<p>is it that unaccetptable to take pre-law. Do any top level universities offer it as a major? Im going to school to become a lawyer so i dont see much use for anything but law related topics. Iv'e heard the negatives but what are the positives to taking pre-law. Higher grade? better LSAT prep?</p>
<p>From Harvard Law School’s FAQ on admissions:</p>
<p>“As preparation 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. The Admissions Committee considers that those programs approaching their subjects on a more theoretical level, with attention to educational breadth, are better preparatory training for the legal profession than those emphasizing the practical.”</p>
<p>“Im going to school to become a lawyer so i dont see much use for anything but law related topics.” </p>
<p>This is not the attitude law schools want to see.</p>
<p>Don’t take anything labelled “Pre-Law”. Most good schools don’t offer an actual Pre-Law track/major anyways. Just take something you’re interested in and learn all you can about it. You can easily find online the most common and successful majors in terms of LS admissions / LSAT scores. Among the most common are philosophy, political science, and economics.</p>
<p>Also, I wouldn’t major in Business. Though most good business programs are supplemented with some liberal arts coursework, the Business major still falls into the “vocational training” category.</p>
<p>There are a few top colleges that offer respected majors which focus on things like law and society. I believe both the U of Chicago and UCal-Berkeley offer such majors. They aren’t pre-law though. Nevertheless, they may be of interest to you and are legitimate majors. </p>
<p>Majoring in pre-law is a waste. You’ll learn the law you need to learn in law school–and while cramming for the bar exam! </p>
<p>Pre-law doesn’t prepare you for the LSAT. In fact, pre-law majors have one of the lowest median LSAT scores of any college major. Absent very special circumstances, majoring in pre-law eliminates your chances of being admitted into a top law school.</p>
<p>Practicing law requires knowledge of a whole lot of things that you wouldn’t think of necessarily as affecting legal practice – for example, understanding the the manufacture and business of pharmaceuticals and foods (if you become an attorney specializing in FDA regulations), understanding the stock market, accounting, finance and business (if you become a corporate attorney), etc. As an attorney, you will need to become a mini-expert on every area of business, research, writing and other ventures that your clients may embark upon. You will also need to develop excellent writing and speaking skills so that you can write specifically and persuasively, and you can negotiate and speak eloquently. </p>
<p>You can learn these skills in a wide variety of majors. You would do yourself a great disservice to spend four years of college learning how to do legal research and how to read cases when you will do that in law school.</p>
<p>For vast majority of colleges there is no such “major” as pre-law. It is an “advisory program” (same applies to pre-med). The program gives you some recommended courses, things to consider, law school application help, etc. You can major in essentially anything and be admitted to law school and most of your good pre-law programs are designed to have you major in what you want to, not some law related area; again it is just an advisory program at most places. There are some pre-law programs that purport to be almost majors and basically put you in some program where you essentially major in poli sci or similar. Avoid those programs like the plaque as they are trying to sell something that has no value in getting you into law school.</p>
<p>Jonri, I’ve been reading up on Chicago’s “Law, Letters, and Society” major, and there exists a similar major, “Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought,” at my college.</p>
<p>While these majors are highly theoretical (as opposed to practical) and writing/research-intensive, I’m deeply worried that they may be perceived as “pre-law,” and looked down upon with disdain by admissions officers not in the know. Do you feel it would be highly risky to pursue these majors, that one might have to constantly explain: “No, this is not pre-law, this is a serious humanities major requiring significant critical thought and research ability, etc.?”</p>
<p>I badly want to pursue this major, but if it will jeopardize my chances at the top law schools…</p>
<p><a href=“http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/pdf_10/LLSO.pdf[/url]”>http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/pdf_10/LLSO.pdf</a></p>
<p><a href=“https://www.amherst.edu/academiclife/departments/ljst/courses/course_catalog[/url]”>https://www.amherst.edu/academiclife/departments/ljst/courses/course_catalog</a></p>
<p>kwu: jonri probably knows better than I do on this, but I suspect Amherst’s branding will be enough to carry the day here.</p>
<p>@Kwu: When I was at the admitted student weekend, I talked to a professor from the dept. and even many current and past students who pursued this major. Everyone I spoke with said that no one who wished to pursue law school after college had any trouble with admissions. In fact, isn’t it one of the most popular majors there? It’s in the top five I think! So that definitely says a lot! But, everyone said there’s really no worries.</p>
<p>It won’t be a problem at any top law school. These aren’t the sort of pre-law majors that come home to haunt you.</p>
<p>Admissions officers at top law schools are very much “in the know” about the substance of these majors–and schools like Amherst.</p>
<p>Thanks much for the assurance, everyone.</p>
<p>Here’s a comprehensive description of Berkeley’s “Legal Studies” major, as well as descriptions of all relevant courses offered, for anyone who’s interested:</p>
<p><a href=“http://sis.berkeley.edu/catalog/gcc_view_req?p_dept_cd=LEGALST[/url]”>http://sis.berkeley.edu/catalog/gcc_view_req?p_dept_cd=LEGALST</a>
<a href=“http://sis.berkeley.edu/catalog/gcc_list_crse_req?p_dept_name=Legal+Studies&p_dept_cd=LEGALST[/url]”>http://sis.berkeley.edu/catalog/gcc_list_crse_req?p_dept_name=Legal+Studies&p_dept_cd=LEGALST</a></p>