<p>I want to study it and go to law school possibly.</p>
<p>Philosophy is a fine major for law school. I’d advise you to double-major or minor in something that provides you skills though, in case law school doesn’t work out.</p>
<p>@Demosthenes49 i was planning on double majoring as well, whats a good double major to go with it?</p>
<p>Something that you like and can sell to employers.</p>
<p>I disagree. I wouldn’t double major. If you want law school, don’t waiver, you need to make up your mind and get it done with the best possible GPA you can achieve. Don’t weigh yourself down with additional classes for a double major that could potentially hurt your GPA. Your GPA is heavily weighted with adcoms and the difference between a 3.5 and a 4.0 are some crappy T3 school, and Harvard.</p>
<p>Philosophy is a fine major and in fact has proven to be one of the majors where students score the highest in the LSAT upon completion. Instead of double majoring, spend that extra time studying for the LSAT. I consider the LSAT my second major. ;)</p>
<p>Most people do not do well on the LSAT. That’s how a curved test works. You can’t predict where you’ll end up with any certainty. Neither can you be certain when beginning college that you’ll still want law school at the end of it. The smart way to hedge against both possibilities is to have a backup plan. If your undergrad major is something like Philosophy, a major with no real-world equivalent, the smart backup plan is another major or minor. That way, if law school turns out not to be for you or you do poorly on the LSAT or you have a family issue and cannot attend or any other of a hundred circumstances stands in your way, you haven’t sunk 4 years into nonrecoverable costs.</p>
<p>We’ll agree to disagree. Law school is not a choice you make while hedging your best with a backup plan. You either want to do it, or you do not. If you are on the fence, then you shouldn’t go to law school. If you want it, then you need to take the best route to make it happen. If you have a back-up plan, you are essentially hurting your first plan, LS, by decreasing your ability to achieve the highest GPA possible. One major, and get the best possible GPA you can, that’s the best chance at maximizing your ability to land T14.</p>
<p>As for the LSAT, it’s a learned test. It’s 100% controllable, no matter what your ability of test taking is. There are proven methods available to help anyone achieve a 170+, of they are willing to do the work. Most people do not do well, because they did not prepare. People who study and take dozens of practice tests for several months, do well. </p>
<p>You’d be a fool if you didn’t hedge against law school. This entire forum is devoted to teaching people how to do that. We teach people to hedge against legal employment by going to the best schools while keeping debt down. We also teach people going into college with an eye on law school how to hedge against the risks of that enterprise. While assertive rhetoric like “You either want to do it, or you do not,” sounds awfully nice, the real world is much less certain. Hedging is how you deal with uncertainty, even if that means taking on a bit more risk on the front end to avoid disaster on the back end.</p>
<p>As to the LSAT, clearly you’ve never looked at the statistics of all the people who take classes. I examined them thoroughly when looking to take my LSAT. Lots of people take the LSAT seriously and study, and most see improvement. Nevertheless, there’s only room for a few at the top, which is how curved tests work. Lots of people move from 140 to 150 or 155 to 165 and never get to 170. Those that banked on law school- and nothing else- now fill the T1 with its dangerous job prospects. Better to avoid that altogether and pick up a few classes now. </p>
<p>what about an MBA if law school failed? im confident i can get good enough grades to get into a decent MBA.</p>
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<p>That makes little sense. I’d love to see the statistics (GPA’s) for those that double major, specifically, the grades in each major. </p>
<p>btw: Phil majors at Cal Berkeley have a lower mean GPA than those in the largest premed major, micro-bio. (Phil at Cal just has a brutal curve relative to most colleges.)</p>
<p>fwiw: my D double-majored as an undergrad, and as it turns out, her second major, Philosophy, had a higher GPA than her first major. Partly that was due to the fact that she was a much better writer by the time she started taking Phil courses in the second semester of her Soph year.</p>
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<p>That is a fallacy. There is no way someone who can only score a 1500 on the SAT will have have the brain processing power to clear 170. Never.</p>
<p>Low SAT scores are not indicative of one’s capability of scoring 170+ with proper effort and training for the LSAT. it’s a controllable test, period. I disagree with both posters above me, and that’s not a big deal. Some believe one way, some believe the other. This is what makes forums like this great, having diverse opinions to make an informed decision. </p>
<p>In my personal opinion based on over a year of gathering statistics, researching over 50 law schools, speaking with several adcoms and doing several hours a week of research, one of many conclusions has been double majoring is a bad idea for a student planning to enter LS. But again, that’s my opinion based on my research. Maybe these two guys above me have discovered something different, I just don’t know, but you asked, so there’s my humble opinion.</p>
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<p>During all of your “research” did anyone give you the GPA stats for double majors? If not, what do you base your opinion on?</p>
<p>Countless double majors that I know who have applied to law school with sub 3.5 gpa’s. Each one wishing they had just stuck to one major to insure a higher gpa. But again, this is just my opinion. Relax.</p>
<p>so just to be clear, your opinion is not based on:</p>
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<p>…but just personal anecdotes? </p>
<p>fwiw: I am indifferent wrt double major. Any coursework that earns A’s will work for LS. But to categorically state that a double major will mean a lower GPA needs some stats to make it relevant. We all know that each college department has its own grading scale – some majors are less rigorous than others. So, a double that add quantum physics or p-chem is highly likely to lower a GPA, but adding a second ‘studies’ major could be a cake walk for a good writer who can toe the politically correct line.</p>
<p>Listen man, no one said categorically it would lower your gpa. What I said was why would anyone reduce their very best chances of a high GPA for LS admissions by adding another major? It’s common sense. One simple major, or two majors (simple or not) it’s obvious what the right choice is, for the person who wants the best chances to be successful during the ap process. You are arguing a different point. </p>
<p>Are there successful double majors out there with 4.0’s? Yes, of course and that’s awesome! But would I recommend someone who has the choice between one or two majors choose two majors to “hedge your bets” in case you change your mind? No, that would be a stupid suggestion for someone trying to get the best gpa possible to enter LS.</p>
<p>One major is obviously going to give you better odds of a better gpa than two majors, that is absolutely a fact and to argue against that is just asinine. If you think gathering up all single majors and double majors and averaging who has the better gpa will result in double majors, you’re just a moron. Slow down and read my argument, it’s not about having the ability to score a high gpa as a double major, it’s about having a better chance at a high gpa and LS ap success rate with just one major. I don’t need stats to tell you that’s the obvious choice.</p>
<p>And please see : “several hours of research”, which includes talking to dozens of 0-3L’s, many of which were double majors, and many of which said they wish they would have just stuck with one, to maximize their ability to score a higher gpa. Don’t quote me out of context if you don’t have a valid argument. You need to back off and stop being a jerk. Seriously, it’s embarrassing.</p>
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<p>You seem to be of the school that thinks saying things emphatically makes them true. It doesn’t. You don’t seem to understand how curved tests work. You are graded against your peers. That means it is mathematically impossible for everyone to score in the 170s, no matter how controllable the test is. </p>
<p>Similarly, the fact that you strongly declare that “[o]ne major is obviously going to give you better odds of a better gpa than two majors” or assert that it is “absolutely a fact” doesn’t make it true either. It takes all of a few seconds to formulate an example. An Economics major in a department known for fighting grade inflation doubles in Art History, a department known for giving high grades. Is it still “absolutely a fact” that the Econ major will hurt her GPA by doubling? Of course not. This is true even without differing grading philosophies between departments. If a student is more interested in one field but more skilled in another, that student could easily take classes in both (or major in both) and offset the lower scores in the interesting field with higher scores in the second major.</p>
<p>Further, even if the above were not true, it might still be a good idea to double major. Doubling the major allows for doubling the employment prospects should law school not work out. There are any number of freshman that go into college envisioning law school that on graduating decide they’d rather do something else. Even those who still want law school would be well advised to get some work experience. Either stands to gain quite a bit from doubling their degree and thereby their credentials before employers. There are a lot of risks involved in the law school game. Taking the time early on to build skills as a backup allows you to hedge against those risks. </p>
<p>Suggesting it’s a controllable test does not emphatically state everyone will get 170+, so please don’t take my words out of context to justify your argument. Which you do twice here. We can find thousands of double majors who are successful and again, that was NOT my argument. My argument was that if I were to pick between a double and a single, as someone looking to get the best gpa possible for LS, I would choose a single. I do concur regarding your points made about an econ major doubling as an art major. makes sense and I guess it’s a valid route to increase your gpa. But for the most part, I still think a single is the best option.</p>
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<p>I would be interested to see scientific studies testing your hypothesis above.</p>
<p>This survey found statistically significant difference in GPA between double and single majors:</p>
<p><a href=“http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED517638.pdf”>http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED517638.pdf</a></p>
<p>Double majors were higher (3.5 vs. 3.39). </p>
<p>Granted, there aren’t proper controls for calling this a valid test of the hypothesis, but I think it can at least be said to call into question the categorical (and heretofore unsupported) assertion above.</p>