<p>Is pre-law a good major ? I've heard that you should avoid it for some reason.. .</p>
<p>Can someone explain why ? </p>
<p>What's the best undergrad major in prep for law school ? </p>
<p>Prelaw is not a major at most schools. <a href=“College Major Search | College Majors List | The Princeton Review”>College Major Search | College Majors List | The Princeton Review; The best major is one that makes you think critically and in which you will get good grades. Your grades and LSAT score are extremely important for law school admission.</p>
<p>You should avoid it because it doesn’t exist.</p>
<p>Go major in history or literature or anthropology or Classics or something interesting that requires a lot of reading and writing and critical thinking.</p>
<p>What the heck is a pre-law major anyway?</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/articles/2012/10/29/future-law-students-should-avoid-prelaw-majors-some-say”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/articles/2012/10/29/future-law-students-should-avoid-prelaw-majors-some-say</a></p>
<p>here is a good article to read,HT. … google is your friend.</p>
<p>To be honest i have no clue… but i heard that Yale had prelaw </p>
<p>Pre-law is a nonsense degree peddled by institutions that want your tuition. It will not help you in law school because it does not cover the things law school covers or the methods law school uses. It’s a fluff degree and is generally looked down upon.</p>
<p>ANY traditional liberal arts major will serve you well for LS. Of course, if you want to go the IP route, focus on STEM courses.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/articles/2012/10/29/future-law-students-should-avoid-prelaw-majors-some-say”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/articles/2012/10/29/future-law-students-should-avoid-prelaw-majors-some-say</a></p>
<p>Quote from the above article since no one bothered to open it…</p>
<p>"…According to data from 78,000 law school applicants in 2011-2012, provided to U.S. News by the Law School Admission Council, students who majored in prelaw were less likely to be admitted to law school than those who chose other majors.</p>
<p>While philosophy, economics, and journalism majors were admitted to law school at rates of 82, 79, and 76 percent, respectively, those numbers were much lower for prelaw (61 percent) and criminal justice (52 percent) majors, according to LSAC, which administers the LSAT."</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Not many colleges offer pre-law as a major. Those that do are generally not very selective. And I’ve heard that a pre-law major is best avoided. However, many colleges offer pre-law advising to undergrads, which is a great thing, and you should take advantage of it if it is offered at your college.</p>
<p>The ABA has some pre-law suggestions for undergrads:
<a href=“http://www.americanbar.org/groups/legal_education/resources/pre_law.html”>http://www.americanbar.org/groups/legal_education/resources/pre_law.html</a></p>
<p>Pre-law advising is not a good idea. I’ve spent hours correcting the nonsense that pre-law “advisers” tell students. Far better to come here or to TLS for accurate information.</p>
<p>I imagine that the quality of pre-law advising varies greatly by college, and I suppose with the individual adviser. I would expect that colleges that send lots of students to high ranking law schools have on average better pre-law advising than colleges that send few students to high ranking law schools. </p>
<p>My son told me that he thought he got excellent pre-law advising at his Top 20 undergrad University, and based on what he has told me, I would tend to agree. (He is a senior now, and will be a 1L this fall. His pre-law adviser is a JD.) I think it is a vast overstatement to assume that all pre-law advising everywhere is bad. I do however agree that it makes sense for a motivated student to not rely solely on pre-law advising and also take advantage of online advice here and at TLS. </p>
<p>Another side benefit of attending a college which sends lots of students to top law schools is learning from upperclassmen peers. My son has a lot of older friends from his U who now attend law school, and he learned a lot by hearing about their experiences with the law school application process, and at law school.</p>
<p>Not all pre-law advising is bad. The problem is mostly that when your pre-law adviser tells you things, you can’t tell if it’s good or bad. Here, if I say something wrong, five people will come in and say so. The forum self-corrects that way. Pre-law advisers may give good advice, or they may give bad advice. There’s no way to tell the difference. If you want to get a second opinion either here or on TLS, you can find out whether your pre-law adviser is right, but if you were going to come here or TLS why bother with the pre-law adviser in the first place?</p>
<p>From a practical matter, prelaw advising is almost useless (whether good or bad). Law school is 95% GPA+LSAT. Period. (It doesn’t take a prelaw advisor to advise, “get A’s.”)</p>
<p>Most essays are poor, so a well-written story can stand out. Perhaps that is where a counselor/advisor can really add value. But a willing prof can do the same. </p>
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<p>Since top undergrads select for high test takers, they will tend to do well on the LSAT. (There is nothing magic about Harvard that it has the highest average LSAT – it does that because it only selects great test-takers into Harvard College.)</p>
<p>So the correlation is not necessarily that top undergrads send many kids to top law schools because they have “better pre-law advising” but it really is that they have top kids to begin with.</p>
<p>A 3.8/17x+ from HYPS will easily get into numerous top law schools without ever having set foot into the advising center.</p>
<p>I have yet to find any college that has a “pre-law” major. For colleges that have it, pre-law is an advisory program that any student at the college can have access to. The quality of those advisory programs varies and to a significant extent they are designed to provide you information about law schools, law school admission, courses you might consider taking, and other similar information that a student could also learn for himself by his own research, including on-line.</p>
<p>There are some colleges that have a “legal studies” major. That major is usually somewhat akin to political science and legal history and policy. To the extent a college may promote that program as one that provides an upper hand toward admission to law school, it should not be given credence. If you hear criticism of pursuing a “pre-law” major, it is likely the major actually being referred to is legal studies and not any pre-law advisory program. Moreover, it is a major that does not provide an avenue to real employment if the student does not go to law school. Law schools choose students from many majors and if you pursue one that has a more traditional name, you will better off.</p>