CHAPTER 3.1 
PRELAW AND CHOICE OF MAJOR 


TOPICS 

  
  • ADVICE 
  • KEEPING YOUR OPTIONS OPEN  
  • LSAT SCORE WITH RESPECT TO MAJOR

ADVICE

 
  • The American Bar Association  (ABA) does not recommend any particular group of majors and does not seem to prefer any particular group of majors.
      
  • You should expend a great deal of effort on a choice of major.  
      
  • As one law school put it, ''Whatever you pursue as an undergraduate, from liberal arts to business, from engineering to social science, from chemistry to physical education, from education to journalism, you will be eligible for law school. This means that it is never too late to choose law as a career."   
     
  • If desirable, seek a major or choose electives whose classes provide knowledge and skills that will be useful later as a practicing attorney or that fit into your career plans if you choose not to become a lawyer. 
      
  • Avoid prelaw majors , prelaw minors, and prelaw concentrations.  
      
  • You should DOUBLE-MAJOR only if you want to; it has little or no bearing on law school admission.
  • Pre-Law Advice at College of Charleston warns that "A narrowly-based, unchallenging major with vocational objectives is not the best preparation. A student should seek out a challenging, quality education. Law schools want students who can think analytically, read critically, and write intelligently and correctly. Any course of study which helps develop critical analyses, logical reasoning, written expression, computer skills and oral facility is recommended. Whatever your major turns out to be, you must make good grades. However, excellent grades in unchallenging courses are false steps. Finally, remember that law school is mostly reading, research, and writing. If you do not enjoy those exercises, do not go to law school."
  • (Pre-Law Advice from the University of Nebraska) The best major or specialized course of study for you is the one in which you are most interested. Good grades are an important criteria for admission to law school and chances are you will do best in a field that you enjoy. Mastering any subject in depth is a useful experience. Although your choice of major will not give you an "edge", the design of your overall undergraduate experience is very important.
    There is no better advice than to work hard and get the best education you can. Train your mind for rigorous academic work. Keep a balance in your educational experiences and explore a variety of subject matters. And develop your communication and analytical skills. 
  • Arizona State University Pre-Law gives the excellent advice that "Students who have come to college with a declared intent to major in a specific discipline should take the initial courses in that discipline in order to verify that the intended major is, in fact, the right one for them" and "Students who have come to college knowing only that they desire to attend law school should take a variety of courses from a number of disciplines. This will allow the student to determine an interest secondary to law, and will lead to an undergraduate major. Undeclared pre-law students should select a major that
              (a) is of exceptional interest to the student and one in which he/she
                   receives the best possible grades
    and/or
              (b) provides an alternative career track, should the student not be accepted 
                   to law school or lose interest in law school (before or after entry)."

KEEPING YOUR OPTIONS OPEN 

 
The University of Florida PreLaw Handbook makes the excellent suggestion that you prepare yourself for the possibility that law school might not be in your future. "Almost as important as planning your curriculum for your career in law is planning your academic curriculum in case you decide not to attend law school or you are not accepted. You should always have a Plan B no matter what career you are choosing but especially if you are choosing a more competitive one [like law school]. Therefore, you should always have a thought in the back of your head that if you did not get into law school, what would you most like to do and are you preparing yourself appropriately for such a career--paralegal, graduate school, movie actor, retail sales representative. If your Plan B career requires [a certain major] or a certain degree such as nursing or engineering, that goal should drive your choice of major and the appropriate steps for law school admission should be taken along the way." 

Florida State University Pre-Law Handbook points out that, "In the end, many prelaw students do not attend law school due to personal or financial reasons, an inability to be admitted, or the discovery of other interests. Majoring in an area that is a strength and interest of yours allows for an alternative game plan, simultaneously preparing you for law school and another occupation of interest to you. You always have the option of gaining experience in another field after graduation .... ."


LSAT WITH RESPECT TO MAJOR 

  

MICHAEL NIESWADOMY (University of North Texas), using 2007-2008 data for the 2008-2009 class of students entering law school, finds that mathematics and physics majors perform at the top of all majors. For each major field, the most relevant column is the Average Percentile Score column.

RANK
BY
SCORE

 

MAJOR FIELD

 

AVERAGE
SCORE

 

AVERAGE
PERCENTILE
SCORE

 

NUMBER OF
STUDENTS 

 

RANK BY
NUMBER OF
STUDENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

 

Physics/Math

 

160.0

 

84.0

 

577

 

28

2.5

 

Economics

 

157.4

 

76.2

 

3047 

 

10

2.5

 

Philosophy/Theology

 

157.4

 

76.2

 

2581

 

11

4

 

International Relations

 

156.5

 

72.5

 

1520 

 

17

5

 

Engineering

 

156.2

 

71.0

 

2197

 

14

6.5

 

Government

 

156.1

 

70.5

 

578

 

27

6.5

 

Chemistry

 

156.1

 

70.5

 

632

 

26

8

 

History

 

155.9

 

69.7

 

4169

 

5

9

 

Interdisciplinary Studies

 

155.5

 

68.5

 

652

 

25

10

 

Foreign Languages

 

155.3

 

67.9

 

1084

 

20

11

 

English

 

155.2

 

67.6

 

5899

 

2

12

 

Biology

 

154.8

 

65.4

 

2201

 

13

13

 

Arts

 

154.2

 

63.8

 

1438

 

19

14

 

Computer Science

 

154.0

 

63.0

 

682

 

24

15

 

Finance

 

153.4

 

60.6

 

2267

 

12

16

 

Political Science

 

153.1

 

59.4

 

15,181

 

1

17

 

Psychology

 

152.5

 

57.0

 

4355

 

4

18

 

Liberal Arts

 

152.4

 

56.5

 

3892

 

7

19

 

Anthropology/Geography

 

152.2 

 

55.8

 

808

 

22

20

 

Accounting

 

151.7

 

53.8

 

1439

 

18

21

 

Journalism

 

151.5

 

53.0

 

3408

 

8

22

 

Sociology/Social Work

 

151.2

 

51.8

 

3123

 

9

23

 

Marketing

 

150.8

 

50.0

 

1574

 

16

24

 

Business Management

 

149.7

 

44.8

 

4629

 

3

25

 

Education

 

149.4

 

43.6

 

484

 

29

26

 

Business Administration

 

149.1

 

42.4

 

1984

 

15

27

 

Health Professions

 

148.4

 

39.6

 

703

 

23

28

 

Prelaw

 

148.3

 

39.2

 

1078

 

21

29 

 

Criminal Law 

 

146.0

 

29.0

 

4016

 

6

                                   

 Updated: September 20, 2012






 



 

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SELECTING A MAJOR 

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