What are the best undergraduate majors for Law School?

Anything really...as long as you know how to think analytically, logically, and understand written compositions.  Philosophy teaches you this.

I have graduated from law school and practiced law.

Business is a very acceptable pre-law major.

History, math, and engineering are excellent preparation for the critical and analytical thinking which is required by the LSAT.

Legal studies, history, philosophy, political science, literature. Business is a good minor.

Law schools don't care what your undergrad major is.  They really only care about your undergrad GPA and LSAT score.

Therefore, what you should focus on is getting an undergrad degree that you can "fall back on" if necessary.  The legal market nowadays is terrible, and not likely to recover any time soon.  There are many many unemployed lawyers all competing for very few jobs. Law grads are limping out of law school with around $100,000 in debt and no income to pay it off.  Thus, you need an undergrad degree that you can fall back on in case law does not work out for you.

Undergrad degrees in business, technology, healthcare, accounting, and engineering are pretty safe bets.  With an undergrad degree in any of these fields you have a decent chance of landing a job with a decent salary.  Therefore, go with one of those.  Political Science is a dead end degree.  You can do nothing with it except go to law school.

One of the greatest things about law school and practicing law is that law is very wide ranging and affects everything we do as a society. Therefore, it does not really matter what you get your undergraduate degree in because you can combine almost any undergraduate degree with your law degree and run a good practice; that is the reason why law schools do not require potential law students to get their undergraduate degrees in any particular field of study.

Political science is a very common undergraduate degree for potential law school students. However, you should not feel limited to political science just because you want to go to law school. While undergraduate degrees in political science and legal studies might give you limited early exposure to some things you will see again in law school (briefing cases, reading cases, legal research/writing), this early exposure or lack thereof will not be a major factor in whether or not you are successful in law school.

In conclusion, there is really no "best major for law school". If the question is what undergraduate degrees will give you limited early exposure to law school material, then the answer would be political science and legal studies and if choosing between these two majors with regards to which provides the most early exposure, legal studies would be the answer.

Hope this helps!

Hey Adam,

Law schools don't look for any particular major at all--in fact, almost any academic subject is a fine choice when it comes to picking a major that will look good on a law school application. Although there are certainly "traditional" majors that students interested in eventually pursuing law undertake (economics, political science, etc.), there is no one "perfect" major when it comes to preparing you for law school. There are some majors (particularly those that aren't strongly academic, such as the arts) that may place you at a slight disadvantage but, even so, plenty of students in those fields get admitted to law school every year. If you major in something you love, then you have a greater chance of doing extremely well in school, which will translate to a high GPA, which will in turn increase your chances of admission.

If you are passionate about Business, then go that route--being engaged and interested in your major will translate into you being involved in your classes, which will likely result in a high GPA (and a high GPA is a definite must when applying to law school!). Political Science is a very common major amongst prospective law students, but it is by no means the one you MUST do.

The key is not so much what you major in but, rather, what you do within your major. Aim to do the following:

1. Pick a college major that will require a lot of reading- and research-intensive classes. Both Political Science and Business fall into this category nicely, as do English, Economics, Psychology, Sociology, Philosophy, and many others. Picking a major of this sort will not only prepare you for law classes (which themselves are incredibly research- and reading-heavy), but it will also demonstrate to law schools, when you apply, that you can handle the academic load of law school.

2. Keep an upward grade trend throughout college. This means that your grades either get stronger as you go through school, or start off strong and remain there for all 4 years of college. Most law schools will want to see GPAs of 3.5 or above (the closer you can get to a 4.0, the better).

3. Take a challenging class load: Intro classes are okay for freshman and (maybe) sophomore year of college, but once you get to junior and senior year, your focus should be on upper-level classes and seminars that allow you to really hone in and focus on your specific interests within the major. And, as always, keep your grades up throughout.

4. Establish rapport with your professors (particularly during your junior and senior years of college). You can do this by attending office hours, working for them as a research assistant, and talking to them after class. They will be the ones writing your letters of recommendation, and will only be able to write effective, overwhelmingly positive ones is if they have specific, anecdotal knowledge of you and can favorably compare you to other students in your class.

Another useful thing you can do, regardless of your major choice, is to take formal logic courses (which can be found under the Philosophy Department at the college you end up attending) during your sophomore and junior years; this will help you later as you prepare for the LSAT.

As a side note, it doesn't hurt to start thinking about what else you can do in college to maximize your law school chances:

1. Work on your extracurriculars. Don't worry about being a part of 30 student groups; instead, focus on 2 or 3. Become a part and get involved during your freshman and sophomore years, and then obtain leadership positions in them during your junior and senior years.

2. Take the LSAT either the summer after junior year or the fall of your senior year of college. This will allow you to get the LSAT out of the way and apply as early in the admissions cycle as possible, which is incredibly beneficial to your overall chances.

3. Research law schools and become familiar with their LSAT and GPA requirements, as well as their acceptance percentages. Law school admissions center around your GPA and LSAT combination, so knowing where to aim is definitely a plus. A great place to start is the LSAC Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools: http://officialguide.lsac.org

I know I gave you a lot of info, but I hope this was helpful! Feel free to reach out if you have any further questions; I'm happy to help!

you can choose anything