If you can get into a SLAC such as Williams, Amherst, and Bowdoin, it would be best. Your child can hone individuality there. For prelaw, I would highly recommend Bowdoin where students are collaborative rather than cutthroat.

Anonymous wrote:Get the highest undergraduate GPA possible. Major is totally irrelevant. In fact, a Theatre major would stand out in a sea of polisci majors applying to law school

Supplement the high GPA with some kind of relevant interest that connects to law school. Like volunteer for a drama program that works with incarcerated people or with at-risk kids. Then write a personal statement about how this experience has been the inspiration for a career using the law to address societal iniquity

Get a 170+ on the LSAT

This

Anonymous wrote:I was a STEM major (though I minored in history) nd my experience was STEM grads did really well because we were used to putting the work in. My experience with law school was that as long as I put the effort in, I aced the exam (for instance, don't skip making outlines, using pre-made ones isn't as effective). That wasn't the case in Quantum.

Law school is all about staying focused and keeping on top of things.

The bolded is a big differentiator. The engineers I knew my from law school that struggled did not have that liberal arts background. They were the kind who read Moby Dick and said “what do you mean there is no whale???” *Spoiler alert*.

I’m not saying STEM majors can’t do well in law school, it’s just that law is more open ended and often has no “right” answer. Some people don’t feel comfortable with that sort of ambiguity, and ambiguity is a big part of the law.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Strong writing ability is the most important criteria. He can major in anything. He has to be able to write a decent sentence, paragraph, and essay.

Law grad here. Pretty much agree with this. In my experience engineers struggled in law school, but math, econ, and hard science majors did not, for whatever reason. I’m not sure why that is really. Just anecdotal. Of the ones in my class who were Law Review (top 10% of class), we came from a mix. Private top 100(Usc, Vanderbilt, Gtown, Syracuse that I can remember), state schools like Wisconsin, UMass, W&M, and SLACS like Bowdoin, Holy Cross, Grinnell, Haverford, F&M. Those are the ones I can remember. There were 25-30 of us. PoliSci offered no real advantage. No major did that I can recall.

Sometime ago i read in here, from a law grad who said "lawyerly writing skill is different".

I was a STEM major (though I minored in history) nd my experience was STEM grads did really well because we were used to putting the work in. My experience with law school was that as long as I put the effort in, I aced the exam (for instance, don't skip making outlines, using pre-made ones isn't as effective). That wasn't the case in Quantum.

Law school is all about staying focused and keeping on top of things.

Anonymous wrote:Get the highest undergraduate GPA possible. Major is totally irrelevant. In fact, a Theatre major would stand out in a sea of polisci majors applying to law school

Major is irrelevant to law school admissions, but it can help with recruitment. I graduated law school during the 2008 recession and those with a compelling story were more likely to get offers than those with an indecisive resume. You still needed a good law school GPA, but there were too many of those for everyone to get a job. It was a huge leg up to have a finance degree and to be going into securities law, a hard science or engineering degree to go into IP litigation, or an MPH to work in health law. Even the theater majors billed themselves as trial specialists. A generic English or Poly Sci degree was of absolutely no help.

If my kid wanted a law degree I'd encourage them to study and undergrad major that intersects with a legal area. There are lots of options.

Get the highest undergraduate GPA possible. Major is totally irrelevant. In fact, a Theatre major would stand out in a sea of polisci majors applying to law school

Supplement the high GPA with some kind of relevant interest that connects to law school. Like volunteer for a drama program that works with incarcerated people or with at-risk kids. Then write a personal statement about how this experience has been the inspiration for a career using the law to address societal iniquity

Get a 170+ on the LSAT

I myself went into college planning on studying PoliSci thinking that is what Pre-Law people do. I took 2 PoliSci classes, thought them both “meh” and majored in Econ, which I really liked. Of my friends who went to law school there were a broad range of majors. Chem, Econ, English, History, Math, Neuroscience, Philosphy, PoliSci. The important things in law schools are analysis and synthesis. Analyze each case for what was critical to the outcome, and synthesize principles across multiple cases. Most any liberal arts (which to me includes math and the natural sciences as well as the traditional humanities and social sciences) program can do that. If a college has a core that requires humanities/history etc, you should be more than well prepared.

Another lawyer here. Agree with everything said

Don’t overspend on undergrad if your child is planning on law school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Strong writing ability is the most important criteria. He can major in anything. He has to be able to write a decent sentence, paragraph, and essay.

Law grad here. Pretty much agree with this. In my experience engineers struggled in law school, but math, econ, and hard science majors did not, for whatever reason. I’m not sure why that is really. Just anecdotal. Of the ones in my class who were Law Review (top 10% of class), we came from a mix. Private top 100(Usc, Vanderbilt, Gtown, Syracuse that I can remember), state schools like Wisconsin, UMass, W&M, and SLACS like Bowdoin, Holy Cross, Grinnell, Haverford, F&M. Those are the ones I can remember. There were 25-30 of us. PoliSci offered no real advantage. No major did that I can recall.

Funny, I remember a Villanova engineering grad in my grad program who could not write for shit. Poor grammar, poor structure. Other students called out his group emails and said he shouldn't write anything that represents the school - it was that bad.

OP, if he loves government, then that's a great major (poly sci at most schools). He might also try a few philosophy classes. It will really push his writing, and a class in logic might be interesting for him.

Anonymous wrote:Strong writing ability is the most important criteria. He can major in anything. He has to be able to write a decent sentence, paragraph, and essay.

Law grad here. Pretty much agree with this. In my experience engineers struggled in law school, but math, econ, and hard science majors did not, for whatever reason. I’m not sure why that is really. Just anecdotal. Of the ones in my class who were Law Review (top 10% of class), we came from a mix. Private top 100(Usc, Vanderbilt, Gtown, Syracuse that I can remember), state schools like Wisconsin, UMass, W&M, and SLACS like Bowdoin, Holy Cross, Grinnell, Haverford, F&M. Those are the ones I can remember. There were 25-30 of us. PoliSci offered no real advantage. No major did that I can recall.

Anonymous wrote:Strong writing ability is the most important criteria. He can major in anything. He has to be able to write a decent sentence, paragraph, and essay.

Got it. Writing ability is strong. Logical, grammatically correct. Prefers writing to math and science but does not prefer literary analysis. Came down after AP Gov exam and expressed how fun it is to write about government.

Strong writing ability is the most important criteria. He can major in anything. He has to be able to write a decent sentence, paragraph, and essay.

Sophomore on track for IB diploma with current unweighted GPA of 4.0 in magnet classes is looking to study poly sci or poly econ in prep for possible law school. No SAT scores yet but expecting ~1400. Musically talented and wants to play in college a bit. Does not want large state school. Prefer driving distance to DC area. Where should we be looking? SLAC? Boston? We are just getting started. All ideas welcome.