Which majors are best for law school

If you love to be hands-on with the justice system, this may be the major for you. No field of study gives you more exposure to law prior to law school. That said, notice how much lower the average LSAT score is relative to other majors.

It is not considered as academically rigorous as theoretical disciplines. If you want to set yourself apart at a highly competitive law school, this may not be the major for you. Economics offers the perfect blend of quantitative and qualitative experience. Additionally, this field prepares you to be an effective lawmaker and advocate for sound monetary policy. Understanding capital is vital for understanding large portions of tax law and federal regulation.

English is another famous choice for pre-law students, since so much reading and writing is required to perform well in this field. Learning to synthesize a lot of content and becoming sensitive to careful word choice will make you a stronger applicant and a better lawyer.

Understanding the past is critical for interpreting law for two reasons. First, it establishes precedent, and knowing how legal cases have been resolved in the past is central to our understanding of how to decide current cases. Second, a grounding in the past helps you zoom out and understand the broader social context for a piece of legislation.

This is a great major for students eager to pursue a legal career. This category is a catch-all for niche majors not commonly represented among law school applicants. The fact that this category has the third highest number of students accepted shows that you can successfully apply to law school from any major.

Psychology is the third social science to make an appearance on this list, and that is no surprise. This field blends history, reading, writing, and quantitative analysis together, making graduates in this field well-equipped to approach law from almost any angle.

Consider becoming a Psychology major if you are fascinated by how people tick. So much of politics is high-quality legislation that it is no wonder this field tops our list of most popular majors for law school students. Political Science offers an invaluable framework for the laws you will be studying in graduate school. If you know you want to be a lawyer but are still deciding which major to choose, you cannot go wrong with Political Science.

Remember, the right major for you may be different than for someone else, depending on your interests and strengths. Regardless, make sure you choose something that improves your writing and critical reasoning. Beyond that, pick a field that interests you and work hard in it. Since just about every industry needs good lawyers, your field-specific knowledge may become quite valuable as you further specialize your legal practice.

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Is Pre-law a Major? Here are just a few ways you can do that: Take classes on law and legal history. The more you know about how legislation is approached in the United States and abroad, the better prepared you will be for your first day of law school.

Additionally, taking these classes will help you decide whether the study of law is interesting to you. Join debate, newspaper, and writing clubs. Because laws are designed to influence human behavior, psychology is a very fitting major for hopeful law students. The topics you study will help you understand how laws impact society and what outcomes they create. This combination of being highly communicative paired with the insight into the human mind can also give you an edge when it comes to legal negotiations.

Like political science, criminal justice is a natural undergraduate major for those applying to law school. Most programs are interdisciplinary and require you to take some courses that fall under the political science, sociology, psychology, and philosophy departments.

You can earn a B. The coursework can equip you with the research, analysis, and writing skills needed to succeed both in law school and in the legal profession. Because of the crossover between the legal world and the criminal justice world, graduates of these programs can feel confident in their foundation before diving into post-grad legal studies.

It can also signal to admissions counselors that you have a genuine interest in law and the justice system. An English major for law school? It makes more sense than you may think.

Like lawyers, English majors must study and comprehend material, analyze it, and make persuasive arguments about it. Successful students must possess the ability to process complex information and make logical connections, requiring high critical thinking skills.

English majors generally study literature, composition, and writing and can choose to concentrate in areas such as creative writing or American literature. English majors also study related cultures and history, giving their knowledge base a broad range. While a B. An English major prepares you for law school by giving you strong reading and analytical skills and honing your ability to make strong arguments for your case.

As an English major, you also will learn how to write clearly and correctly, which is important for any profession, but particularly law. Majoring in English teaches you how to organize and complete large projects efficiently and on time — again, valuable skills for any job, and certainly for a lawyer. History is another smart choice of undergraduate major for those interested in going to law school. As an American history major, you will learn how the United States developed its legal system and will be able to put those developments into context.

American history may seem the most obvious choice for law school, but you also could study European history or Eastern civilizations depending on what your school offers. Knowing the history behind our laws can make you a more persuasive litigator. As a history major of any kind, you also will be required to read, write, and analyze different materials — all skills that you need as a lawyer.

During your studies, you will be required to analyze historical records and interpretations of events. These skills can help make you a more perceptive, confident, and sophisticated writer, thinker, and lawyer. Also, there may be pre-law clubs that offer support, programming, and internship opportunities for pre-law students.

You can get into a top law school after graduating from any college. Having a good college GPA is extremely important to law schools. While many college students have a few semesters when they slack off or settle for mediocrity, you need to maintain a high GPA throughout your undergraduate years. The law school admission exam has a reputation for being very challenging. If you know you want to go to law school, give yourself ample time to prepare for the test.

Familiarize yourself with the content and format. Do tons of realistic practice problems and questions from actual LSATs. Determine your content weaknesses, and then do enough studying and practice problems to improve your weaknesses. Take at least a few practice LSATs simulating testing conditions to improve your test endurance, work on your time management, and see how close you are to your target score.

You can use prep books or classes to help you in your preparation. However, before you purchase any book or sign up for a class, do your research to ensure you're using a high quality book or taking a good class that will adequately prepare you for the exam. There are many subpar prep books and classes out there. Preparing for law school in college doesn't mean that you should only take classes about the legal system.

Law schools would rather you take challenging courses that will help you improve your analytical skills and reading comprehension. If you're a science major, you may want to take English courses so you can practice doing a ton of reading, writing, and analyzing language.

If you're a humanities major, you may want to take economics classes to improve your logic and problem-solving skills. Law schools will also require letters of recommendation from your professors.

Building relationships with your professors will enable you to get better recommendations when you apply to law school. Additionally, your professors can provide mentorship and help you hone your academic skills. Undoubtedly, you should be doing activities outside of school. You can participate in internships, jobs, or student organizations related to your interests. Law schools do like to see that you've shown commitment to and achievement in your extracurricular activities.

Some examples of good extracurricular activities include community service, student government, and working for student publications. On your law school applications, you'll have to indicate when you began your extracurriculars and how many hours per week you spend on each activity.

It's better to do fewer activities and commit more to them. Furthermore, extracurricular activities can facilitate your personal development and give you a better idea of what you want to do in the future. If you know you want to be a lawyer, your extracurricular activities can help you decide what type of law you want to practice. Do you want more information about what you need to do to become a lawyer?

Check out our article on how to become a lawyer. Working as part of the judicial system has its perks, but you don't get it all your own way. Find out how the executive branch checks the judicial branch in the U.

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