Best Majors for Law School Applicants

How do law school admission committees evaluate people with different undergraduate majors? Are there good majors and bad majors for law school applications? I wouldn't quite say there are bad majors - I think there are good things about most areas of study, and if you have good grades then you're absolutely set.

Law schools do not want to fill their classes with political science majors. Where is the diversity in that? Law schools want people from different backgrounds, and from different schools for that matter. Here is a rundown of the major groupings and how law schools are apt to evaluate you based on your undergraduate major area of study:

1. Majors with scientific fields: You often risk having a lower GPA, but it can be excused because of the difficult curriculum and lab hours. Of course, it also helps to make the case that you want to be a patent/IP lawyer if your have a science/math background. However, it can also risk looking like you really would have preferred to go to med school but you just didn't have the GPA. If you did well in a science major, you will find that law schools like that and it will help you in the admissions process generally.

2. Pre-Law Majors: Law and Society, Pre-Law, Political Science, and Criminal Justice studies show you have a sincere interest in the subject matter. It's especially helpful if you do a thesis and/or significant academic or internship work to supplement the curriculum. However, lackluster grades in these subjects will not impress an admission office. A 3.3 GPA in poli sci is not the same as a 3.3 in biomedical engineering or physics.

3. Art/Music Majors: A BFA makes things tricky, but if you do well academically and do a thesis or have something to show for yourself other than being an unemployed actor, then this absolutely works. Actually, I think Art History is one of the best majors for preparing you for law school because it teaches you to look at something you've never seen before and apply the facts you've learned to determine what you're looking at. That's pretty much a law school exam in a nutshell. Anything that shows you've done some serious writing will help. Music composition shows you're a thinking person.

4. Business Majors: Marketing, not so impressive but if you have strong grades and showed a sincere interest in serious things then it's fine. Economics is better - shows more analysis and academic inclination.

5. Philosophy: Again, writing and analysis. Great stuff.

The question is this - knowing how law schools view your major, what can you do to make up for that weakness? If you haven't had much writing in your curriculum, how about writing for your school paper or trying to get research published? This is just one example of a way you can use your weaknesses to build your law school applications.

Recap:
1. Pick a major that sincerely interests you.
2. Get the best possible grades in that major.

Law schools want to see people who are serious about their goals, but not singularly minded. Have a hobby too, and if that hobby demonstrates your thinking skills, cultural interests, passions - all the better. Do well at the things you do.

(For those of you worried that your physics degree will be competing against people who studied history, I would say that if your grades are solid and you have strong academic letters and perhaps someone who can attest to your writing ability, then you'll be absolutely fine.)

Tuesday's Legal Resource: Congressional Universe

Legislative history is perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of legal research. The one benefit of finding federal legislative history is the wealth of resources available to the seeker. One of those resources is a database that the Fred Parks Law Library subscribes to called Congressional Universe, published by Lexis.

There are a variety of ways to search for documents including by document number, member of Congress, subject terms, or keywords. Despite this, the site can be rather tricky to use, especially for first timers who don’t have an exact document number. A reference librarian will be happy to help individuals who need help with their search.

Congressional Universe provides access to a number of documents pertaining to federal legislation in a variety of formats. Congressional Universe will often provide html formats for many materials in the results. The Fred Parks Law Library provides access to hard copies of the documents in microfiche on the first floor. To obtain these documents in microfiche you must use the CIS number in the results you get on Congressional Universe, usually located in the heading of the document in the upper left-hand corner.

Using the following example: CIS-NO: 2004-H201-2

2004: the year the document was published. The last two numbers will be on the upper right hand portion of the microfiche

H201-2: the H signifies that the document was published by the House of Representatives. This portion will be located on the upper left hand corner of the microfiche.

It is important to note that documents published prior to 1970, specifically 1789-1969, are considered part of the Serials Set which has different, and less consistent, coverage than documents published after 1970. In the Serials Set you will find the committee reports, journals, manuals, and administrative reports of both Chambers in addition to a variety of directories, orations, and special publications. You will usually not find committee hearings and prints.

Using the CIS number for finding Serials Set documents in microfiche, there would be no year, so you would just search using the alphanumeric portion, for example: CIS-NO: S5056.