What Are the Best Majors for Law School Candidates?

The road to law school is a long and calculated journey. Aspiring law students must carefully handle their studies to ensure the highest candidacy for law school acceptance. One way to prepare and present themselves as ideal law students is by choosing and excelling in their undergraduate studies. While making the plan to succeed in law school is a challenge, the tough part is choosing which discipline fits your goals. Deciding on a major can feel like a high-stakes endeavor. And for many prospective law students, the jury is still out. What are the best majors for law school candidates?

No one undergraduate major is considered “the best” on your way to law school. You have a wide array of options when it comes to choosing a major, each with its advantages. Depending on what you plan to do with your law degree, one major might be better than another. Several choices you’d expect for the greatest success may not work for you, whereas some that appear unusual may suit your needs. 

The Best Major for Law School Candidates Is…?

Criminal Justice

The criminal justice major is a natural option for future law students. It’s the de facto major for prospective law students who want to work in criminal law.

With this field of study, students gain a greater understanding of the three branches of America’s justice system:

1. Courts – You’ll learn research methods in criminal practice for finding case precedence and writing more effective briefs. You’ll discover court theory, process, and practices to better understand courtroom methods. You’ll study how to advocate juvenile justice better.
2. Police – You learn law enforcement theory, practice, and practices.
3. Prisons – You take corrections theory, process, and practices. Discover recidivism rates and rehabilitation practices to reduce criminal activity during your career.

Criminal justice majors have an advantage because many programs are interdisciplinary, meaning that the criminal justice program combines various course loads or subjects into a more personalized program. For example, criminal justice majors must take courses in philosophy, history, sociology, and more.

This is a great option that tailors students for law school by providing a rigorous and deep legal curriculum with information and studies of different yet applicable disciplines for the legal field.

Political Science

Political science is a common choice as a major for law school candidates since the legal system and political science work hand in hand. In addition, political science is a great major for potential law students because it will give them a basic understanding of how laws and government work on a structural level.

Let’s say a cook has a great desire to start a restaurant. One day, he quits his job and opens a new restaurant. No matter his food quality or cooking passion for making delicious food, he still has to understand how to open and run a restaurant. Political science provides the same analysis and understanding for potential law students. Law students will need to know the legal system and its workings in our government and private sector. It doesn’t matter what field you choose, whether the public or private sector. You decide if you want to be an attorney or other position in the legal arena, but know the field.

Business Administration

A terrific path to law school can begin by majoring in business, such as Business Administration and general business majors. However, the more specialized and niche the business degree is, the less valuable it becomes. For example, accounting and finance are of little relevance to most legal work and preparation for law school.

Business schools are known for having a rigorous and deep course load. When applying to law schools, having a business major (along with other factors, such as a great GPA) will make you stand out easily!

Business degrees are fantastic for students because it prepares them with a lot of reading and writing to work in law. Other attributes include public speaking, understanding, training in a corporate structure, collaboration in the workplace with others, and negotiations.

A business degree can be quite favorable depending on the field of law one is seeking. If you are considering working in an area such as corporate law, then majoring in business is an advantageous way to start that journey.

English

English is one of the best potential majors for law school candidates. As a subject, it contains more than just Shakespeare and grammar. English helps future law students gain essential knowledge and application to help them down the line in both law school and their future legal occupations.

An English major helps students strengthen their skills in reading and writing. Reading and writing are the foundation of higher education studies and an attorney’s role. For example, reading comprehension is necessary to review case notes and study details. Writing is required to produce case briefs, complaints, orders, and other pleadings as a lawyer. Before all that, a student needs to pass numerous varied exams to get into law school.

Majoring in English allows future law students to learn and sharpen their reading cognition and writing skills. It also helps in many more key areas that empower students in their studies, both in undergrad and postgraduate classes. Fluency in English comprehension and usage continues throughout a law career.

Psychology

Studying psychology is a great way to present oneself as an ideal law school candidate. Psychology as a subject is the study of the mind, including how human behavior works and is influenced. In the legal arena, much of an attorney’s job is analyzing human behavior and thinking about laws and guidelines to influence human behavior.

This is a great option that will help future law students think about how past cases have influenced people and how we influence others in the future.

History

At face value, history may seem like an odd option for those pursuing law school. However, it’s a beneficial decision common for students with legal aspirations.

By majoring in history before law school, you’ll see the legal system’s history and how it came to fruition. You’ll learn essential landmark cases that set precedents and changed/altered laws. Knowledge and understanding of past decisions and legal history may come in handy as you handle new cases in the future. History majors study patterns and trends in the order in which events happen. What has happened before may happen again, offering insight into legal precedents.

Philosophy

Let’s move to a more unconventional choice: philosophy. Philosophy is an excellent alternative as a major for future law students for two reasons.

First, philosophy is a considerable aspect within the field of law. Much of law as a subject both in school and in the real world legal field is composed of ethics, human nature, fairness, reasons, and more concepts rooted and discussed in philosophy. By studying philosophy, students understand these aspects and allow themselves to become familiar with them.

Second, philosophy is a great major to help students focus on critical details and learn deep analysis. Working in the legal field requires reaching a reasonable conclusion and presenting findings based on facts and logic. Studying and using pertinent information to form an educated opinion helps students learn how to conclude with findings. This deep analysis can help students see how different circumstances affect events and facilitate future law students in learning how to frame an argument.

Economics

Economics involves the creation, use, and transfer of wealth. So it makes sense to major in it before law school. Why? Because much of the legal system is about the protection of financial assets. Understanding the behavior and interaction of an economy, through micro and macro, invites an understanding of the financial world before learning how to protect the monetary assets of a client.

An economics major before law school is a smart idea because it values rational thinking the way law school does. Rational thinking uses reason to draw conclusions utilizing data, facts, and logic rather than emotion. The court values logical decision-making skills because coming to conclusions through rational thought increases success rates exponentially. The ability to weigh situational factors per legal matter or suit adds value to a potential attorney because of the inherent understanding of case law required to pass the bar.

Sociology

If you’re interested in practicing public interest law, or poverty, economic, or racial justice law, then an undergraduate degree in sociology may be for you. Sociology degrees are beneficial in gender and LGBTQ+ equality. Notre Dame senior and sociology major Ash Smith said, “If you’re interested in law school, sociology is a great way to study how these different groups are discriminated against, how the law can help, and how people work together to develop practical solutions.”

As a liberal art, sociology offers insight into the structure, change, and organization of institutions and social groups by combining analysis and inquiry in research through which legal practice can further equality in socially disadvantaged groups. This means that through a sociology major, you can change the lives of others in a way others may not be able to – through law.

Foreign Language

Languages play a large part in critical and unbiased thinking. Learning to read and write a foreign language also prepares you to study the language of the law. Law school is about learning how to think rationally and base understanding and ideas on alternate perceptions along with learning Latin terminology. Acceptance and idea views through the lens of a foreign language reduce bias through shared viewpoints. “A series of experiments on more than 300 people from the U.S. and Korea found that thinking in a second language reduced deep-seated, misleading biases that unduly influence how risks and benefits are perceived.” Decisions are more rational when thinking in a foreign language.

Theology

Arts and humanities majors in fields like theology increase critical thinking through religious lenses, humility, and complex text interpretation. Critiquing the law through a spiritual lens offers a unique viewpoint. It’s about more than searching for God in case law or terminology. It also provides humility-valuing judicial restraint and deference, improved social bonds, increased performance, innovation, and improved emotional well-being.

Moreover, humility assists in legal decision-making. Theology also assists in comprehending complex text through analytical skills learned by reviewing and dissecting passages and ideas in various religious texts.

Communications

A communications major teaches you to convey ideas clearly and concisely through effective speech and written language skills. Communication is about more than politics and current events. The ability to relay ideas from one person to another in a productive manner can dramatically increase conflict resolution, an essential aspect of the legal field. An attorney’s job is to help solve a legal problem using persuasive language and logical, factual statements. Moreover, the ability to write an effective legal brief can make the difference between a positive or negative outcome.

Astronomy

Astronomy involves space, the physical universe, and celestial objects. As an astronomy major, you’ll learn how to understand the properties of physical systems involving our solar system, the Milky Way galaxy, stars and star clusters, and external galaxies. In addition, the physics and calculus involved in an astronomy major help prepare a student for law school for the analytical and clinical thinking required.

Did you know that we use legal counsel every time we launch something or someone into space? We have treaties for space and exploration, including locations like Mars, and for the rescue of astronauts and liability caused by space optics. We have agreements on governing activities on the moon and other celestial bodies. We even have a treaty banning nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere and outer space. So if you like astronomy and the law, an astronomy major may work for you.

Engineering

Engineering is a practical applied science. It’s involved with designing and building structures, machines, and engines. An engineering major studies science, math, and business principles. Majoring in this field teaches you to develop and conduct experiments, identify and solve issues, communicate effectively, and understand and practice professional and ethical responsibility.

An engineering degree helps you understand and apply critical and rational rigorous thinking. You’ll find practical uses for discoveries as you make innovations available to the world. However, the legal field offers a slightly different option for engineering as you can direct your focus to technology or patent law or practice intellectual property.

“Law and engineering intersect in so many ways. Any time you have any sort of regulatory body, like the Federal Aviation Administration, transportation, environmental, the Food and Drug Administration, all of these things require some level of technical expertise. And often times the people who are lawyers and judges and regulators don’t have the formal training,” said Assistant Professor Bryan Choi of the Moritz College of Law and Department of Computer Science and Engineering. If you want to know how everything works, maybe engineering is for you.

Math

A math major requires problem-solving skills, logical reasoning, and analytical thinking. If you have problem-solving skills, you likely have the ability to research effectively for the answer or solution to your question or conundrum. Such skills require you to understand it by applying analytical reasoning with facts and recognition of cause and effect. When you have analytical reasoning skills, you have the ability to notice patterns in facts or situations which can increase your ability to win an argument or sway a jury with persuasive facts and numbers. Math uses conditional and debatable statements to theorize “what if” situations to hypothesize theories. Math majors also benefit from logical reasoning skills to conclude and accept the obvious answer.

Policy Studies

If you major in policy studies, then you specialize in a sub-discipline of political science and analyze the policy process and contents of policies. You’ll complete substantive area research in a specialized choice such as education or health policy, perform impact studies, program evaluation, and policy design. Such policy analysis is used to examine and evaluate options to utilize the purpose of laws and elected officials. Attorneys perform policy work in think tanks, government legislatures, and lobbying firms. With this major, you can affect great change in the community by understanding analytical skills and the policymaking process.

Lauren Hersh of World Without Exploitation said, “I honestly believe that my legal background is essential to the policy work that I do,” she says. “I think there’s such an overlap between law and policy, and I think it is really beneficial to be able to actually read a law and understand the wording and understand the intent and understand the legislative history and understand all the components.”

While it’s a difficult field to break into, law school graduates can interpret complex language and discern how subtle legal changes can significantly affect the public. It’s an advantage for attorneys who find this field of law satisfying and fulfilling.

International Relations

International relations studies interstate relations with international organizations and subnational entities like interest groups, bureaucracies, and political parties. If you want to change the world, enjoy politics and focusing on global issues, and appreciate diversity and other cultures, international relations studies may be for you.

In fact, international law is an accepted code of conduct for international relations. Even where no recognition is given to international law, it is indirectly accepted. Legal basis is provided to international relations through international law by utilizing it as a shield for rights advocation and a critical view of alternative nation’s political policies.

Besides that, countries use international law to conduct their own relations with each other. Diplomacy is utilized in foreign policy for diplomatic missions and relations through international law. Lastly, international relations keep order through international law. It offers strength for the conduct of relations between nations and has assisted in internationalism and international integration. Moreover, it promotes respect for international values. International relations in law can help promote world peace.

Biology

Biology is the study of living organisms. It includes anatomy, behavior and origin, physiology, and morphology. It’s also another field of study that requires impartial and analytical skills as well as critical thinking in research papers and findings, which makes biology an excellent major for a law school candidate.

Forensic law is a fascinating career for those interested in biological sample presentation as court evidence. Understanding the process of fluid sample and tissue analysis uses undergraduate biology expertise to compile case evidence. Still other focuses in law with a biology degree may include environmental impact and medical malpractice. Yet another choice includes patent law in biotechnology and other biosciences.

Art History

When you think of a law degree, you may not necessarily think of using art history as an undergraduate major. However, studying the history and development of visual arts, including sculpture and painting, provides a strong foundation in analysis, critical thinking, and research and writing skills.

Executive Director Joane Garcia-Colson said, “If you don’t know your story, you can’t tell your client’s story. For example, a closing argument shouldn’t be a nonstop bombardment of words. You need white space, like you might find in a painting or a poem, to allow for texture, depth and rhythm. Art can help you put your argument together.” You can choose the unique specialty of art law, or you can allow it to influence you in the field of law as a creative outlet to find evasive answers.

So…Which One?

No one choice is an easy option above others. Many factors need consideration before choosing a major on the track to law school. These other factors are:

• GPA: While no major is effortless, students need to select a path where they know they can succeed. Law schools look at GPA as a significant factor when evaluating applicants. No matter how good your major is, if you have a poor GPA to show for it, it will hinder your law school entrance.
• Preparation: Make sure that the major you choose prepares you for your preferred field of law. If you want to work with a legal team as in-house counsel for a large company, major in business administration. If you’d rather be a public defender, you may want to major in philosophy.

Choose the Best Option for Your Plan

Many different paths and options lead to law school. If you are thinking about what your life plan looks like or are set on being a law school candidate, give careful consideration to your major. With a great strategy and execution, you can be on the fast track to being a superb law school candidate. Just make sure you select the major that makes the most sense for what you want to pursue after law school.