masterdebater

Okay, so I'm going to GWU with about 45k in fa so money isn't a problem. Of these what do you think would be the best major and minor combination?

PlySci
Criminal Justice
Philosophy
Journalism and Mass Communication
Psych
Econ

I was thinking majoring in PlySci and minoring in CJ? Is that a good idea?

I'm aware that "any major is a major for law school" (from numerous lawyers)but I would appreciate something more substantive than that. Thanks

kelseyg

Whatever you can get the highest GPA in.

ElectricTech

For personal skills:
Philosophy major, psych minor; teaches you how to think while you learn how people are the way they are

For knowledge related to law:
PolySci major, Criminal Justice minor; learn about how the government works while getting insight into some law

I second the GPA thing too.

Native NJ

NOT poly sci since too many law school wanabees do that. You need to stand out in whatever you choose. A recent NYTimes article suggested philosophy helps you better prepare for the LSAT's.

Student35

History is another option.

Gil

Classics, especially Latin and Ancient History,is yet another option

masterdebater

Thanks everybody, I appreciate it.

Lumine

Criminal justice major, philosophy minor.

tomatoking

they hate seeing criminal justice majors

eva10127

PlySci
Criminal Justice
or

Criminal Justice and History minor (I know history is not on your list)

Rob54

With the exception of criminal justice, it doesn't matter. They don't like to see pre-law or vocational majors. Criminal justice could defiantly be perceived as the former.

tetrishead

I disagree with CJ, I don't think it benefits you in either law school admissions or the actual process of being in law school. Law school is reading, reading, more reading, writing about reading--and you want a major that will prepare you for dense language, and a lot of it. Classics or philosophy would be my recommendation, whichever you'd enjoy more and do better in, with some courses in econ or psychology (depending upon your preferences).

im_blue

I would steer away from criminal justice (minor is fine) and journalism. Law schools want to see broad liberal arts majors, not preprofessional ones. And they absolutely *hate* criminal justice majors. Aside from that, choose whichever major you can get the highest GPA in.

BIGTWIX

Philosophy is the single best major for learning how to attack and defend positions--to argue. That being said, philosophy majors on average score highest on GRE verbal comprehension and Analytical writing sections. Wanna go to a top law school, philosophy is the major to best give you the skills to be worthy of acceptance.

Next to philosophy, ide say classics is a great thing to minor in. Political science is alright too, but as far as I believe, it won't equip you with the skill set needed for law school. Sure, you will know laws and court cases and such that a philosophy major will likely not know, but your writing/reasoning ability will likely not be near as good as if you were doing philosophy.

And as far as I have heard, if you are a political science major going into law school, you may think you have memorized a lot of cases, but in reality you havent memorized a thing in comparison to what they are going to throw at you.

And i can assure that memorizing a few extra cases is significantly easier than rechanging the way you think, debate, and persuade. That takes years to significantly change.

k1man

as for electives, there are many courses from different departments that have compliance with subject of law, at least my school does.

for example,
PSY - Psychology and Law
Phil - Philosophy and law
Phil - Philosophy - Crime and Punishment Theories
Bus - Legal Business practices