So I slightly dissent from A with re to changing your major only b/c I feel that its largely irrelevant at the end of the day.
Quote from: Burning Sands, Esq. on July 19, 2009, 06:24:13 PMSo I slightly dissent from A with re to changing your major only b/c I feel that its largely irrelevant at the end of the day.I agree with that. I just said that I personally wouldn't select the major. Stigma and such. Same reason I'd never major in "pre-law." But, again, the OP should do whatever makes him/her happiest and will get him/her the best grades.
Your specific major matters less than the type of major you choose. What matters is that you choose a serious major. Schools are leery of pre-professional subjects such as business, and those that reward performance talents such as acting. There are some majors that admissions counselors cringe at seeing; communications, criminology and pre-law (even though theoretically pre-law is not a major)Any subject that requires serious analytical work and dedication attract at least a reasonable % of the best and brightest will meet with approval.The ideal undergraduate record would thus include all of the following:Top quality schoolDemanding course load (no path of least resistance) advanced work in a second unrelated (to your major) filed is particularly helpfulTop grades throughout (with few courses taken pass/fail) but especially in junior & senior yearsCourses requiring substantial reading, strong writing ability good research skills and analytical prowessCourses developing useful substantial knowledge for your future legal field.When posed with the question: What factors do you consider when evaluating an undergraduate record admissions officers at various law schools state :What ever the major, there should be variety including some clearly demanding analytical courses. There is not set preparation for law school, but some majors may be of less value than others (for ex. Pre-law) I examine the undergraduate transcript very closely. I look at what the applicant has done both in and outside of their major- Faye Deal, StanfordWhat we are looking for is both breadth and depth. We favor applicants who come to us from broad liberal arts education. They learn about human vision from the arts, how the world works from math and the sciences and the human condition from philosophy and history. We don’t want academic dilettantes however; we want applicants to have taken the most analytically rigorous courses in their field- Jim Mulligan, ColumbiaNot all UGPAs are created =. Swat and William and Mary, for instance have refrained from inflating grades; their averages are between 2.8 & 2.9. At the other end of the spectrum, Stanford and Yeshiva have mean GPAs over 3.4- Mulligan, ColumbiaThe GPA number is just a starting point. Our first concern is how rigorous the course load has been. We look at academic letters of recommendation, which are particularly helpful if they address the difficulty of the course load ex: the grading policies of professors from whom the applicant took multiple courses. Other factors we c examine is whether there were substantial barriers to performance such as the need to work many hours per week- USCI know what the strongest and weakest programs are at some 50 to 60 schools. At some smaller commonly seen schools (and programs) it can be helpful for the student to provide detailed information. –GWUWe see a # of pre-med students who did poorly as pre-meds but then did well in their next field. The key for them is to make sure they get out of pre-med early so they can fully demonstrate their talents.- UCLA
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