UC Berkeley legal studies program?

riskybusiness · 05-10-2008, 06:46 PM

I am a transfer student who is going to enroll in the summer at Berkeley and my current major is psychology. My main goal is to go to law school and I was looking at the legal studies major at Berkeley because it seems interesting and looks like it would provide some good information for the study of law. Just curious if anyone knowsn how good that program/ major is and how well it would prepare you for law school, or if a philosophy major or even just stick with psychology would be better.? (i'm also considering a double major in one of the three).

Malishka31 · 05-10-2008, 07:10 PM

econ /math/engineering do best on LSAT actually.

Major in what you will do well in to get the highest GPA and study for the LSAT for as long as possible.

Legal studies will probably prepare you well, but you have to take electives regardless of any major you have and you can prepare yourself for law school just by taking law related electives.

chickadee2586 · 05-10-2008, 10:28 PM

Well, I've heard numerous times that undergraduate classes on law don't help prepare you at all for law school and that they're not even similar to law school. As far as what major is best for law school, anything that develops your critical thinking, reading comprehension, and writing skills. I've heard that philosophy is pretty good. As far as the LSAT goes, it's really heavy on reading comprehension and logic. I've never heard that math/econ/engineering majors do best best.

kmzizzle · 05-10-2008, 10:37 PM

im pretty sure it doesnt matter what major you are

a lot do poli sci tho, too many

Malishka31 · 05-11-2008, 03:54 AM

Undergrad can prep you for Law, especially polisci. It helps you with learning IRAC format, doing briefs and memos and if your upper division courses are small enough the format of instruction is similar to law schools. These are things my husband noted- he is in law school. Many poli sci courses that are geared toward law students give you solid introduction in case study which is very helpful for courses such as ConLaw in law school.

Logic games is what most find difficult and math/econ/engineering type of majors are better equipped to do that section.