Will this major prove to HLS that I have tons of writing, reading, or critical thinking skills? I absolutely love this major; however, my dream law school is HLS. Should I go with Peace and Conflict concentrated on Human right and Human security as my undergraduate major?
No, but then no/few majors prove anything other than you achieved a BS/BA. Like other large large law schools, Harvard Law primarily cares about two numbers: GPA+LSAT. After that, essay and recs come into play. Choice of major is almost an after thought, unless its Engineering (+ factor), or Parks & Recreation (minus factor).
As an aside, if you want to work on your critical thinking skills, try Philosophy. ‘Studies’ majors are generally anything but analytical.
D just finished with her law school admissions cycle. She was wait listed by Harvard and took herself off the wait list after getting a very generous merit scholarship at another T14. I was a little upset that she took herself off the wait list because I wanted to be able to say my child got into Harvard Law but mentally hanging out on wait lists is taxing. My advice to someone applying to HLS is achieve a 173 or higher LSAT score and to achieve a 3.85 or higher GPA. Undergraduate major plays almost no role whatsoever in law school admissions other than as noted by bluebayou above. So, since you are just entering college now, the thing to focus on is achieving the highest GPA you possibly can. Don’t worry about the LSAT until the summer before your senior year. Believe me, the law school admissions officer will not be critically looking at what major you chose to assess your writing skills, they will look at your essays
If you love that major, go for it, and get straight A’s (not A-…) Add some philosophy classes (logic, in particular helps with the LSAT) and get good grades in all your other classes so choose them carefully.
I disagree with the statement that a course in logic helps one’s performance on the LSAT. Although a reasonable assumption, in reality LSAT prep course instructors can easily identify students who have taken an undergraduate course in logic because they tend to struggle with the methods taught by the major LSAT prep companies. And, if one’s goal is to get into a top 6 law school, then logical reasoning is not as important as is a high LSAT score.
When was the last time anyone here actually took the LSAT?
@crankyoldman : 45 years ago. So? It’s no secret what the law schools are looking for.
So? It makes a big difference, when people who have never taken the LSAT or attended law school mete out expert advice about what college courses make a difference on how that test taker will do on that exam. Which, of course, has nothing to do with what law schools are looking for, but you felt compelled to comment anyway.
Law school requires deep reading of difficult texts as well as logic. Taking 3-4 philosophy courses would be very useful at the very least and I cannot imagine how taking logic would be detrimental - it is not test prep and taking Philosophy as test prep is totally missing the point ( seriously 0_o).
And yes I check out the LSAT on behalf of advisees. I’m not among those professionals who go sit the whole thing to report samples to their students but there are enough sample tests to make sure advice is accurate.
@NicoNico123 : the most important thing as you embark upon your college courses is to learn, read, write, and do superbly well.
Philosophy courses are fine; logic courses make current LSAT prep course methods difficult to apply.
That I don’t understand.
Students would have to think the tips and tricks and processes that are part of test prep are similar to this course, which they’re not.
To me, a “topic” course, a historical course, logic (or whatever Philosophy course may meet the quantitative reasoning requirement) and preferably one more would all build excellent thinking skills such as the LSAT requires. But they should never be considered test prep, nor do they provide shortcuts.
@crankyoldman : I guess I don’t understand you. I took the LSAT. I went to law school. I’ve been a lawyer for over 40 years. Am I not qualified – by your own critieria – to comment on the relative value of undergraduate majors for potential law school students? Gosh, what are YOUR qualifications for criticizing MINE?
@MYOS1634 : I think that we are approaching this thread from different angles.
My comments are focused on a law school applicant’s performance on the LSAT, while your comments may be focused on a student’s preparation to do well in law school.
P.S. It might be interesting to read comments from an experienced LSAT instructor as to thoughts about a course in logic and how it relates to LSAT test performance.
About the same: i have no idea, at all, what your point is. If you had read the responses here, you’d have seen that two posters were debating the relative merits of philosophy/logic, etc etc courses, stating with utmost certainty which courses would help or hurt on the LSAT. It’s entirely unclear where this expertise originates, and whether either has actually taken the LSAT.
And I’ve been a lawyer just about as long as you, and please spare me the capital letters. Here’s a suggestion: why not actually, you know, read the posts which are being addressed-and again, it is risible for people who have never taken the LSAT to opine on the relative merits of specific coursework as it relates to the LSAT. Gosh, while the post started with a specific major, it quickly careened into LSAT prep, something you apparently didn’t notice.
But that didn’t prevent your increasingly strident posts.
Gosh, indeed-but no capital letters. Should I use multiple exclamation points instead?
If taking logic courses is detrimental for LSAT performance, why do math and philosophy majors (who have logic embedded throughout their curricula) do well on the LSAT compared to most other majors?
Straight from the HLS website:
“What is the best “pre-law” curriculum? How does one prepare for law school?
Harvard Law School considers applications from all undergraduate majors. There are no fixed requirements with respect to the content of pre-legal education. The nature of a candidate’s college work, as well as the quality of academic performance, are reviewed in the selection process. However, in preparing for law school, a broad college education is usually preferable to one that is narrowly specialized. The Admissions Committee looks for a showing of thorough learning in a field of your choice, such as history, economics, government, philosophy, mathematics, science, literature or the classics (and many others), rather than a concentration in courses given primarily as vocational training.” https://hls.harvard.edu/dept/jdadmissions/apply-to-harvard-law-school/the-application-process/admissions-faq/#faq-1-9
I would add, don’t choose a major because you think that will better prep you for the LSAT. Choose a major that you will enjoy, be engaged in and help you to develop your analytical and critical thinking to its full potential. LSAT prep is its own animal.