Undergraduate Preparation for Law School

There is no “Pre-Law” major or prescribed course of undergraduate study for admission to law school. The best guide is to follow your own personal and academic interests so that you are motivated to excel. In selecting students, law school admissions committees look for individuals with well-rounded liberal arts educations. Many students pursue double majors to demonstrate their ability to perform well in more than one field. In particular, students whose primary major is in business or the sciences should consider a second major or minor in the humanities or social sciences.

According to the American Bar Association’s Section on Legal Education, good lawyering requires certain core skills including analytic and problem-solving skills, critical reading abilities, writing skills, oral communication and listening abilities, general and computer-assisted research skills, task organization and management skills, and commitment to the values of serving others and promoting justice. In addition, lawyers need an increasingly broad range of knowledge including: a good understanding of history, particularly U.S. history; a basic understanding of political and legal institutions; familiarity with ethics and theories of justice; a grounding in economics; basic mathematical and financial skills; and an appreciation for diversity and cultural interdependence.

In law school, you will study the legal principles underlying specific areas of the law; in your undergraduate classes, you need to acquire the core knowledge and skills upon which your legal education will be built. Since law deals with a wide variety of human conflicts, the more you know about the diversity of human experience, the better prepared you will be to study law.