Pathway to Law School

The process of applying to law school is fairly well defined. The major you should pursue as an undergraduate planning on going to law school is not.  The Department of History and Government offers two quality routes that will prepare you well for law school. 

Option 1:

• We do offer a Pre-Law program. This program includes coursework that is designed to prepare you well for both the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) as well as for the rigors of law school itself.  It includes coursework in accounting, history, jurisprudence, logic, political thought, and writing.  It is a wonderful degree for preparing for law school because it focuses on the skills that are necessary for success there, such as critical thinking, information management, research, and writing. It does have one drawback, however: If you graduate with this degree and then change your mind about law school, you are left with a Pre-Law degree.

Option 2:

• We offer a variety of other majors that include some of the same types of courses and focus on developing some of the same types of skills that are required for law school, but they are recognized as more traditional degrees.  For example, students often major in Criminal Justice, History, or Political Science if they are interested in law school. These programs include many of the core courses found in the Pre-Law major and as a result, focus on the same skills development.  They will often augment their major coursework with selected courses from the Pre-Law major including philosophy, logic, and a writing course.

The benefits to Option 2 are two-fold: 

• First, some law schools are looking for a broader educational background or a liberal arts degree from their applicants. They want well-educated and well-rounded law applicants that come to law school prepared for the work they will do there. 
• Second, in the event that a student decides not to pursue law school after graduation, they will have a diploma with a recognizable and more traditional degree on it.  This is appealing to some students who simply want to keep their options open.

There is no one right way to get to law school. Our Pre-Law advisor works with students from a variety of majors to help them through the law school admission process and get into good law schools.  The success of our graduates is testament of the rigor of and preparation provided by our programs.