Does it look bad at all to very top law schools (harvard, yale, stanford) if I take 5 years to complete undergrad if I am double majoring (physics and philosophy) and minoring (creative writing)? HLS has been a dream of mine forever and I just do not want to be at all at a disadvantage. The money for an extra undergrad year isn’t an issue for me. Also how many credits do people take per semester in undergrad? Is 14-16 too few? Is 18-20 too many?
there is no value to LS admissions to double+minor.
If you want to be a lawyer, why take 5 years for undergrad?
While it might not be a disadvantage, just know that most students in your situation – money is not an issue – will be graduating in 4 years, even with a double major+senior/honor thesis.
Why not just major/minor and get out in 4?
Law schools won’t care if it took you 5 years to finish undergrad. As bluebayou points out, that extra year may be wasted if your goal is to be a lawyer. On the other hand, that physics major opens up IP doors and hopefully philosophy/creative writing can balance out the otherwise lower GPA.
The fact that you’re talking about what to major in suggests to me you are still in high school. My primary concern then is not what your major will be but whether you will have a realistic understanding of the practice of law before you commit to it. I highly recommend that you spend some time interning/externing/working in a law office before deciding that law is right for you.
It would be confusing to employers: are you a physics person, are you a creative-class person, or what, and why would you spend 5 years in school when you just need 4? It just shows confusion, not a clear path to accomplishing what you want.
As a Physics + French major that I know discovered, the Law School AdComm may not even notice your major. She applied to a T13 law school, as an undergrad at that same university. She had a super LSAT, was Law Review, and had some stellar internships under her belt. She was waitlisted and then got a call over the summer saying that they were reviewing the applications of the people on the wait list b/c they had a couple spaces. They said that they noticed that she was a physics/french major which explained (to them) why her GPA was a little lower than their ideal (physics being a tough subject in which to have a high GPA). They said that if they had noticed the physics in the first round they would have certainly offered her a place as the rest of her application was so strong, but they had made the first cut on GPA.
Moral of the story: for law school it’s GPA then LSAT.
@collegemom3717: It’s usually LSAT then GPA these days, actually, because the reduction in test takers means fewer high LSATs to fill the class with for schools that want to maintain their medians. Depending on how super her LSAT was and how poor her GPA was determines how much of a splitter she was. Splitters tend to have unpredictable cycles because their chances depend on what a school lacks in filling the class.
Fair enough, @Demosthenes49- this was 4 years ago. Actually her GPA was very strong and when they called the AdCom emphasized that if they had realized that her major was physics they would have taken her straight away b/c it was such an impressive GPA for a physics major.
So the point for the OP is that GPA is crucial- and you can’t count on the AdCom to notice or care what your major(s) are.
A lot of high school students think they have to major and minor in everything they’re interested in. You can simply choose one major and take electives in oher areas that interest you, and formalized minors are pretty useless. Once you start college, you’ll get a better feel for what the workload will be like, whether or not you want to double major, and whether or not double majoring would even be practical. If you ultimately decide you do want to double major, you can always declare that at a later time. HLS may be a “dream” for you and money may not be an issue, but some time in college will also give you some perspective and clarity on career options, career paths, and graduate/professional school. You don’t need to have any of this figured out right now.