During the course of advising you may be asked about what major(s) or course(s) of study are best as preparation for law school. Law schools typically look for the widest possible range of majors among their applicants. The primary consideration in selecting a major thus ought to be personal intellectual inclination rather than any plans for law school. Beyond the major, however, students should keep the following general guidelines in mind:
- Basic skills for law school and the legal profession are research and verbal analysis, clear writing and the ability to work with numbers. Students should thus take some advanced courses stressing research and verbal analysis (this could be any of the humanities and social sciences), as many classes as possible which require analytical writing skills, and some significant quantitative work (science, mathematics, most economics courses and statistics-oriented social science).
- Students may find courses in philosophy, American history, economics, and writing particularly useful in preparing for a legal education.
- Law-related courses such as constitutional law will be valuable for exposure to legal materials, but these are in no sense pre-professional.
- Last but not least, one would hope that all law-school-bound students would concern themselves with questions of personal and social ethics whether through course work or in less formal ways.
For more specific information, check out the law school resources available at the Career Center.