<p>I should start this post off by telling you that I don't intend to major in Pre-Law but do want to go to law school. I recently took a trip to my state university, UConn, and really enjoyed it. What I really like was the fact that I could graduate in three years and take even more off of my college costs. Another route I could take would be to add a major to my intended political science major. Which route would you recommend and if you advise a double major what is a nice major to add on to poli. Sci for law?</p>
<p>You can major in anything you want for pre-law purposes. Law school admissions is mainly about college GPA and LSAT scores: [Welcome</a> to LawSchoolNumbers.com | Law School Numbers](<a href=“http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com%5DWelcome”>http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com) .</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“Page Cannot be Found”>LSAT Scores of Economics Majors: The 2008-2009 Class Update by Michael Nieswiadomy :: SSRN]LSAT</a> Scores of Economics Majors: The 2008-2009 Class Update by Michael Nieswiadomy :: SSRN<a href=“or%20%5Burl%5Dhttp://www.potsdam.edu/academics/AAS/Phil/upload/LSAT-Scores-of-Majors.pdf%5B/url%5D”>/url</a> shows the average LSAT scores for students in various majors.</p>
<p>What “law” do you expect to practice?</p>
<p>If patent law/intellectual property then “minor” in a science or engineering discipline.</p>
<p>If corporate law then “minor” in business or economics.</p>
<p>If constitutional law then minor in government.</p>
<p>If international law then …</p>
<p>If you’re unsure then pick courses that stress “analysis” and “critical writing”. There really isn’t a simple answer to your question. And for most part there isn’t a “pre-law” major.</p>
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<p>Also logical thinking. There are logical reasoning questions on the LSAT; that is likely the reason that math and philosophy majors do well on it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input guys, I’m thinking about corporate or constitutional law. With UConn it’s very easy add majors so I may start exclusively political science and then add Econ or government.</p>
<p>I’ve read that it is a disadvantage for law school admissions to graduate college early.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/law-school/733318-will-graduating-3-years-hurt-my-chances-law-school.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/law-school/733318-will-graduating-3-years-hurt-my-chances-law-school.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/law-school/699679-graduating-early.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/law-school/699679-graduating-early.html</a></p>
<p>So, if law school is important to you, I would lean towards double majoring and using your full 4 years of college.</p>
<p>I have a single anecdote. A good friend of my son’s graduated college early because of lots of AP credits. I heard what his LSAT score was (but don’t know his GPA), and was quite surprised how poorly he did in law school admissions given that LSAT score. His mother, who told me all about and presumably knows what his GPA was, was really shocked that he didn’t do better. I’ve known this student for many, many years and he did well in college admissions, so I don’t think there are any hidden reasons for poorer than expected admissions results. He did end up getting into a very good law school (and is attending now), but was rejected at many better schools for which his LSAT score was in top 25% (e.g. above the 75th percentile).</p>
<p>Poli Sci and Gov’t are two names for the same thing. E.g., at G-Town, the major is “Gov’t,” but if you compare the curriculum to the poli sci major at most U’s, it’s the same stuff. I double-majored in Poli Sci and Spanish before going to law school because I thought I wanted to do immigration law. But I think few law students graduate and actually go into the field they intended. I ended up really liking my tax and property courses and went into estate planning. You never know where life will take you. My DD is a HS sr. applying to colleges this fall. She also wants to go to law school and hopes to be a federal prosecutor. We’ll see. I am encouraging her to double major in Poli Sci and either Economics, Philosophy, or English, or else do a cross-disciplinary major like Political Economy or Public Policy.</p>
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<p>Absolutely correct. Major/double major is of no consequence.</p>
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<p>And wait for the handful of folks who are real constitutional laywer/scholars to die. And that of course, assumes that you attend the top 3 law schools. Otherwise, the chance of becoming a constitutional lawyer are slim and none. :)</p>
<p>btw: I would guess that a huge chunk of law applicants are Poli Sci/Government majors. Ho-hum.</p>
<p>Just my personal opinion. but based on purely anecdotal evidence:</p>
<p>Graduating in 3 years won’t hurt you IF you take off at least a year and apply with 3 years of college grades. If you try to apply the first semester of your 3rd year, with only 4 or at most 5 semesters of grades, it will hurt.</p>
<p>LOL’ing at “waiting for the real conlaw guys to die” comment…because, yep, that’s like deciding to become a senator…no maybe becoming a senator is easier.</p>
<p>No one will care if you graduate in 3 years or 2 years or 10 years. Law school admissions is about GPA and LSAT, not how long it takes to get there. Employers might care but it’s unlikely they’ll care all that much. As for a double major, computer science or electrical engineering make you hot on the IP market these days. Ignore that nonsense about majoring in “government” if you want to practice “constitutional law.” Otherwise, minor in something that will boost your GPA. </p>
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<p>You don’t know what either of these things is. That’s ok, you’re not in law school and not expected to know. But I point it out to make you very wary of trying to intuit what parts of law will interest you or what parts of law you’ll be practicing. Corporate law is an extremely broad category encompassing everything from securities litigation to mergers and acquisitions. Constitutional law is a nifty-sounding practice that essentially no one actually does. Every so often the very best lawyers get a constitutional case or two. Even organizations like the ACLU, that basically exist to uphold the bill of rights, don’t get much play. A good use of any extra time you have would be to intern at a firm or DA/PD’s office. Getting a look at what the practice of law actually entails would probably help you a lot.</p>
<p>Pick a major that you enjoy and know you can perform very well in, 3.8+ GPA. Graduate in 3 years and take advantage of that extra time. Spend a year working and part time job and primarily studying for the LSAT. Make that your plan and pursue a 3.8/170 with zeal, let the t14 offers roll in. Check out <a href=“http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/index.php[/url]”>http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/index.php</a></p>
<p>What jman said. Shoot for 4.0 180 though. </p>
<p>K-JD students tend to do awful at OCI compared to those who have worked after college. Something to keep in mind.</p>
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<p>How do you know? In the other thread you said you’re PTing in the 170s, meaning you’re a 0L. At my OCI the K-JDs tended to do just fine. Grades mattered a lot more than the kind of WE law students tend to have.</p>