Hi, I am currently a high school senior in the midst of college research process. I was originally interested in business, but now I am thinking about going to law school. The colleges currently on my list are ones known for their undergraduate business education such as Boston College and Emory University. Now that I am considering a new career path, I thought I should shift the college research focus from business preparation to law preparation. But it is a little late at this point since in less than two months I will be applying for colleges, and I am not too sure what I should be looking for in this new college search process. What are some of the major things I should be considering? If they have legal studies major? How do I even know what’s a good prelaw program? Also, are Liberal Arts colleges good for pre law school education in terms of law school admissions chances and how well I will be prepared to succeed in a law school?
It is JMHO, but I would look for the programs that condense undergrad and law school so you save money and finish sooner. I believe two are Western New England (they have their own law school) and Siena + Albany Law. I’m sure there are more. Those are just ones I’ve heard of students attending.
pretty much any major is good for law school apps. If you want to apply to a b-school like BC or Emory, go for it.
And I strongly disagree with empireapple. Those combined programs suck you in to pay sticker. If you have the test scores for BC or Emory, you can do much better than Albany, which has poor job prospects. Not only can do better than Albany Law, you can attend on LS some merit money.
Your goal should be maximizing your GPA and LSAT. Also, your undergrad/program matters very little for LS admissions.
- major in a 'traditional ’ subject such as philosophy, Economics, political science, NOT legal studies or criminal justice (which most often lead to correction officer, law enforcement…)
- you can major in business, minor in philosophy, and apply to Law school
- your GPA will be one of the key elements, so you have to hit the ground running and work toward A/A- (MUCH harder to do than in high school).
- only top 20 law schools are worth the cost (some say only top 14) because there’s an oversupply of lawyers, most of whom are unemployed or under employed .
- direct ba/jd programs are very bad deals because they lock you into a higher price and are never part of the top schools that lead to jobs.
The biggest factors in law school admission are GPA and LSAT. You don’t have to go to any particular undergrad or have any particular major to get into a good law school. It doesn’t matter whether the college has a good “pre-law program.” In fact, I’ve heard law schools somewhat look down on pre-law majors. It’s too early to be stressing about law school admissions — just go to a good college where you think you’ll be happy and can get good grades. Major in something you find interesting.
But mostly I’m just posting to say, for the love of God, do not follow empireapple’s advice. Those are terrible law schools that leave large portions of their graduates in debt with no hope of finding a legal job. If you’re looking to save money, just get the best LSAT and GPA you can. Good law schools will offer big scholarships to their best applicants. That’s a much better strategy than going to a lousy school just to graduate more quickly.
Echoing: do not follow empireapple’s advice. And take any major that interests you genuinely (theater, Italian, art history, philosophy, women’s studies, biology, engineering, nursing any will do). And maximize your GPA and LSAT. Yes you can start studying for your LSAT whenever you wish. The logic behind this is that Law is a big umbrella that covers virtually any topic. Business topics tend to pay more but not necessarily. Public interest and government clearly can also lead far.
Additionally, once you find your “bliss” major, internships can help. It’s possible to intern with law-related orgs but not necessary.
There are some combined programs that will set you up for decent job prospects, but they are rare:
Barnard/ Columbia have a six-year program – http://bulletin.columbia.edu/columbia-college/special-programs/#dualjointdegreeprogramstext
Several of the top programs like Columbia, NYU, maybe Yale, have debt-forgiveness programs if you work in the public interest or government. It’s worth checking out their terms if you’re interested in those programs.
Yes you can get into those schools: GPA/ LSAT/ Internships that bring our your passion.
Get a broad liberal arts background and major in whatever excites your intellectual curiosity. Develop the critical thinking and writing and researched argumentation skills that a liberal arts education develops so well, and you will thrive in law school and beyond. Your courses may even give you background in topics that may help with various legal issues and make you a valuable hire.
I agree with what @TheGreyKing said, but a business major background would not be a bad choice either. You can major in anything, but prelaw and its ilk are probably the worst choice.
What are some of the major things I should be considering? [The school’s overall reputation. BC and Emory are both fine. Just get an amazing GPA and LSAT score and you’ll be fine coming from either school.]
DO NOT TAKE EMPIREAPPLE’S ADVICE; THOSE ARE NOT LAW SCHOOLS WORTH GOING TO.
If they have legal studies major? [NO; do not major in prelaw or criminal justice.]
How do I even know what’s a good prelaw program? [I have no idea; I didn’t really bother with it in college. Major in what you like and just know the application process: take your LSAT only after you’ve studied a lot for it, take a year or two off after college, and get amazing recommendations from professors who know you well, and have amazing experiences in college that track your life’s passions and your intended use of your JD degree.]
Also, are Liberal Arts colleges good for pre law school education in terms of law school admissions chances and how well I will be prepared to succeed in a law school? [Maybe; my LAC my year sent a few people to Harvard, but it’s really more about you and your grades and test scores. My LAC did not prepare me very well for law school or “the real world” but the fault is in large part mine.]
For pre-law, I’d highly recommend Amherst, Hamilton, Middlebury, Pomona and Claremont McKenna.
https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/blog/top-lawyer-producer-schools-infographic/
I suspect that all of the colleges you considered originally would be absolutely fine for aiming at law school. I was a psych major; I’ve had clerks who majored in anything from anthropology to physics to classics. What they studied was not as important as whether they learned to read, think, and write. One of my daughter’s babysitters (many years ago, since said daughter is now a grad student) was a comparative literature major at Brown, which I (in my ignorance) thought was a waste of her time. She worked as a paralegal for a couple of years, got almost a free ride to UCLA Law, clerked for a judge on the 9th Circuit, and now has a job she loves with a Big Law firm in LA. There are many paths.
@WildestDream “Also, your undergrad/program matters very little for LS admissions.”
This simply is not true. It may be true for medical school, but it definitely is not true for the top law schools. Your major may not matter that much, but the rigor of your undergraduate school actually matters a lot.
^^ True. If OP was aiming high originally, his choices will still serve him well.
@ThankYouforHelp: Law schools do not care about the rigor of your undergrad school.Some degree of rigor may help prepare you to take on 1L, but that’s the extent of it.
Actually, you have that backwards. Med schools are much, much more selective and prestige-hounds. The only difference is that many instate public med schools give preference to instate students. So yeah, for example, University of Arizona med accepts quite a few ASU and UA students, but an Arizona resident with a similar resume who attended an Ivy say, gets in first. Easily.
@Demosthenes49 " Law schools do not care about the rigor of your undergrad school.Some degree of rigor may help prepare you to take on 1L, but that’s the extent of it."
I don’t know where you are getting this idea from. Law schools, especially the top 14 law schools, care a LOT about the quality of your undergraduate school. Yale Law School currently has 37 students who went to Princeton undergrad, and 18 students who went to tiny Amherst College. Meanwhile, it has one student who graduated from enormous UMass. Two from Ohio State. None from Ole Miss or West Virginia or UMissouri or plenty of other large, well-known schools.
Most colleges are lucky if they get one student into Yale Law every few years. Places like Harvard and Princeton and Amherst and Williams get many students in there, every year. And the same thing is true for all of the other top 14 law schools.
@bluebayou “Actually, you have that backwards. Med schools are much, much more selective and prestige-hounds.”
I don’t know much about med schools myself, but many people on this board have said that med schools don’t care where you went to college, just that you got top grades.
I know a lot about law schools. The top ones care about your grades AND where you went to college. And in the current over-saturated legal market, there is almost no point in going to law school unless you go to one of the top law schools.
@ThankYouforHelp: I get the idea from looking at law school admissions data. You’re right that a lot of students who went to good undergrads go to good law schools, but that is because the same people who tend to test well on the SATs tend to test well on the LSAT. Yale is a bad example, because it’s the #1 school and can select among the top scorers already. Still, if you’re using undergrad prestige as a proxy for rigor then Yale has quite a [url=<a href=“https://www.law.yale.edu/admissions/profiles-statistics/entering-class-profile%5Dvaried%5B/url”>https://www.law.yale.edu/admissions/profiles-statistics/entering-class-profile]varied[/url] class.
- Law FIRMS certainly care where you went to college. I recall seeing a study when I was in law school, showing that law school grades, law school name and then where the applicant went to undergrad were the most important criteria in hiring.
- Law schools do care where you go to college, somewhat. There are plenty of posts in this forum by people who served on law school admissions committees, stating that applicants from prestigious colleges got a "boost" in their applications (such as by getting a GPA "boost").
I’d think that law schools would prefer applicants from prestigious colleges since they would be stronger applicants for law firms, and since placement is so important to law schools and their rankings, but I have no information on that, other than in item 2 above.