<p>I'm a new freshman at GW trying to make some decisions about my academic future. I'm coming to the Parents Forum because I know that I would appreciate input from the parents. I know that I want to major in Political Science (Public Policy Focus), but I know that I also want to pair this with another major and a minor. I've come to learn that I absolutely love both Economics and Philosophy, so I would want to major in either with the other being a minor. I am also in the Honors Program.</p>
<p>I know that I ultimately want to end up at a top five law school, and I would like some prestigious internships under my belt as well, but I would also like to have options for employment if I do not ultimately end up at law school. I know that my GPA and LSATs will be the ultimate factors for law school, but I would also like some solid preparation. I was wondering what one could do after college with a Political Science (Public Policy Focus) and Philosophy degree with a minor in Economics or a Political Science (Public Policy Focus) and Economics degree with a minor in Philosophy?</p>
<p>If anyone had any suggestions, they would be appreciated. Thank you.</p>
<p>So the first thing I’m going to say is not what you want to hear - slow down. As a freshman, I was exactly the same as you - I loved philosophy, economics and political science, wanted to go to law school and wanted to do it at a top school. With that said, I was encouraged to explore a more diverse set of classes during my first year since a major isn’t all that hard to accomplish (12-15 courses isn’t hard to do in three years, let alone four), and it surprised me that the diverse set of courses actually helped me figure out what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go with the rest of my education.</p>
<p>My suggestions to you are:</p>
<ul>
<li>Take at least one course in philosophy, in political science and in economics before the end of the year; usually there is a sequence for econ that goes intro to microeconomics and then intro to macroeconomics, so if you haven’t started that, it’s a good idea to do that next semester.</li>
<li>Look at the requirements for graduation and figure out what you need to do to graduate. Do you have specific courses that you need to take, or do you need to take courses in specific disciplines? Come up with a plan (knowing that it will change) and figure out how many distribution courses you need to take each semester. Once you’ve done that, hopefully you’ll have room for at least one more course, and for that I’d go with something completely off the wall and unrelated to what you want to do, something that is still interesting to you. </li>
<li>Don’t worry too much about internships - they are nearly meaningless when applying to law school. If you want to get into a top 5 school, you’ll generally need an LSAT score around 170 or better with a GPA of around 3.7 or better.</li>
<li>After you graduate, look for jobs as a legal assistant or paralegal at a law firm - a relatively standard path is to work for six months before making the final decision to apply to law school; then take the LSAT if you have not done so before; then apply to law schools. You would have around two years of experience going into law school, and you would have relationships already built for once you graduate.</li>
</ul>
<p>If you do well enough in undergrad, you will be able to get a job in consulting (going to school in DC, there is a lot of opportunity at firms that work with the federal government), which could also give you great experience should you ultimately become a lawyer.</p>