If you’re an aspiring lawyer, your undergraduate degree or prelaw course plays a crucial role in your preparation for entering law school. That’s because what you finished in college would matter a lot in your law education. Any bachelor’s degree is acceptable, but there are certain courses that could give you an edge. For this reason, you’d need to be extra careful when choosing your college degree.
To better prepare you for the academic challenges you’d face in law school, below are six college degrees to consider.
1. Political Science
Taking Political Science as your undergraduate degree could be a good prelaw option because of how close this course is in terms of understanding the legal system. Political Science is a branch of social science that deals with the analysis of political behaviors and government systems.
By taking Political Science, you could obtain an in-depth understanding of the legal system in the country and how it works. You’d learn the Constitution more in depth, how laws are created, and the founding principles behind the country’s legal system. Because of this, taking a Political Science degree could prepare you for success in your law school journey due to your advanced knowledge of some law-related matters.
However, the process of completing this coursework could drain you physically, mentally, and emotionally. That’s why as you push through with your college education in Political Science, it’s also important to take care of yourself so your mind and body would be ready once you enter law education. This is especially true if you’re away from home and living in student housing near or within your campus. To better understand how to practice self-care, you may consider reading this blogpost and other resources for more information.
2. Psychology
Since law affects and regulates human behavior, psychology and law are interconnected with each other. That said, taking Psychology as your undergraduate degree could also be one of the best ways of preparing yourself for a law career.
Psychology is that branch of social science that deals with the study of human behavior. Hence, understanding the way people think and act is useful in all areas of legal practice. For instance, it could be helpful in assessing what laws could be effective or not when suppressing bad conduct when writing laws. It would also be useful in correctly judging human behavior in court, like the conduct of the jury, victim, accused, and witnesses.
Through this coursework, you could also hone your communication skills while talking with different people, which is necessary for the legal profession. You could also use the research and analysis skills you learned from your Psychology course while studying the many areas of law while in school.
3. Philosophy
Another college degree that could help you get ready for law school is Philosophy. It’s the study of the fundamental questions about the nature of knowledge, reason, existence, the value of things, and those aspects considered as academic disciplines.
Having an undergraduate-level education in Philosophy may give you an edge over other students as it could help you comprehend your law subjects more efficiently. That’s because the study of law is anchored in several philosophical principles, including ethics, morals, standards, integrity, conscience, sense of duty, human nature, and many more.
Additionally, completing a Philosophy degree could help you get ready in the following ways:
- Making use of your ability to pay attention to some critical details, including the analysis and interpretation of certain facts;
- Coming up with an argument in a logical manner with the use of evidence;
- Making use of your ability to present arguments with authority and create an argument using context.
4. Economics
If you’re interested in specializing in corporate law after graduating from college, having an undergraduate degree in Economics could be a perfect path for you. Economics examines and focuses on questions about resource allocation, wealth, and incentives.
By taking this course, you could prepare yourself for law school as you take advantage of your critical skills. Being an Economics graduate could give you the ability to think logically and analyze huge amounts of data more efficiently to come up with a solution and implement it. These analytical abilities are crucial to the success of your law school journey and your path toward becoming a lawyer.
5. Business
Getting a business course could also be a smart prelaw route for you if you want to be academically ready for law school. A business degree focuses on the study of theories of finance, accounting, management, marketing, administration, and entrepreneurship. When you’re a business major, your law school journey may not be that difficult since the coursework may heavily involve business processes, contract structure, and operations of enterprises.
Especially if you want to pursue a career in corporate law, taking a business course would be a good idea. Graduates of this degree would be able to know the legal needs of companies and understand how laws would positively and negatively affect businesses.
6. English
Studying law also includes exceptional reading comprehension and persuasive writing. For this reason, majoring in English could also be one of the college degrees that could help you prepare for law school. English is a degree focusing on writing, public speaking, analyzing and studying classical and contemporary literature, and other related components.
Therefore, if you want to stay on top of other students in terms of writing, communicating, and other English-related skills, having a degree in English is something you may want to consider. When this happens, you may be able to process certain written information and utilize it to come up with analytical arguments and opinions.
Also, you may be able to improve your critical thinking skills, grammar, and other concepts. When you have these critical skills, you’d set yourself to excellent Law School Aptitude Test or Law National Aptitude Test performance, which is one of the toughest exams to crack in the academic field.
The Bottom Line
Students who want to pursue their dream of becoming a lawyer are free to take any college degree that’d give them an opportunity to create a great undergraduate experience. But if you want to have an edge over other law students, keep these degrees in mind as you start your college education and get yourself ready for law school.
