Hi,
I will be a college freshman in August 2020, but I was wondering: what are people’s perspective on nontraditional majors for law school? For example, instead of majoring in Political Science, majoring in Film or Biochemistry?
How does this connect to a desire to going to law school?
I want to be an attorney and I have a love of Political Science and International Relations, but I was keeping my options open regarding major.
I think there was every kind of undergrad major represented in my law school class including business, engineering, education, environmental biology. The guy next to me alphabetically was an ER physician. My sister was a French and German major and became a partner at a Wall Street firm.
My friend who was an engineer did have a lot of issues with the writing courses. He’d never had to write essays or do a lot of research papers as an undergrad.
It’s pretty clear that law school admissions focuses on two things: GPA and LSAT. So it makes sense to major in something you have an interest in and can do well. If that’s a “nontraditional” major, that’s fine-but again, a high GPA will give you options. The lower the GPA, the lower the options, and you’ll want to attend the highest-ranked law school at which you are admitted.
Although political science is the most common major among law school applicants, it is nowhere close to the majority. Lots of college majors are represented among law school applicants (2015-2016 data here):
https://www.duq.edu/assets/Documents/philosophy/LSAT%20scores%202015-16_applicants-major(0).pdf
From that table, you will notice that some “non-traditional” pre-law majors like classics, mathematics, biomedical engineering, physics, nuclear engineering, and astronomy had applicants who did well on the LSAT.
The following page may be helpful with pre-law major choice. Other pages there may also be helpful in planning undergraduate study for pre-law.
http://lawschoolnumbers.com/application-prep/choosing-your-major-for-prelaw
You can have any major and go to law school. Having a major that allows you to sharpen your reading, writing, and analytical skills might prove helpful once you are in law school. If you love Political Science I’d go with that.
Most of the lawyers that I know were either engineering or computer science majors. One worked as a software engineer for a few years before going to law school.
I would expect that there would be openings for biochemistry majors in law school. The point is similar to engineering majors: There are some aspects of law that relate to biochemistry, just as there are some aspects of law that relate to engineering and computer science.
This has a bearing on the type of law that they work in.
As others have said I think that you can get a bachelor’s degree in almost anything and still be competitive for law school.
Plenty of attorney jobs in law firms related to bio-technology.
Patent law is a practice area which requires certain undergraduate courses in the sciences.
Film is fine if the student develops analytical reasoning skills.
Law school admissions focuses on three main factors:
An applicant’s LSAT score;
An applicant’s undergraduate GPA;
And, if applicable, an applicant’s URM status.
An applicant’s personal statement, work experience, and graduate study are far less significant factors.
The often repeated advice that one attend the highest ranked law school to which he or she is admitted is a bit too simplistic. While it may be appropriate for one who is targeting biglaw, it may not be appropriate for those who would take on substantial student loan debt and are not seeking a position in biglaw.
Each applicant’s situation needs to be examined separately in order to determine which law school is the most appropriate choice for that individual’s career goals and situation.
OP: I encourage you & your daughter to Google “best value law schools”.
An example of one whose best target law schools may not be among the highest ranked law schools would be one intending to practice family law in Wisconsin. In this case, the University of Wisconsin School of Law and Marquette University’s law school may be the best options for this typically small firm practice because graduates of Wisconsin based law schools do not need to sit for the Wisconsin state bar exam.
Many state funded public law schools offer great value to those wishing to remain in that state after law school. The cost difference compared to the top ranked law schools can be very significant.
A pre-law student can take a look at law school employment outcomes at https://www.lstreports.com/schools/ .
Correct. Over the past few years, I believe the often repeated advice has been modified to be ‘attend the highest rank LS that you can afford.’
Almost no one should incur substantial debt to attend LS nowadays; there is plenty of merit money being thrown around. A top school on all loans is generally worse than a lower-ranked school at a big discount. And yes, state publics can be a great value IFF the student wants to live and practice in that state.
Thank you for all of your responses; I wasn’t expecting this much feedback.
Without a doubt, I want to go to law school and be an attorney, working for the government.
With that being said, even though I do NOT intend to pursue a career in it, I have a passion for film. I’m interested in analyzing it from a critical perspective.
Would there by any advantage in my situation in majoring in film instead of minoring in it?
^^No. Physical science majors can receive a small boost (as they are likely to go into IP law and thus, readily employable, boosting the LS rankings).
Agree…I don’t think being a film major would be an advantage in any way.
I have heard that “Many film critics write film reviews as a hobby, simply because they love film.”
I find it interesting that James Berardinelli did not even earn a film degree.
Is there any particular type of law you would be interested in working on? Undergraduate course work on the underlying topic may be helpful later (e.g. science or engineering for patent or intellectual property law).
Hm…well, I’m interested in criminal law.
But isn’t the J.D. interchangeable, kind of the Swiss army knife of law degrees?
I agree with you @LZHope, it’s a nice way of putting it, that the JD is like a Swiss army knife, not just of law degrees, but of all degrees. On the down side, this means that lots of people who don’t know what they want to do after college end up in law school, which isn’t necessarily great if they don’t have the right incentives and skills set. But on the up side, a law degree can open an innumerable number of career paths. That’s one of the reason I chose law school. Before that, I was a secretary for a number of years - same theory, secretaries are (or were at that time) needed in all geographic areas and all industries, so lots of flexibility. I worked for engineers and lawyers, all kinds of people, and decided I like lawyers as a group. I was accepted by an Ivy law school notwithstanding a very nontraditional background and I have ended up staying in so-called Big Law throughout my career. I’ve thought about going in-house from time to time, but I’m not much of an organization person and law firms allow for quite a bit of independence so long as you can build and maintain a practice. Even limiting myself to the Big Law category, I’ve worked for different firms on the East Coast and West Coast, and for a long time in Asia, and I’ve enjoyed doing a lot of different things. I don’t know whether film studies would help you in government, but I do have a friend, a Big Law veteran, who went to work for a major film company and eventually gravitated towards the production side. I think the best way to go is to attend the best law school you can afford (I read some average debt numbers the other day and they were horrifying - no one should start out with an albatross like that on their back) and start at a Big Law firm. If you choose well, you will learn a lot and make some money, and you will find interesting opportunities. Try to work in areas that interest you and watch for in-house or government positions that attract you. Among the lawyers I worked for when I was a Big Law secretary, several moved to prosecution positions, either long-term or to work on specific investigations, one ran for Congress after building a hotel company in Asia, and one currently heads one of the major global human rights organizations.
Would it be helpful if you had some basic knowledge about business and finance if you had to prosecute or defend a case involving business or financial crimes, for example?