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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

DOJ alum here.

Yeah … i’m pretty sure we didn’t have any criminal justice majors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

funny, given that someone up thread stated that law school is basically a vocational school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

*that were heavy on logic*

[Anonymous]

If I had a dollar for every criminal justice major recent grad I've recently seen looking for a job, well you know...

its a joke of a major and because it's so specific, the perception (true or not) is that majors do not get a well rounded education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

funny, given that someone up thread stated that law school is basically a vocational school.

So is med school. So is engineering. So what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

funny, given that someone up thread stated that law school is basically a vocational school.

Medical school school is a vocational school too, how many pre-med students major in nursing?

[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?

Well, now you have.

Law School admissions by major 2022-2023:

1) History--79.1% of all history major applicants were admitted to law school in 2022-2023
2) Economics--78.2%
3) English--76.3%
4) Philosophy--75.5%
5) Poly Sci--74%
6) Finance--73.2%
7) Other Arts & Humanities--72.8%
8) Psychology--71.8%
9) Communications--70.6%
10) Sociology--67.1%
11) Business Administration--64.2%
12) Any Area Not Listed--58.1%
13) Criminal Justice--57.2%

[Anonymous]

You need a brain to go to law school.
Enough said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I had a dollar for every criminal justice major recent grad I've recently seen looking for a job, well you know...

its a joke of a major and because it's so specific, the perception (true or not) is that majors do not get a well rounded education.

I thought that the criminal justice major only came into being when hiring at police departments got competitive? Getting hired as a police officer was always something that didn’t require a college degree. It is the very definition of blue-collar. But then after everyone started going to college, more often than not you needed a college degree for jobs that used to be the jobs that people without a college degree got. So the people who wanted to be cops got a degree in criminal justice. It truly is a vocational degree. It is not preprofessional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need a brain to go to law school.
Enough said.

Not as much of one as you might imagine.

—a lawyer

[Anonymous]

Only a very small percentage of Criminal Justice majors end up in law school.

Most common majors of law school matriculants, 2018-19

Political Science 8,746
Psychology 2,482
Economics 2,324
History 2,266
English 2,240
Criminal Justice 1,864
Philosophy 1,587
Communications 1,198
Sociology 1,172
Finance 1,154

Number of bachelor's degrees, 2018-19

Political Science 35,527
Psychology 116,536
Economics 35,184
History 23,169
English 39,335
Criminal Justice 47,829
Philosophy 5,954
Communications 53,006
Sociology 26,702
Finance 40,895

Law school matriculants as percentage of all bachelor's degrees, 2018-19

Philosophy 26.7%
Political Science 24.6%
History 9.8%
Economics 6.6%
English 5.9%
Sociology 4.4%
Criminal Justice 3.9%
Finance 2.8%
Communications 2.3%
Psychology 2.1%

https://www.yu.edu/sites/default/files/inline-files/applicants-by-major-2018-19%20%283%29.pdf

https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d20/tables/dt20_318.30.asp

[Anonymous]

I was an "administration of justice" major at a Big 10 school and graduated in the top 0.5% of my class (university-wide), so not a complete idiot. I distinctly remember writing multiple research papers in all of my 400-level classes. I went on to law school and was well-prepared for it. The major certainly didn't prepare me to be a cop!

[Anonymous]

From Harvard Law's Website:

"Harvard Law School considers applications from all undergraduate majors. There are no fixed requirements with respect to the content of pre-legal education. The nature of a candidate’s college work, as well as the quality of academic performance, are reviewed in the selection process. However, in preparing for law school, a broad college education is usually preferable to one that is narrowly specialized. The Admissions Committee looks for a showing of thorough learning in a field of your choice, such as history, economics, government, philosophy, mathematics, science, literature or the classics (and many others), rather than a concentration in courses given primarily as vocational training."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

funny, given that someone up thread stated that law school is basically a vocational school.

So is med school. So is engineering. So what?

oh ho, but on other threads some posters look down on "vocational" degrees like CS. I'll be sure to always respond with "law degrees are also vocational degrees".

And the ^PP claims "criminal justice" is a vocational degree, as well.

So we agree, these are all "vocational degrees".

[Anonymous]

Criminology is a sub field of Sociology.