unique majors?

[G-Money]

The most unique major I can think of is botany (the study of plants for those of you who don't know).

Btw, business sounds like a good idea.

[Cyndra]

Major in what interests you. If you're sure that you want to go to law school or business school, great. Then spend your college days doing something else that you love. You have the rest of your life to immerse yourself in law or business. I was a bio major because I'm a science geek. I knew I wanted to go to law school, but I chose my major based on my interest in the sciences. Who knows, maybe you'll fall in love with something else and find that law school really isn't right for you. Or maybe you'll find that you can combine that non-law related interest with law. I as a bio major have interest in pursuing IP law or health law. It's college. There are no prereqs for ls, so just do what you want.

[wunder]

I agree with the others.  Do something you love and are interested in.  I wouldn't have gotten through college had I majored in something "normal."

But, on the flip side, from someone who had a few years' gap before going to law school (my spouse got to go first), pick a major that will allow you to transition into a career, at least temporarily if necessary.  If I had a nickel for every English major friend of mine that is making an hourly wage, I'd be rich.  (Kudos to those English majors who found a job -- I'm not flaming on you -- maybe my friends are all just stupid or something.) Business administration would qualify as career-oriented, as would programming. 

[Vannabunny]

Major in what you love, what you think you think you can keep a good gpa in, and get a job if LS is not really for you. I can only stree how important the first one is.

It seems to em the LS dont care too much what you major in - I am a Social Studies Education/Special Ed major with a physcology minor....things I feel passionate about, which in turn drove me to succeed in classes in those areas.

[AmyJD]

3.25 GPA and previous year's median LSAT get you into Northwestern:

http://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/prospective/honorscombinedprograms.html#HPEL

Or, their integrated science program is sort of the 'liberal arts' of the science and engineering world, and highly respected:

http://www.isp.northwestern.edu/

[muffin]

thanks for the advise. Well i was interested in BA, but the easiest subject for me to get a 4.0 would be getting a Comp Science degree, since i've taken AP Comp Sci, loads of programming courses,etc.Not sure if im interested in doing it for life though (constant computer typing,but easy for me). So how would law school react to that?

I hope well since that's one of my majors!  If you go to a school whose program is ABET accredited, it qualifies you to sit for the Patent Bar, which means you can become a patent lawyer.  Or if you decide not to go the law school route, you can still be a patent agent.

I wouldn't count on it being as easy of a major as you think though.  My school's CS program has a huge attrition rate because a lot of students come in thinking they're going to get a degree in programming, and honestly, computer science isn't that much about programming.  You're going to have to take calculus based physics, calculus, calculus based statitics, and lots of classes focusing on algorithm analysis (if you didn't like the section of AP CS dealing with Big-O and different sorting algorithms, you probably won't like CS).  Most of it's going to be about math and analytical thinking, *not* programming.  Almost all of the programming after first year is to reinforce abstract concepts (and programming things like two-three trees in an imperative language is a nightmare).  If you're good at that and you enjoy it, however,  definately go for a CS degree.

If you do go this route, make sure you minor or double major in a Social Science or Humanities subject or you will likely notice a large drop in your reading/writing skills -- I've noticed that my critical reasoning skills have atrophied since I've started taking mostly CS classes (although my analytical reasoning skills have become very solid!), and this is despite that the fact that I have a double major in Economics.

[the town drunk]

B.A. Douchebaggery

[CuteCUTigerr]

I majored in accounting.  I think it's not a bad idea to do something where you have a definite career if you change your mind; you never know what the future might hold.  It doesn't really matter what you major in undergrad although certain majors will do a better job preparing you for law school.  However, you can seek organizations that help you develop these same skills.  Although I majored in accounting, I was really involved in our literary magazine and ethics bowl (debate).  Basically, pick something that you love and don't worry about how that will help you with law school.  

To plug my major for a second, though.....you'd be amazed how fascinating debits and credits really can be...

[Jolie Was Here]

Just by scanning the previous posts, I can see there's quite a diversity of opinions on this one: here's my $.02, which you're free to do with what you will. 

Major in something that you find intellectually engaging and that will teach you to think.  That will be different for different people.  The truth is that very few degrees prepare you with skills and knowledge that directly translate into specific careers.  I'm almost a decade out of undergrad now, and very few of my friends are working in fields that would have been obvious given their majors in college.  There's one with an anthropology BS who works in design, one with a masters in clinical psych who's a makeup artist, a double major women's studies and psych who works as a reading education specialist for D.C. charter schools, a music composition and theory major who's in law school, a computer science major who's acting professionally... 

My own path was pretty meandering - my bachelors is in biology and bioanthropology.  I never worked in the hard sciences post-graduation, but I wouldn't change my ug for anything.  The sciences train you in a type of critical thinking that I may not have picked up elsewhere.  Then I did my masters in Industrial and Labor Relations (the grad correlate to the program linquest mentioned) which blended law, history, economics, bargaining and negotiation skills, sociology, social theory...  I think that a well-rounded education is invaluable. 

I'm not suggesting that my way would be for everyone - it was definitely well-rounded, but also a little schizophrenic.  What I am saying is that there's no sense trying to follow some cookie cutter path at this stage of your life, because very few roads lead directly to a specific end anyway. 

Either way, have fun choosing!

[englawyer]

BBA is probably a poor choice, even for a business career.  Companies will not plop you out of u-grad and let you "manage" a team of experienced people.  That is unrealistic. 

The best pre-business major I could think of would be a double major in Industrial Engineering & Finance.

IE is concerned with how to improve manufacturing, increase efficiency, etc.  If you join a company as a IE you can probably move up into more business stuff easily and you will have a high starting salary.

Finance would show an interest in business with some tangible skills.

Along this track , you should aim for something like:
http://www.gecareers.com/GECAREERS/html/us/studentOpportunities/leadershipPrograms/entry_level.html

Aim for the OMLP or the FMP.  FMP in particular is known as one of the best "finance" programs around and will surely fast-track you.  However, I'm sure OMLP would be just fine too.

This course of action would possibly jeopardize law school though.  L-schools do not like "practical" or "vocational" majors, such as engineering or business.


The best "flex" option would be (in my opinion) double major in IE and Math.  Math is one of the premier pre-law majors (along with Philosophy).  Surely shows great analytical skills and will let you master the LSAT.  It is also a "generalist" major.  IE would give you the business option though.  Corporations would also love to see Math (the CEO of General Electric was an Applied Math major).