Useful college major for law school and the "real world".

[Scentless Apprentice]

Hopefully, a degree will have taught you how to make better informed decisions and become a better writer.

Hey Wanab, DONT GET A COMPLEX - my above comment was for college students in general. You can replace the above 'you' with 'someone', and get the same idea I was going for. I think those are two of the main things I got out of my 6 years of college (doubled).

It's actually quite amazing, really. After 2 degrees & all that time..it's incredible to flip through my boxes of work/books & realize how much I've forgotten.

If you major in Finance, you may not remember anything about Gordons Growth model or how to compute the weighted average cost of capital, but you'll be more likely to understand Finance issues once you do the proper research. But you won't be directly pulling from some pool of information you gained in UG.

Hopefully you get my drift..I think, between the two of us, I may have the issue with writing.   

[!закон и право!]

The most useful degree for real, contemporary life: Classics.

[Wanabattorney]

   Scentless Apprentice,  No worries, I know I was being a bit dramatic.  It's just that I was a little concerned that I was starting to sound like a moron.  I do appreciate the advice that you and others offered me and I will take it to heart.

  What are your degrees in, if I may ask?

  I don't know if you are aware of this but I'm not a recent high school graduate or some young, twenty-something college student.  I am 37 actually, former military and I have been trying to come to grips with career choice.  For whatever reason I have been unable to pinpoint and decide on a career. At least one that I stuck with.  But after much consideration and soul searching I realized that I did not want to wake up one day in my "golden years" and have regrets or wonder "what if?".  I would rather try my hardest and fail than not try at all, life is much too short. That is the reason I decided that I will just bite the bullet and set my sights on becoming an Attorney. I have been interested in the law for years and I am actually hoping to become an ADA. Of course I will keep my options open as to the area of law I practice in though.

 That is why I have a little apprehension about choosing a major, because of the age factor.  If I was younger it wouldn't be as much of an issue if I had to go back and either get another degree or start looking for another option.

 I hope all this makes sense.  I would love to continue to get advice, support and the like from all of you in this forum.  Especially since the majority of you have a lot more education experience and insight to the matters concerning law school. Thanks again and I look forward to learning all I can from the lot of you.

[Wanabattorney]

The most useful degree for real, contemporary life: Classics.

   Really?  Why is that and can you elaborate?

[Scentless Apprentice]

Thales will be unable to elaborate.

As far as advice, this board is full of it.

The search function will help..it's on the left side of the page. Under the 'Site' heading, click 'Home'.

After 25 or so, students are labeled "non-traditional". Maybe punch non traditional (there is also a non trad section under pre-law) into the search function & go through some of those threads..even 'picking a major'. As far as undergrad, you'll be able to get advice from the counselors & career services at whatever school you go to.

Also, go through the pre-law board & just read whatever interests you. There are many, many pages of threads..you'll find lots of useful info (even if it's not recent) & will soon start putting things together.

As far as the age thing, you're right, things are different for an older student. I always enjoyed having people in their 30's and 40's in my UG classes. Most of them took classes very seriously & had interesting experiences to share. You seem to have a great attitude in that regard. Best of luck. It's all a journey.

[Ninja1]

Major in history or English if you want something semi-useful if you don't go into law school. At least with either of those, you can usually walk right into a teaching job somewhere.

Is this really true? I'm not sure how a history degree enables you to "walk right into a teaching job."

It may be hard, given the OP's question, to find a worse suggestion than "major in history." Actually, now that I think about it, I get it. It's a joke. Oh! HAHAHHA!

I know several people with history degrees that pretty much started teaching as soon as they graduated UG.

Educationally, you're qualified to work as a teacher with just a BA. Some markets are tight and some states make you get a cert., but you can find a teaching job with a history BA if you're willing to look for it.

[Scentless Apprentice]

Major in history or English if you want something semi-useful if you don't go into law school. At least with either of those, you can usually walk right into a teaching job somewhere.

Is this really true? I'm not sure how a history degree enables you to "walk right into a teaching job."

It may be hard, given the OP's question, to find a worse suggestion than "major in history." Actually, now that I think about it, I get it. It's a joke. Oh! HAHAHHA!

I know several people with history degrees that pretty much started teaching as soon as they graduated UG.

Educationally, you're qualified to work as a teacher with just a BA. Some markets are tight and some states make you get a cert., but you can find a teaching job with a history BA if you're willing to look for it.

Roger that, you're right. I was just joking with you because this wanab person seems very concerned with being pigeonholed (yeah?) because of their degree choice. I tend to think of a Business degree as very utilitarian. If I was in that mindset, I would choose biz. History is aiight.

[Ninja1]

Major in history or English if you want something semi-useful if you don't go into law school. At least with either of those, you can usually walk right into a teaching job somewhere.

Is this really true? I'm not sure how a history degree enables you to "walk right into a teaching job."

It may be hard, given the OP's question, to find a worse suggestion than "major in history." Actually, now that I think about it, I get it. It's a joke. Oh! HAHAHHA!

I know several people with history degrees that pretty much started teaching as soon as they graduated UG.

Educationally, you're qualified to work as a teacher with just a BA. Some markets are tight and some states make you get a cert., but you can find a teaching job with a history BA if you're willing to look for it.

Roger that, you're right. I was just joking with you because this wanab person seems very concerned with being pigeonholed (yeah?) because of their degree choice. I tend to think of a Business degree as very utilitarian. If I was in that mindset, I would choose biz. History is aiight.

Gotcha.

Business would be a good degree if he's real concerned with the pigeonholing effect of the degree. There might be about 100 million people with business BAs, but at least it's a degree that should come in handy almost anywhere.

[PurplePug]

I'd like to suggest Public Administration. Like business, it's also a very utilitarian degree, but slightly more related to the study of law. Additionally it will allow you to pursue many government positions should law school not work out. Most city managers have undergrad & grad degrees in public admin.

[Top Cat]

I got a Management degree, but if I could do things differently, I would have gotten a degree in either Finance or Accounting.  They are the real core of the business school, and with a degree in one of those, you will be infinitely employable.  Plus, either of those degrees would lay a solid foundation for a future in tax law.