All pre-law students are encouraged to carefully assess their interest in and motivation for attending law school. Students are encouraged to pursue a broad, liberal, diverse, and challenging program of study. Students should register for demanding courses that challenge them to read, write, and think critically. Law schools are looking for applicants with academic excellence and the ability to perform at a high scholarly level.
Majors
Law schools are looking for applicants with a variety of majors and there is no preference given to a specific major. Students who select majors in which they are most interested traditionally enjoy the coursework and earn high grades. Majors that emphasize critical thinking and writing can be helpful for students pursuing law but students can also gain these skills through elective coursework. The only exception to the rule about majors is that students who would like to pursue Intellectual Property Law/Patent Law do need to have an undergraduate degree in science or or engineering or at least take multiple courses in key science areas.
Classes
In order to be well prepared for the academic rigor of law school, we encourage students to take courses that challenge them academically. We strongly suggest taking courses that will strengthen your skills in writing, reading, listening and speaking. Gaining analytical reasoning and critical thinking skills through coursework will also be good academic preparation for law school. Although the American Bar Association (ABA) does not specifically recommend undergraduate majors or courses, we do provide below a list of courses by major that may help you prepare for legal education. Please consult the undergraduate catalog for course descriptions and prerequisites.
By no means is this the exhaustive list of courses that would prepare you for law school so we encourage you to take courses that will give you a balance to your major and a breadth of academic skills.