Undergrad degrees for law or med students (SAT, bachelor's, computer science)
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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?
I was in the military (air force) as a dental assistant/hygienist and then got off active duty and went back to school, finishing with my B.S. in Education. I've always had two interests, medicine and teaching. Medicine being dentistry and teaching being science. One day I sat down and looked at both requirements for the biology and secondary ed general science/biology program. Both were pretty much the same, except for a few extra education classes, but I still had to take alot of biology, chemistry, physics and other science classes. After graduation I got into dental school (temple univ.) in philadelphia and the rest is history. I can tell you that the science classes helped in dental school but you'd be very very surprised at how much science background you don't need. In fact, I'll go one step further and say this, Temple Univ. School of Dentistry doesn't require a bachelor's degree in biology or any other science to get in.
Now don't get me wrong, the more science you have the better off you'll probably be, but I had classmates that were alittle older like myself that were in other careers before dental school. Let's see, one worked on Wall Street, another was an engineer for GM. They had to go back and their science requirements but nothing says you have to be a straight biology or chemistry major. In fact, I would say that's what most dental schools/medical schools look for, someone with a different background. Its just like the state police. You don't have to be a criminal justice major to go into the state police, in fact, they would want you to be in another field like accounting or computers. The state police will teach you all you need to know once you're there, but having a different background brings them someone different who can help in so many ways. Nowadays, you need to have alittle bit of a business background if you want to survive and open your own practice after medical or dental school.
ive heard that for law school its more helpful to NOT have something like political science, "pre-law" (not a real major), or legal studies. i think a lot of pre-meds major or minor in chemistry because by the time they get all of their pre-reqs down they are only a few classes away.
ive heard that for law school its more helpful to NOT have something like political science, "pre-law" (not a real major), or legal studies. i think a lot of pre-meds major or minor in chemistry because by the time they get all of their pre-reqs down they are only a few classes away.
Poli sci is fine. Pre-law/legal studies is another story entirely. Any major that emphasizes analytical/writing skills is a good one.
I looked at the statistics for one law school and most of their students had political science degrees. The second most popular major was economics. The reason why law schools have so many political science majors is because so many people get the degree with the intention of going to law school. However, getting a poly sci degree is just giving yourself more competition when law schools look to diversify. It's the same with medical school. While biology might be the most popular major, medical schools eventually start tossing applications from biology majors because they only want to accept so many.
It's best to just study something you'll enjoy so that you can maintain a high GPA. It's also important to develop analytical skills in order to do well on the LSAT. That's why math, physics, philosophy, economics, and other science majors score the highest. Political science majors are in the middle of the pack while pre-law and criminal justice majors are at the very bottom.
Major in something useful if you want to go to med school like engineering, computer science, finance, economics, math, etc. Just take the med school prereqs on the side. Many, many, many, MANY people are trying to get into medical school now, and many, many, many people won't get in. You need to have a back up plan in case you don't get in or change your mind. We have all sorts of undergrads working in the lab right now and EVERY SINGLE one of them plans on going to med school. When I ask them if they have a back up plan, they just look at me blankly. Usually the people that don't get in and that don't have a back up plan end up being lab technicians making $28k a year doing mundane work.
I looked at the statistics for one law school and most of their students had political science degrees. The second most popular major was economics. The reason why law schools have so many political science majors is because so many people get the degree with the intention of going to law school. However, getting a poly sci degree is just giving yourself more competition when law schools look to diversify. It's the same with medical school. While biology might be the most popular major, medical schools eventually start tossing applications from biology majors because they only want to accept so many.
It's best to just study something you'll enjoy so that you can maintain a high GPA. It's also important to develop analytical skills in order to do well on the LSAT. That's why math, physics, philosophy, economics, and other science majors score the highest. Political science majors are in the middle of the pack while pre-law and criminal justice majors are at the very bottom.
Lawl skools are shockingly unholistic. With the primary exceptions of Yale, Stanford, and Berkeley, they're numbers whores first and foremost. Unless you're at the margins, soft factors don't really come into play.
Had six friends who went on to med (4) and Law school (2) the law school students had majors in latin and Greek language (ancient) and Philosophy. The med students had majors in Biology (2) chemistry (1) and English (1) make what you want out of this information By the way they have all been successfull
Our head of legal affairs had a history undergrad. My friend's daughter received her undergrad in chemical engineering before getting accepted into med school.
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