Hi Everyone,
I am a freshman at Penn State University. I started school thinking I wanted to go for the pre-med route. I soon realized that I didn’t enjoy medicine. I am changing my major to business because it interest me a lot. I am thinking to go for real state law but there are a few options to choose from. These options are: Accounting, business analytics, financial services, and management and marketing. Someone please help me…
Your post is a bit confusing to me. By “real state law”, do you mean “real estate law” ? If yes, then why list accounting, financial services, business analytics, and management and marketing as options ?
The university I go to doesn’t have any pre-law majors. I have an option to choose from criminal justice or business but when it comes to business there are different areas to choose from like management and marketing, accounting and etc…
What I am trying to say is I want to become a real state attorney but I don’t know what area in business will satisfy the requirements?
Again, I am confused by your posts. Why are you now referring to a “pre-law” major or to criminal justice ? I thought that you planned to study a discipline within the business school.
I am sorry for the miscommunication, I am interested in a career in law. The career that interests me the most is real state law, but my school only offers criminal justice and business . I was thinking business because of the job opportunities but I came upon a list of options like accounting, business analytics, financial services, and management and marketing. I am a first generation student if you have any suggestions please feel free to drop them down.
There are other options like accounting but I am more interested in business.
Ok. You started wanting to be a doctor and now want to be a lawyer.
The good news is neither has a required major. Pre med has required classes but it’s out.
So you can major in anything from nutrition to polo sci to whatever to do law.
So does business even interest you ?? What major would truly interest you ? Many do poli sci for law school. Philosophy is a good one…you use lots of logic, etc.
Anyway if you are interested in real estate go speak with Prof Mallory Meehan. They have risk management with a real estate option. But again to become an attorney you needn’t major in anything so perhaps another major would interest you more. Good luck
I will definitely look into political science. Thanks for the advice and the link, I appreciate it and what campus is she from?
A lot of successful law school applicants get undergrad degrees in English, actually. The research, reading and writing required help develop skills needed for the work law school necessitates. Getting an undergrad degree in a business field is not necessary for a law degree. You take the classes in law school that help develop your specialty.
Look at the link. I assume the main campus. I gave you a link so you can see.
I’m not saying you should major in poli sci. I’m saying many do.
You can major in real estate, in English as @helpingmom40 said, physics, education. Open the catalogue. Look at the majors. What excites you?
Good critical thinking and writing skills would be helpful.
OP: Reviewing questions on a practice LSAT (law school admissions test) may help you to understand the skills needed for law school.
It’s good that you figured out quickly that the pre-med path is not for you. Lots of students sink a lot of time, money, and grief into that quest before realizing that it’s not going to happen.
The good news with pre-law is that it doesn’t have a whole bunch of specific prerequisites like med school does. You basically need two things to get into law school: good grades, and a strong LSAT score. There’s no need to start prepping for the LSAT yet, so you can basically put the whole issue of law school aside for now, and focus on picking a major in which you can 1) get good grades and 2) make yourself employable so that you can work and make money after you graduate. (Then, you can either prep for the LSAT and go that route, or realize that you have a perfectly good career without law school. You can cross that bridge when you come to it. Just focus on keeping your GPA up so that you have that option if you want it.)
You might consider switching into DUS: About the Division of Undergraduate Studies | Division of Undergraduate Studies | The Pennsylvania State University
How are your grades so far? All of the undergraduate business majors have prerequisites and GPA thresholds to get in. You don’t have to pick a specific major yet; you just need to take prerequisite courses and do well in them. ( https://ugstudents.smeal.psu.edu/academics-advising/get-into-a-smeal-major/business-core ) This is why the DUS advising process might be helpful. You definitely need to meet with someone who can look at where you stand and give you specific advice for your situation.
It’s very easy to fall through the cracks at a big school like PSU. If you’re a low-income 1st-gen student, you’re most likely accumulating debt and cannot afford setbacks. Don’t try to fly below radar. Get good advice and follow it.
If you’re looking to be a lawyer, any major will do as long as you have top grades and you score well on the LSAT. Business is a good undergraduate major, because it tends to be more rigorous and can give you a competitive edge. There’s only 2 legal specialties I’m aware of that require a specialized undergraduate major, that’s tax law (accounting) and patent law(engineering). Any other specialty is pretty much your own personal choice.
Incorrect that the practice of Tax Law requires an accounting degree & only partially correct that Patent Law requires an engineering background.
Regardless, it seems that the OP’s engagement with this thread was short-lived.
happens too often!!!
What you major in in college has very little bearing on what kind of law you practice (unless something like tax law). I’d get a business degree or criminal justice, in case law school doesn’t work out.