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If you are thinking about becoming a lawyer, you probably realize that this path requires a great deal of planning, even as early as your undergraduate degree. After all, getting your law degree is a big step, and being admitted to the right school is important to your success. What you do as an undergraduate, and especially what you study, can make or break your law school application. Some guidelines will allow you to be better prepared for the next phase of your education.
Picking the right major as an undergraduate is imperative, and it is never too early to start thinking about it. After all, your undergraduate education will serve as a foundation on which your law studies will build. If you already know that you will be applying to law schools later in your degree, pick your major with that in mind. Your academic advisor in your undergraduate program can help you to make a decision about a major that will best prepare you for your eventual law degree.
Often, prospective law students decide to major in criminal justice or pre-law in their undergraduate studies, believing that this will be good preparation for law school. The truth is that it is not necessary to major in a subject that you feel is related to the study of law, and in fact, you may be better off getting an English or history degree as preparation. The skills you build during a humanities degree will be better preparation for a law degree than a criminal justice or pre-law degree.
Keep in mind that no matter what major you select, the most important thing is to do well in it. After all, you may have chosen to major in engineering, only to find that you'd rather be a lawyer. That's perfectly fine, and in fact, it is a common story among law students. There are typically no set undergraduate requirements to get into law school.
There are, however, courses that are recommended for prospective law students, regardless of your major. If you use some common sense, you can likely figure out what courses could best help you in your future work as a lawyer. For example, since lawyers might think critically and be analytical readers, English literature classes are highly recommended. Since clear communications are necessary to your role as a lawyer, writing and public speaking classes are also a good choice.
You should also take classes that challenge you. Never take the easiest route as an undergraduate, no matter how tempting it seems. Why? Because any law student will tell you that earning a law degree is three years of extremely hard work. Your classes will be demanding, and your reading assignments will be difficult. By taking hard classes in college, you will be readying yourself for even harder coursework down the road.
It may be that you ultimately decide a law degree is not right for you. If that's the case, you will have lost nothing by working hard as an undergraduate and majoring in something challenging that interests you.
As soon as you realize that being a lawyer is something you are interested in, you should get started preparing for law school. If a law degree is in the cards for you, your preparation as an undergraduate can make all the difference. You may even be able to take a course online to get a taste of what law school entails.
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