Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I received a history degree before going to law school. I wish I'd had a science degree - patent law! More to the point, I wish I'd had a biochemistry degree, because patent law in the biotech industry is where it's at (boring as hell, but most legal work is)
Excepting science degrees for going into patent law, the type of degree a law student gets is largely irrelevant.
As an attorney I will only give you the law school route viewpoint.
I went the typical route before law school. Majored in Economics with a minor in "Law and Society"...whatever that is...just because that was what I was supposed to do. Frankly, I wish I majored in something I was interested in and enjoyed myself more. As many other postings suggest, I was with the pack regarding undergrad major so admission was a numbers game for me (ie. GPA and LSAT score).
I say major in something that interests you. This is a long haul choice, not just a choice for admissions. While in law school, some of my classmates majored in Phy Ed, History, Architecture and Anthro. They all passed the bar as well. I would play the diversity route and hopefully it is something you enjoy.
As others have mentioned, a science degree will give you more options after law school, if Patent and Intellectual Property work interest you...it is good to have options.
Once I was admitted to law school, no firm really cared what I did during undergrad, at least with the firms that I intereviewed with (which were big firms here in Los Angeles). At that point they were just concerned with my law school grades and accomplishments (e.g. member of law review). No one gave 2 bits about what I majored in during undergrad. They were just happy the class rank was good and I was on law review...everything else just took care of itself. Again, further ways that the "numbers" game comes into play in law school.
Final thought. You would be surprised how many attorneys are not happy with their jobs and choice of career. The money is good; pays the bills, and puts food on the table. If I could make the same money doing something else, I probably would. Having a undergrad degree that interests you may be something to fall back on if you find yourself unsatisfied with a legal career.
@YellowGold. I would not go so far ass to say unhappy, but I can attest that the work can be boring and monotonous. I left the law firm life 8 years ago and work as in-house counsel which provides a much better work/life balance. I have 2 little ones and I wanted to be around to see them grow and share in their experiences...not stuck at the office trying to keep my billables up.
I have a friend who finally had enough and quit his law firm job in February and started his own practice. Less money but more time with the family...he has 2 little ones as well. This is a common tale among lawyers...you really love it or you work to pay the bills. Just my opinion of course.
If you're at all concerned about working long hours, then I advise you to think long and hard before going into law.
The entire profession is designed to burn out and weed out people. It's a struggle for survival from day one.
Really depends on a combination of factors. In private practice, that includes market, firm size/specialties, etc. One of my friends has a 1L SAship at a reputable Wilmington, DE firm, and he's reported that junior associates there seldom work beyond 10-hour days. The same is true for a lot of secondary/tertiary markets. The Catch-22 is that large, national markets like NYC are much bigger (and thereby easier to break into) and the hours are insane.
If I was serious about learning something useful in undergrad for pre-law I would major in business. Having a background with accounting, tax, finance, and being able to understand financial analysis will make your law career more marketable.
Where I went to school, most of the serious students going into law attended the B school. A few serious law students were Political Science majors because they wanted to go into politics after law school while a large percentage were Poly Sci majors because it was easy and they could party through college easier before they had to get serious in law school. The other popular pre-law major was history for the same sluff off undergrad reasons.
Getting into law school isn't too hard. Med. school is impossibly hard unless you possess at least one of the following: You're from a foreign country, your dad/mom are physicians, your folks are huge contributors to the college and/or med school, you're an athlete with glowing athletic credentials so they can use you for marketing the university, you're female.
To apply to law or med school, you don't have to have a degree in a particular subject. But what degrees do most law or med students usually have?
I would think the most popular subject for med students was biology, possibly followed by chemistry. Law students? Some universities have a BA program called Legal Studies. But a lot studied econ, political science or history.
If you're going to med school, isn't it obviously helpful if your undergrad subject was biology and not, say, English?
Major in whatever you want. Just follow the pre-med pre-law sequence. Your adviser will help you.
English was the go-to major for those going on to law school at my alma mater.
And in mine. And in many.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
