You then progress to political theory and examine particular instances of when X happened and using the methodological tools taught earlier in class, find pareto optimal solutions and why, potentially, that outcome was not what actually happened. Some intro classes grade on a specific curve - 20% A, 20% A-, etc. Other’s grade on a test-by-test curve, such that usually between 10% and 15% of students get A’s. Classes are heavily reading intensive, but typically not too work intensive. Exception of course being the upper level classes where the class sizes are smaller and you will be expected to write papers.</p>
<p>@NYU
I had always intended on majoring in Poli Sci, but when I first heard of the math oriented style of NYU’s program, I was a bit hesitant. I am someone who dreads math courses even though I fair pretty well in them. I’ve taken AP Stats and AB Calc and have gotten B’s and A’s in them. I got a 33 on the ACT Math portion and am enrolled into post calculus course at my high school. I have two questions. Would I be prepared for the Poli Sci course with my math prerequisites? And if math is something I do not particularly feel comfortable in, would taking Poli Sci in NYU be a struggle (interest wise)?</p>
<p>Actually, Calc makes you over-qualified for what would need to be your math pre-reqs. We do algebra - variable manipulation, graphing, etc. Simple algebraic calculations. Nothing overly complex. I’m also adverse to math and was quite worried when I found out the politics classes were mathematically inclined. However, it’s really as mathematically involved as it may seem. If you don’t have a problem solving algebraic equations, you won’t have a problem. It’s actually really interesting to apply what at first seems like useless mathematical jargon and see how it plays out in real world situations and correctly predict election outcomes, etc.</p>
<p>Thank you for your input. This put me more at ease and I am more eager to enrolling into the poli sci program now.</p>
<p>NYU, can you recommend a good book that would be worth studying to help prepare for this?</p>