Do Law Schools Care About Your Undergrad Major?

Do Law Schools Care About Your Undergrad Major?

In one word, NO. Law schools care about many things: your GPA, your LSAT, the story you tell, the obstacles you’ve overcome. But if there is one thing law school admissions committees care least about, it may be your major. If there is one piece of advice you take from this blog, never choose a major based off what you think law schools want to see. Your college major, instead, should be driven by two criteria what you love to study and where you can succeed (both in an academic and a career sense).

Studying what you love will provide two outcomes. First, you’ll do much better in your classes. Second, you will engage in more experiences and opportunities that will enhance both your life and your future law school application. Law schools love creating as diverse a class as possible – in all sense of the word! In other words, choosing the undergraduate major that you are most passionate about – not what you think law schools are looking for – will actually help you build a resume that is more attractive to law school admissions committees in the long run. If you are destined to be on a pre-law path and work as a paralegal, that’s completely fine. But if your passion is, say, engineering, I say go for it. Law schools love to accept applicants that diversify their class, and frankly, not many engineers are applying for law school. 

But what if the major I love has a notoriously hard curve? Don’t sweat it. Again, you’re more likely to succeed when you study what you love. Taking the “easier” path won’t help you. The supposed GPA boosters have a few problems: first, they’re never as easy as cracked up to be. Professors hate the thought of being pushovers, so they will gradually increase the difficulty of their class. Moreover, if you’re not passionate about the class, you’ll underperform. You’re much better off studying what you love, doing well, and building meaningful experiences. 

Now, worst case scenario: you study what you love and your GPA suffers for it. When you apply to law school, you can write a GPA addendum explaining how difficult your major was, and although this won’t change the number itself, law schools will look more favorably upon your application (if explained well). For the benefit of broadening both your application and your personal life, don’t shoot for the easy A or what you think law schools want to see – study what you love!