<p>Ok, so I am currently in community college. My goal is to transfer to a good UC or maybe even Stanford. Eventually, Im going for law. For now, I'm stuck on which major to go into. I was going for history at first but after taking a history class, it just seems wayyy too boring. After putting some thought into it, I think English or Philosophy would be best for me. I hate science, I'm very good at critical thinking, good at debates/discussions, I don't particularly like reading and I am good at writing. Now, I'm curious about:
A. Which is easier to take at let's say UCLA or Berkley, English or Phil?
B. What are the classes like for English and for Phil (how much writing, reading, discussion...)
C. If you have any experience in any of these fields (Phil, Eng or Law) I'd love to hear what you went through and your advice
Thanks!</p>
<p>if you enjoy philosophy and english why don’t you look into comp lit? literary theory stuff… either of these majors is going to take heavy reading. english would be easier as far as making sophisticated arguments…</p>
<p>My buddy just graduated from UCLA philosophy, so I know a lot about it. It’s very much an analytical school, and its also competitive. If I were you, I would only do philosophy unless you really like it; otherwise, I think English would be easier. Both are gonna require lots of reading and writing.</p>
<p>I think i read stanford doesn’t really take transfers. They only take a handful (like, less then 12) every year.</p>
<p>I could be wrong, but i think i’m not.</p>
<p>Philosophy is an excellent major of Law School.</p>
<p>You’re going to have to get over your dislike of reading though =)</p>
<p>Philosophy will better prepare you for Law School, or so they say. I think this has to do with the way you write a philosophy paper vs how you write a paper for english, art history, etc. But if your intentions are law school, you should aim for the major that will bring you the highest gpa, because your gpa will be a biggie for law school. I think Political Science at UCLA seems very interesting. Some of the poly sci classes offered cover philosophers or have classes on philosophers and their political theories. </p>
<p>English will probably require more reading, but they will probably be easier reads than Philosophy. I can’t speak for English, or I guess Philosophy(since this is my first time taking a class at UCLA) but the discussions for my current philosophy class, and those for my other classes, have been more like reviews of class lecture. I expected debate, conversation, or actual discussion, but that is not the case. If you enjoy that, like I do, I think English will probably better suit your needs. If you know a second language fluently, consider Comparative Literature. I am switching to comparative literature. There is a lot more flexibility in Comp. Lit than there is I think in English or Philosophy. </p>
<p>Also at UCLA, you have better chances getting accepted as a Philosophy major than an English major. On UCLA’s website they have acceptance rates for transfers by major, and Philosophy’s is much higher.</p>
<p>Lastly, if you hate reading, why even consider law school? Guess what you’ll be doing in Law School?</p>
<p>just wanna say this thread was very helpful for me. future philosophy major with a minor in MAYBE accounting… MAYBEEE</p>
<p>The strong emphasis on logic and ethics which studying philosophy provides, in my opinion, is an valuable foundation for any prospective law student. I have a two friends in law school who were Journalism and English majors, respectively, and I was astonished after speaking to them about their law school careers that they had NO CLUE about some basic components of ethics and logic. Now I understand these are just my idiot friends… but classes like Symbolic Logic are AMAZING at helping students understand the nature of argument, and how to spot logical inconsistencies from a mile away. None of this is meant to detract from the value of being an English major, which also provides a strong foundation for prospective law students… but I can’t think of a better major than philosophy for anyone who wants to go to law school.
Here’s a great link</p>
<p>[The</a> Philosophical Gourmet Report 2009 :: The Study of Philosophy in Law Schools and Top Law Schools](<a href=“http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/lawsch.asp]The”>http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/lawsch.asp)</p>
<p>But no matter which you choose, you’re going to have to read… a lot.</p>
<p>like everyone else has said, if you don’t actually like to read, i don’t think either major is right for you. having just finished the final papers for my first two phil classes at UCLA, i can tell you firsthand that phil is incredibly demanding in a number of ways. </p>
<p>first, it’s commonly said that phil is the most reading intensive major, but not in the sense of which you might be thinking… though we might read fewer pages in phil classes than would english or comp lit majors, the text is dramatically denser, harder to comprehend and still harder to conceptualize and articulate in a way that will earn you a solid A. </p>
<p>second, when you talk about majors in terms of ‘easiness’, between english and phil, my guess would be this: assuming you keep up with the reading (LOTS of reading) and are a competent writer, it shouldn’t be incredibly hard to get A’s in english classes. this ultimately helps you for law school in the sense that higher GPA = better odds. </p>
<p>on the other hand, phil is beneficial in the sense that a lot of this **** is really interesting and it keeps you engaged in academics… if you’re a lover of logic and learning, you’ll do well to pursue this. as has been mentioned, it also helps indirectly with reasoning, critical thinking and the general ability to employ reason or discern things logically… but i think this is only inasmuch as ‘practice makes perfect’. though philosophy students on average score higher on the LSAT than do english students, we all know that correlation ≠ causation. </p>
<p>finally, liking, or being good at argumentation has less to do with law than your friends and relatives might have known when they told you repeatedly growing up that, “omg! you loooove to argue! you’d make such a good lawyer!” a more accurate encouragement might sound something like, “omg! all you do is read! you love libraries! you should go to law school!”</p>
<p>a heads up: a friend of mine just finished his first semester at UCLA law after graduating from berkeley last year with a degree in history (a fairly reading intensive major). we caught up over thanksgiving and he said in total seriousness that he’s done more reading in the past 3 months than he did in 4 years of undergrad at berkeley…
you hear it’s a lot, but dude… it’s a LOT.
if you’re set on law, or really any type of academic success, i’d say you should pick up some books and start training… </p>
<p>good luck.</p>
<p>@pinkerfloyd</p>
<p>any books you would recommend to read right now for future philosophy majors?</p>
<p>just read, man… go to the philosophy section at some book store and pick and choose. but really, just *<strong><em>ing read. read anything and read often.
a few of my philosophically oriented favs:
-
- easy; </em></strong> - hard
sartre - nausea(<em>); existentialism and human emotion (</em><em>)
camus - the stranger(</em>); myth of sysisphus (<strong><em>)
dostoevsky - crime and punishment *); notes from the underground (</em>), karamazov brothers (</strong><em>)
kafka - metamorphosis (</em><em>); the trial (</em>)
voltaire - candide (<em>)
john stuart mill - utilitarianism (</em><em>)
plato - dialogues (</em><strong>); ethics (</strong><strong><em>)
nietzsche - beyond good and evil (</em></strong>)</p>
- easy; </em></strong> - hard
<p>when you get through those, i’ll kick you down with more ;)</p>
<p>nujabes29:
Here’s a few of my suggestions:
Read Plato’s five dialogues and Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, the next 2,000+ years of philosophical writing refers to a lot of the terminology and content in these writings. Bertrand Russell’s History of Western Philosophy is a fairly straightforward introduction as well, especially its account of the Greeks.
Reading Descartes’ Meditations really sets the stage for the beginning of Modern Philosophy, and reading some of the subsequent reactions to him like those of Hume and ultimately Kant will help to familiarize yourself with the differences between Rationalism and Empiricism. And if you’re more interested in political philosophy, get to know Locke and Rousseau as well.
I made the mistake of jumping into more relatively recent writings like those of Heidegger and Sartre before familiarizing myself with a lot of the aforementioned thinkers, and without that terminological foundation it was a very daunting task! Also, get yourself a good Philosophy dictionary, I personally prefer the Oxford version. That way whenever you run into one of the myriad of philosophical terms and concepts you’ll have easy access to its definition. A lot of philosophical writings assume their readers are familiar with basic, and sometimes even advanced, terminology.
There’s obviously a lot more I could suggest, and a lot I left out… but if I had followed something even remotely similar to my suggestions above instead of diving headfirst into a lot of modern accounts I would have saved myself a lot of headaches.</p>
<p>re ^:</p>
<p>sorry… when i said plato’s ethics, i meant aristotle’s ethics… about plato…
also, when i referred to the dialogues, i meant the important earlier ones… apology, crito, euthyphro, protagoras.</p>
<p>as for meditations, that’s a good one… definitely.</p>
<p>i’d also check out ‘why i am not a christian’ by russell… some fun essays in there. </p>
<p>good luck</p>
<p>i dont have the background as some of the people on here, but I would recommend Plato’s Republic as a beginners read and I just picked up “examined life” which is an interesting read with current philosophers and their opinion on past Philosophers.</p>
<p>^ if you read Republic outside of a classroom, guaranteed, you won’t understand it properly.
still a fun read… but just assume that you’ll overlook much of what it’s all about. .</p>
<p>The first philosophical book I ever read was “Conversations with Socrates” by Xenophon – it’s one of my favorites.</p>
<p>thank you very much pinkerfloyd and Yames1307 . you guys deserve great sex lol.</p>
<p>dang nujabes youve taken classes at all those CCs?</p>
<p>yeahhh and i’m going to need to update it again lol. this time i’ll be taking a class at mission college for winter session. el oh el -____-</p>