Why so few Criminal Justice and Criminology majors at top law schools?

[Anonymous]

About half off all Chief of Police have Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice

[Anonymous]

I don't think people who major in those fields are typically thinking of law school, but instead of employment in the criminal justice system as something other than as an attorney. Some may in fact choose to later go on to law school, but likely at non T-14 schools which are less expensive, and often through part-time programs while employed in law enforcement.

Few people in federal law enforcement or in the intelligence community choose such majors, they are much or common at the state and local agency level. My colleagues in those environments had degrees, often advanced, in pretty much everything under the sun, including medical doctors, J.D.s, and Ph.D scientists. Still, I don't believe I knew anyone who, to my knowledge, majored in criminal justice or criminology, although some did major in sociology.

[Anonymous]

PS, further to the above, I knew several J.D.s from Harvard in the FBI and in the CIA. Others went to decent law schools, like U.Va, as well as to less prestigious schools.

[Anonymous]

Criminal justice is seen as the least rigorous major.

And there isn't that much criminal law studied in law school (I had my 1L crim law and con crim pro and that was it). And most lawyers don't practice criminal law.

[Anonymous]

What is the difference between a criminal justice major and a criminology major?

[Anonymous]

I went to GW Law School (a fine school but not top ranked) and didn’t know one person with that major.

[Anonymous]

Those majors are more vocational school

[Anonymous]

Law school is a vocational school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Law school is a vocational school.

Agree, but few go to a top law school planning to practice DA-level law. If they are interested in criminal at all, it's appellate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think people who major in those fields are typically thinking of law school, but instead of employment in the criminal justice system as something other than as an attorney. Some may in fact choose to later go on to law school, but likely at non T-14 schools which are less expensive, and often through part-time programs while employed in law enforcement.

Few people in federal law enforcement or in the intelligence community choose such majors, they are much or common at the state and local agency level. My colleagues in those environments had degrees, often advanced, in pretty much everything under the sun, including medical doctors, J.D.s, and Ph.D scientists. Still, I don't believe I knew anyone who, to my knowledge, majored in criminal justice or criminology, although some did major in sociology.

Criminal justice is #1 popular major for FBI agent.
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/what-degree-does-fbi-agent-need

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've never met a bright student who majors in Criminology. You need to be bright to get into a top law school.

According to stats compiled by the folks who administer the LSAT, criminal justice majors score the lowest among all majors on the LSAT.

2022-2023 average LSAT scores by major from highest to lowest:

1) Economics--161.71
2) Philosophy--159.47
3) History--158.95
4) English--157.30
5) Finance--157.22
6) Other Arts & Humanities--156.64
7) Political Science--156.03
8) Psychology--155.07
9) Communications--154.17
10) Sociology--153.91
11) Business Administration--153.35
12) Any Area Not Listed--151.35
13) Criminal Justice--148.82

Criminology is probably included in group #12 above. But, forensic based (chemistry) criminology may fare better on the LSAT than one from a typical criminology course of study.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've never met a bright student who majors in Criminology. You need to be bright to get into a top law school.

According to stats compiled by the folks who administer the LSAT, criminal justice majors score the lowest among all majors on the LSAT.

2022-2023 average LSAT scores by major from highest to lowest:

1) Economics--161.71
2) Philosophy--159.47
3) History--158.95
4) English--157.30
5) Finance--157.22
6) Other Arts & Humanities--156.64
7) Political Science--156.03
8) Psychology--155.07
9) Communications--154.17
10) Sociology--153.91
11) Business Administration--153.35
12) Any Area Not Listed--151.35
13) Criminal Justice--148.82

Criminology is probably included in group #12 above. But, forensic based (chemistry) criminology may fare better on the LSAT than one from a typical criminology course of study.

Never ever seen economics as the number 1 major. I've seen Math/Physics/Philosophy but econ? really?

[Anonymous]

I majored in Criminology and very few from my program were interested in law school. Most went on to get PhDs and are now professors or work in public policy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think people who major in those fields are typically thinking of law school, but instead of employment in the criminal justice system as something other than as an attorney. Some may in fact choose to later go on to law school, but likely at non T-14 schools which are less expensive, and often through part-time programs while employed in law enforcement.

Few people in federal law enforcement or in the intelligence community choose such majors, they are much or common at the state and local agency level. My colleagues in those environments had degrees, often advanced, in pretty much everything under the sun, including medical doctors, J.D.s, and Ph.D scientists. Still, I don't believe I knew anyone who, to my knowledge, majored in criminal justice or criminology, although some did major in sociology.

Criminal justice is #1 popular major for FBI agent.
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/what-degree-does-fbi-agent-need

Cool, now do AUSA. It's a vocational degree that doesn't require the kind of research writing or analysis that most people with an eye on law school choose for their majors

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've never met a bright student who majors in Criminology. You need to be bright to get into a top law school.

According to stats compiled by the folks who administer the LSAT, criminal justice majors score the lowest among all majors on the LSAT.

2022-2023 average LSAT scores by major from highest to lowest:

1) Economics--161.71
2) Philosophy--159.47
3) History--158.95
4) English--157.30
5) Finance--157.22
6) Other Arts & Humanities--156.64
7) Political Science--156.03
8) Psychology--155.07
9) Communications--154.17
10) Sociology--153.91
11) Business Administration--153.35
12) Any Area Not Listed--151.35
13) Criminal Justice--148.82

Criminology is probably included in group #12 above. But, forensic based (chemistry) criminology may fare better on the LSAT than one from a typical criminology course of study.

Never ever seen economics as the number 1 major. I've seen Math/Physics/Philosophy but econ? really?

I don’t find that surprising at all. I would have guessed philosophy at the top — the logic is a huge help. But there is plenty of rigorous analysis learned in the study of econ. I majored in theater — which I assume is Other Arts & Humanities, and I scored 99th percentile. I do think that to a large extent I just automatically think in the way that the LSAT tests, but I do attribute some of my success to the philosophy classes that I took that we were having on logic. And I suppose that reading a lot of Shakespeare and doing deep character analysis with scripts certainly doesn’t hurt with your reading comprehension skills.