<p>I've narrowed it down to these two schools (I was also accepted to Ohio State and am still waiting on Northwestern but I think I rather attend either of these schools anyways.) </p>
<p>What I want to know is which of these schools should I attend for pre-law or pursuing a masters degree in criminology. I either want to go into the FBI after graduate school or I want to go to Georgetown law school and eventually work for the DOJ as a prosecutor. I'm still undecided though. Anyone know which school would be better for these chosen professions? Especially if i'm hoping to get recruited to the FBI. I'm also planning on taking Arabic in college to hopefully learn how to speak and read and write because I know this would greatly enhance my chances with the FBI. Thanks for any help.</p>
<p>To increase your chances of getting into a T14 law school, you’ll want to go to the most academically rigorous school that you can do the best at. In other words, for example, a 3.5 at Harvard is going to be equivalent (if not greater than) a 4.0 at a random state school. Going to a more difficult school AND doing well means you’ll have a lot more leeway with your LSAT. Not a lot, mind you; you’ll still have to get a 167+ to have a good chance at GULC (and that’s the minimum, though of course there are exceptions). But your overall grades count for a lot, too. And the importance of going to a highly ranked law school (for which the ranking system is a lot more accurate than for colleges) is that it’ll make it much, much easier to get a job at a place like the DOJ, which is incredibly competitive.</p>
<p>The thing is, though, NYU doesn’t have an actual pre-law track. They have a list of recommended courses, but I didn’t take a single one and did just fine (I am now at NYU Law). Generally, you can major in just about anything and still go to a T14 law school so long as your grades are good and your LSAT score is high up there. However, they also don’t really have anything approximating criminology; you’d have to cobble together courses to try to get an overview, or study in Gallatin and make your own major. </p>
<p>What I can tell you, though, is that the Arabic language offerings at NYU are great. I had a couple friends who finished with degrees in Middle Eastern Studies, and they seemed incredibly happy with their breadth of choices. I also had a non-MES friend take Arabic, and she had no trouble getting into the class; she eventually didn’t take any more classes, but that was more because it’s a ridiculously difficult language to learn than anything else. The other thing is that there are many federal agencies, if not the FBI itself, in New York City, so you’d have a good chance of getting an internship at one of them (for instance, at the Port Authority of NY and NJ, or at one of the DOJ branches in the city (though those are just as competitive to get as the actual jobs)).</p>
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Huh? Lawyers!! LOL, just yanking your chain a bit.</p>
<p>Are you saying you think NYU is better then WashU academically? I actually am interested in Penn’s dual program where you can get your MS in Criminology concurrently while getting your JD from their law school. My plan was at NYU to major in Econ (I was accepted to CAS not Stern) and double minor in Arabic (or something of the like) and in Law and Society. I should have said I’m a sophmore transfer ( I will have 43 credits going into the fall).</p>
<p>Ugh, obviously I wrote that other comment after having spent two weeks running on less than three hours of sleep a night on account of my finals. So yeah, my wording is all wrong. Let that be a warning to anyone who ever thinks about attending law school.</p>
<p>I’m not qualified to say if NYU is better academically than WashU. I just think that, for what you want to do, NYU can simultaneously offer you great choices and a noticeable lack of choices. I think that the econ department in CAS is wonderful (though others in this forum have disagreed with me), and, as I said, the MES department is fantastic from what I’ve heard. Honestly, if I were you, I’d forget about minoring in Law and Society (since you’ll just take a hodge-podge of classes from other departments) and try to double-major in Econ and MES. I get the sense that it’ll look a lot more impressive, particularly if you’re applying to the FBI. On the other hand, you’re not going to really have a chance to take courses that are anywhere remotely akin to criminology or criminal justice. </p>
<p>In regards to Penn’s dual degree program, that sounds fantastic, particularly since you can get it done in three years instead of the regular four for most dual degree programs. Penn Law is also an incredible school, so getting your J.D. from there would really give you a leg up. Of course, on the flip side, it means it will be really difficult to get in (you can tell by their LSAT/GPA numbers how difficult it can be). So no matter where you go, make sure you keep your grades high, prepare yourself for the LSAT months in advance, and keep active with clubs and internships.</p>
<p>thank you that helps a lot</p>
<p>No problem. If you have any other questions about law school, whether it be about preparing during your undergrad years, the LSAT, the general process, or even what it’s like being a law student, please don’t hesitate to message me.</p>
<p>ya one question how did you go about studying for the LSAT and when did you start before you took it?</p>