The best undergraduate degrees for future lawyers
The title of this post can be a bit misleading because the truth is that a wide variety of majors are beneficial for perspective law students. Historically speaking political science has been a favorite pre-law degree bit it is by no means a necessity. Some of the work you do as a political science major will help you in law school especially thing like: writing persuasive papers, studying the legal system, learning the theories behind law and order in society, etc. However many good law schools actually are looking for some diversity in their applicants. Because law influences almost every area of our society it is a benefit to share perspectives that are developed from intense study in almost any academic discipline.
In a more practical sense the area of study you choose for your undergraduate education may be very helpful depending on the kind of law your want to practice. If you want to work in intellectual property having a computer science or engineering background will be a tremendous benefit. If you want to become a defense trail lawyer you may want get a speech or communications degree. If your aim is become a law professor or researcher you may want to study history or psychology and sociology. Ultimately the background you have in any area of study will be taken with you during law school and afterwards when you are seeking employment. For instance, if you wanted to be legal counsel to a medical devices manufacturer it would be beneficial to understand both business and medicine. Both will help, though neither will be strictly necessary.
Finally, if you hope is to get into a competitive law program you may want to choose a degree plays to your strengths. If you don’t like mathematics, it would do you any good to get a major that contains a lot of quantitative classes that may drive down your GPA an hurt your application to law school. Conversely if you want to stand out on your application you may want to get a harder more competitive undergraduate degree to demonstrate your competence and fitness to succeed in law school.
