Planning Ahead for College Programs: Law School

Many students who are interested in law school, or think they may be interested, have concerns about choosing an undergraduate degree program that will aid in their admission to law school. Law school is a graduate degree, and it typically takes 3 years of full time enrollment to complete. If you are a high school senior, since you’ll need to complete an undergraduate degree before you can even apply, the decision of whether or not to go to law school is far away. Still, if you think it may be in your future, it’s a good idea to have law school in mind when you pick a college and degree program.

Choosing a college

Just like any graduate program, a law school will require a degree from any accredited college or   university. There are not many situations, outside of some trade schools or certification programs, that your school would not be accredited. What this means for you is that you should choose the school that is right for you, that offers degree programs that interests you and has a culture and environment where you feel you could thrive and be successful.

Selecting a degree program

Law schools are looking for candidates who have taken courses in difficult subjects that have challenged the student. They are also looking for well-rounded candidates who have taken classes in a variety of subjects. Some prospective law students believe that a degree in political science or a similar field will prepare you for law school. Certainly, law schools will consider undergrads with a political science degree, they are not typically admitted above students with other degrees.

The important thing is that your degree program is challenging and well-rounded. If you are getting a degree in a hard science, make sure that some of your elective classes are in the liberal arts field, such as philosophy, history or literature. Likewise, if you are getting a liberal arts degree, make sure that you take some classes that counter-balance your degree, such as high-level math classes or science classes. You will want to be able to demonstrate to a law school that your degree program has helped you learn to communicate well, both in writing and verbally, and that you can quickly analyze information

Besides making sure that your degree program is well-rounded, you should choose a degree program that interests you and that you enjoy. There are two reasons for this. First, it’s a long time until you apply for law school. You’ll have a lot of experiences between now and then, both academic and personal, which may change the course you wish to take. Second, if you are taking a degree program that interests you and that you enjoy, you are more likely to get good grades in your courses, and your GPA is one of the main things a prospective law school will examine. Law schools typically base their admission decisions on a student’s GPA and their scores on the LSAT test.