I'm a T-14 law professor and have served on our admissions committee. OP, major really does not matter. GPA and test scores matter.

Another ancient 50 yo retired from law. I'll be Gram. I agree completely with Gramps.

Also agree with logical thought from CS or math being useful in brief writing. A math proof, in paragraph form. I dislike flowery writing that is not concise.

We have somewhat tried to dissuade our kids from law. Our advice for law school is T14 or bust. Not particular about which undergrad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Law school is a long game and your kid will need to hit the ground running with a good GPA. Select an undergrad program where your kid is happy and likely to excel - a 3.8, coupled with an LSAT of 170 or above is essential for top programs. High stats also open the door to scholarships ....it is nice to have this option.

Top 14 programs have many advantages. Yes, you can attend a lower ranked Law School and do well if you are at the top of your class and on Law Review, but there are far fewer unknowns in terms of outcomes/employment if you attend a Top 14. And, if you are paying full freight, attending a lower ranked law school is a lot of $$ to gamble with. The difference in class outcomes/job placement between say Georgetown and UVA is significant.

I do hope you are saying that UVA law trumps Georgetown because it does. UVA Law ranks between 6-8. Georgetown Law ranks 14, so is close to dropping off T14

Yes - PP here - sorry thet wasn't clear, but UVA opportunities and outcomes significantly better.

Anonymous wrote:Law school is a long game and your kid will need to hit the ground running with a good GPA. Select an undergrad program where your kid is happy and likely to excel - a 3.8, coupled with an LSAT of 170 or above is essential for top programs. High stats also open the door to scholarships ....it is nice to have this option.

Top 14 programs have many advantages. Yes, you can attend a lower ranked Law School and do well if you are at the top of your class and on Law Review, but there are far fewer unknowns in terms of outcomes/employment if you attend a Top 14. And, if you are paying full freight, attending a lower ranked law school is a lot of $$ to gamble with. The difference in class outcomes/job placement between say Georgetown and UVA is significant.

I do hope you are saying that UVA law trumps Georgetown because it does. UVA Law ranks between 6-8. Georgetown Law ranks 14, so is close to dropping off T14

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s the best advice for someone who wants to be pre-law. Take a year after college to work as a paralegal. If you still want to be a lawyer after that, you are likely to be happy with your career. So many lawyers are unhappy because they go to law school with little knowledge of what practicing law actually entails.

Gramps here.

This is very good advice. Many of the top law firms in DC hire freshly-minted, high achieving college grads (regardless of their major) for temporary stints (think 1-2 years) as paralegals. The pay is decent, and there's typically overtime. For some of these paralegals, the experience cements their desire to go to law school and work in Biglaw. For others, it doesn't dissuade them from law school, but steers them them into another direction in the profession (public interest, government, smaller firms, etc.).

For others, the experience sends them running for the hills.

I’m the pp. In addition, the paralegal can wind up with some good references and will have hopefully been able to put some money away to pay for law school.

Law school is a long game and your kid will need to hit the ground running with a good GPA. Select an undergrad program where your kid is happy and likely to excel - a 3.8, coupled with an LSAT of 170 or above is essential for top programs. High stats also open the door to scholarships ....it is nice to have this option.

Top 14 programs have many advantages. Yes, you can attend a lower ranked Law School and do well if you are at the top of your class and on Law Review, but there are far fewer unknowns in terms of outcomes/employment if you attend a Top 14. And, if you are paying full freight, attending a lower ranked law school is a lot of $$ to gamble with. The difference in class outcomes/job placement between say Georgetown and UVA is significant.

Anonymous wrote:Here’s the best advice for someone who wants to be pre-law. Take a year after college to work as a paralegal. If you still want to be a lawyer after that, you are likely to be happy with your career. So many lawyers are unhappy because they go to law school with little knowledge of what practicing law actually entails.

Gramps here.

This is very good advice. Many of the top law firms in DC hire freshly-minted, high achieving college grads (regardless of their major) for temporary stints (think 1-2 years) as paralegals. The pay is decent, and there's typically overtime. For some of these paralegals, the experience cements their desire to go to law school and work in Biglaw. For others, it doesn't dissuade them from law school, but steers them them into another direction in the profession (public interest, government, smaller firms, etc.).

For others, the experience sends them running for the hills.

Here’s the best advice for someone who wants to be pre-law. Take a year after college to work as a paralegal. If you still want to be a lawyer after that, you are likely to be happy with your career. So many lawyers are unhappy because they go to law school with little knowledge of what practicing law actually entails.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

classmate got a master's in chem, then went to law school and ended up in pharmaceuticals/patent law.

I know someone who really wanted to practice IP and despite a focus in law school and excellent internships, could not get a job at an IP firm because they did NOT have a technical background.

I would suggest the following:

ITT Technical Institute
University of Phoenix
Strayer University
DeVry University
Le Cordon Bleu
Kaplan University
Globe University

The most important thing is being a good legal writer. The ability to think and find the ambiguity in things is also helpful, but I think that's easier to learn.

I was a political science major but I think econ is very useful.

I agree with the thinking ahead -- including whether or not a law degree will have a good ROI. The most important two pieces of advice I'd give to anyone in HS or college thinking about law school are 1) to work between undergrad and law school and get real-world experience and 2) learn what it is lawyers do all day in different legal practice areas. Hint -- it's not (usually) sitting around and having interesting and intellectual discussions about how government works or how to solve social problems.

It does seem a bit early to be thinking about a pre-law education but certainly can start a conversation about it. As many have already said, there isn't a pre-law track. Your child is better off studying something they really enjoy, building a strong transcript and getting good grades. Law schools don't want entire lecture halls filled with any one particular undergraduate major. LSATs will matter a lot. If you really want to plan to go down this road now, you really need to think about the cost. The SLACs mentioned (Amherst, Bowdoin, Swarthmore, etc.) are all very expensive and offer no merit aid. Out of state or private law school tuition will be close to $100k per year. For example, UVA out of state for tuition and expenses is estimated at $93k, Duke is $100k. You may want to save money by going in state for undergrad and save money for law school. I didn't know that I wanted to go to law school until well into my undergrad. I opted for in-state law school so I didn't have to take on huge debt like so many of my classmates did. It is even more expensive now.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Engineering major who struggled first year for that very reason! Could not stand ambiguity. Graduated Georgetown law with honors when I figured out the game.

And before DCUM says ''top undergrad schools send more kids to top law schools,'' they do, but correlation /= causation. You could say the same for PhD admissions, but PhD programs care more about your undergrad school name than law schools do.