Impact of majors assumed as "fluffy"

[nooyyllib]

Hello,

Today i was reading ivey's law school guide and she talked about what different types of majors can impact admissions.  she mentioned sociology as an assumed "fluffy" major (well amongst students this is somewhat true).  However, i am a sociology major, a hopeful law school student.  will being a sociology major influence me negatively in admissions?

P.S. i'm a sociology major at University of Virginia.

[dissident]

The only thing that matters is GPA and LSAT.  School, extras, major, grad degrees, war wounds, and sunday dinner do not affect admission at all.  And take the LSAT as much as you can because, despite what admissions departments claim, they will take the highest score.

At least, that was my experience.

[dsetterl]

You have to realize that these people wrote a book for an intended audience: "The Paranoid Law Applicant" You are buying into their crap. My advice is to STOP.

[fsohn]

I was a "fluff" major (English Lang & Lit) at a peer school to UVa (UChicago) and it didn't really hurt me.  I applied with a 3.48 and graduated with a 3.63, so maybe the upward trend helped, but as long as you bust ass on the LSAT, a solid GPA is a solid GPA.  There is some truth in the "Legally Blonde" method--a 4.0 from anywhere in any major is still a 4.0

[pig floyd]

(right click, view image)

[nooyyllib]

thanks everyone, piggy pop so i'm guessing you are saying sociology is "fluffy".  and to others, i will take your advice and just get a strong gpa and lsats.  does strong major gpa help at all?

[Changed Name]

Major GPA doesn't matter.  The only thing that matters is overall GPA.  Back to the discussion of "fluffy" majors, it really makes no difference, as long as the major is something that is somewhat respectable.  I think you may run into some problems if you major in "basket weaving" or "ballroom dancing" (and that's probably if you didn't graduate with a 3.7 or above).

I think, for some reason, liberal arts majors tend to get a lot of unwarranted flack.  They are seen as "easier" than other majors;  but there is a reason that these majors tend to be seen as good for law school preparation (majors such as political science, philosophy, English, etc.).  They help a lot with developing writing skills and honing analytical ability (not that other majors don't;  it just seems that these majors may be better suited for the task). 

I recently was cleaning out my hard drive and I was looking over some papers I had written freshman year;  I contrasted them with papers from my last year, and I could marked improvement.  Of course, you may want to argue that improvement could've been as a result of just maturing in my years, and not a correlation with my course of study.  However, I'd disagree.  I studied political science and philosophy, and I can say with confidence that my philosophy courses truly helped hone my writing ability that it translated over to my political science papers.

In the end, I just want to state that, though some majors are seen as "fluff," they do help foster many beneficial skills for law schools.  I think adcomms are aware of this fact.  I took a sociology class to fulfill a requirement;  i rather enjoyed it.

[pig floyd]

thanks everyone, piggy pop so i'm guessing you are saying sociology is "fluffy".  and to others, i will take your advice and just get a strong gpa and lsats.  does strong major gpa help at all?

Get a strong overall GPA and good LSAT.  Worrying about your major isn't so useful.  If you like it, that's good enough, imo.

[Julie Fern]

Hello,

Today i was reading ivey's law school guide and she talked about what different types of majors can impact admissions. she mentioned sociology as an assumed "fluffy" major (well amongst students this is somewhat true). However, i am a sociology major, a hopeful law school student. will being a sociology major influence me negatively in admissions?

P.S. i'm a sociology major at University of Virginia.

it virginia thing going kill you.

[nooyyllib]

now why is that? specifics? reasons?