<p>I have been accepted into the University of Virginia for my undergraduate work and plan on continuing onto law school there if at all possible. What are some of the best majors or programs to get involved with in order to give me the best chance and getting into their Law school? Also, I have been accepted to JMU, Virginia Tech, and Mary Washington. Should I definitely rule these schools out or could a program in one of these schools actually set me up better for a career in law? Thank you for any help and God bless.</p>
<p>Business/Corporate Law
Criminal Law
Constitutional Law
Tax Law (not really the same as corporate law)
Mergers and Acquisitions
Patent/Trademark Law
Customs/Trade/International Law
Law and Entertainment/The Arts
Law and Journalism
Sports Agent/Attorney</p>
<p>I think your major should express your interest. That way, even if don't end up in law school, at least you will be in a career field you are interested in.</p>
<p>Here's a very, very brief summary of most of the advice you're likely to get:</p>
<p>Temporarily forget about law school. Go to school where you want to go to school. Major in what you want to major in.</p>
<p>Broadly speaking, going to UVA won't help you get into their law school if you're not sufficiently well-qualified, and if you ARE sufficiently well-qualified, then going to any other school shouldn't hurt you. The things that will best set you up for a career in law are your LSAT score and your GPA, and then, of course, where you decide to go to law school and what you decide to do there. If you do want to go into politics, then the ranking of your undergraduate school becomes a little more important, as does your choice of major, but these aren't big deals for law school admissions.</p>
<p>Regardless of what you major in, there are classes you can take to "exercise" skills for the LSAT and for law school, though they aren't required. Philosophy classes (reading/writing/critical thinking intensive) and formal logic are often recommended, as are English (high volume reading), math/CS (logic/analytical skills), and politics courses. There are many threads that discuss this.</p>
<p>Doing a quick read over recent threads should give you lots of good information. There are many responses to posts much like yours, so they could be quite helpful. Good luck, and congrats on your acceptances!</p>
<p>Thank you for your help. I will look around but while this post is up if, anyone feels like making my life convenient, leave your advice here. Again, thank you and God bless.</p>
<p>I went to UVA Law and have a daughter just accepted there from UVA undergrad. Going to UVA will not give you any preference for getting into their law school. (If you are an in-state resident that will help.) Of the schools you named, I believe that you are best off going to the best school in the bunch - UVA. However, there is an odd factor at work that can't be entirely discounted. The law schools seem almost completely preoccupied with the LSAT scores and GPAs of their applicants to the detriment of almost anything else. A 4.0 at a lesser school will be better for you than a 3.5 at UVA. Result: go where you want to go now, where you think you will be happiest and most engaged in your studies/hopefully scoring best. If I were in your shoes, I would go to UVA.</p>
<p>I agree. I have fallen in love with the grounds, the academics, and the people down in UVa and I have decided I will attend in the coming fall. I do have some questions though. People always seem to say it does not matter what major you get... Just get whatever major you want and the LSAT will come. I have a deep interest in Philosophy, Math, History, and Art. I feel my I do not have specific interest, instead I enjoy learning as a whole and no one field or major sparks my interest. If anyone has any help into the deeper aspects of some majors I would appreciate it. In addition, if anyone who is attending law school or will be attending law school in the coming fall would offer up their route to success I would be interested greatly in what others have done so that I may make an educated decision in the course that I will be setting my life on. Thank you for your help and God Bless.</p>
<p>tony - your interests (philosophy, math, history and art) are all terrific majors for law school. They are also terrific majors for life. Go to school, study hard, don't blow a semester to drugs/alcohol, and don't get arrested. You'll be all set for law school. More importantly, you'll be set for a lot of other pursuits if you decide not to go to law school. Good luck, and have a blessed Easter.</p>
<p>Hayden- Thank you very much for your post, and I hope you have a blessed Easter as well. I have been giving thought to double majoring in Math and Philosophy. Also, I was wondering what kind of benefits Psychology would have. In addition, can you look at the interdisciplinary major program at UVa's web site? It is under the school Arts and Sciences. That 60 page thesis paper at the end sounds so exciting. Wow, I am really actually excited about this. Take a look at give me your opinion. Thanks, God bless, and Happy Easter.</p>
<p>actually, tony, I think you should just pursue what you're interested in. Major universities should not be treated like vocational schools. You go to college to expand your knowledge, gain a broader perspective on the world and yourself, and in general become an educated person. Focus on doing that. If you decide to go to law school as a sophomore or junior (or later), you'll be well positioned to do so. But enjoy UVa! Get the most out of it you can, and worry about law school later. Each day's troubles are sufficient unto themselves.</p>
<p>"Love and pursuit of wisdom by intellectual means and moral self-discipline.
Investigation of the nature, causes, or principles of reality, knowledge, or values, based on logical reasoning rather than empirical methods."</p>
<p>I took a philosophy class senior year and loved it. I believe it would be very interesting, challenging, and would improve your logical skills. If you take the time too search the net, you'll find that philosophy majors do very well on the lsat and in law school.</p>
<p>Philosophy/math student here. Wonderful combination, gave me every "recommended" course for LSATs, good fit for my own interests...would have been totally miserable if I hadn't loved both subjects. I'm biased towards your current choice, but I echo hayden...do what you want. Really, truly. I'll spare you twelve links to threads reiterating this advice, but if you spend about three minutes reading around, you'll get the idea for yourself.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice student 615. I have a deep passion for math and what I have seen of Philosophy seems to be extreemly intresting. Also a major question, if i decide not to go into law but decide to go into business how would those majors line up. Also what job opportunities are available to jsut philosophy math double majors? Thanks and God bless.</p>
<p>Among the philosophy majors that I know, one is going to the PeaceCorps, one is going to Teach For America, one is pursuing a masters in museum science, a number have gone or are going to law, a few are going or have gone on to PhD programs. As for recent and upcoming graduates, law is a definite trend (though it wasn't my plan when I declared my major). My high school AP Lit teacher as well as one of the religion teachers (who had gone from philosophy to the seminary) were former philosophy majors. My dad is a math major who went on to get his math major in computer science and now works in marketing. One math major I know of is heading to Mattel. A few are in grad school. So in sum...I have no idea. Math is only my minor, though, so I can speak more directly to philosophy, which is generally characterized in one of two ways:</p>
<p>(1) Totally useless...points nowhere.</p>
<p>(2) Widely applicable...a door opener to anywhere.</p>
<p>If you decide against law, one challenge will indeed be choosing your path, since neither math nor philosophy points directly to a career. The good news, however, is that your skills will be obvious. Any potential employer will know that you can read, analyze, write, and think logically and analytically. In Innumeracy, John Allen Paulos makes some claim like...on average, there's a $2k pay increase for every math course taken after calculus, or after high school...something like that. Obviously a messy statistic, but the point is, both fields do exercise valuable skills.</p>
<p>My assumption is that you can go pretty much anywhere (within reason), but you might have to be a little more pro-active to get there. When you get to school, talk to your career office. They should be able to give you some information on recruitment, activities of recent grads, etc. :)</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for the information. Maybe I will just go into some pre reques for business school and then think about going into law. So I have something that is concrete. Thanks for the help. God Bless.</p>