"A COMMON MISCONCEPTION among law school hopefuls is the belief that they must pursue a college major that is law-related, but J.D. admissions experts say nothing could be further from the truth.
A prelaw major is not mandatory for admission to law school, experts emphasize, and it’s not even available at many undergraduate institutions. Because colleges often refrain from offering professional degrees and instead focus on traditional academic disciplines like history and chemistry, schools that offer a prelaw major are the exception to the norm, according to experts.
Prelaw college majors are designed to prepare aspiring lawyers for law school, and these majors often include an eclectic combination of humanities and social science classes ranging from philosophy to political science. An undergraduate prelaw curriculum may also include seminars on specific areas of law like constitutional law, and it could include classes on topics relevant to the practice of law such as rhetoric, public policy, psychology, sociology, accounting or economics." …
Nice article despite the quote from the Wash & Lee law school professor. I think that this law professor misunderstands the benefits (analytical thinking & writing skills) of a prelaw curriculum and misunderstands the supposed benefits of one’s undergraduate major in the practice of law.
A lot of colleges don’t even have pre-law majors (or pre-med). Medical school actually has pre-reqs. Law school has none. In high school several friends and I joked that if nothing else worked out there was always law school. I am the only one in that group who went. LOL Work with people with more traditional law majors (English, political sci, etc) and those with business degrees (me), music majors and engineers. Broad spectrum.
Often kids will say they are pre-med or pre-law even if their college does not have said major to sound more impressive. One of those high school friends would tell girls he met on campus he was a chemistry major and they found a way to walk away; tell them he was pre-med and they stayed. He is a doctor now.
ANY major will work for law school apps. Poli Sci/Govt & History majors are a dime a dozen. A concert pianist would be attractive to adcoms assuming one had the two critical numbers: GPA + LSAT.
But as publisher notes one needs critical thinking and writing skills to do well once in LS, so any undergrad courses that help strengthen those areas are a big plus for your LS success.