What's the Deal with Pre-Law Programs for Law Students?

Nowadays, pre-professional programs are as prevalent on college campuses as Ugg boots. There are pre-professional programs for almost any career track. Pre-programs aren't majors; they're directional paths of study and experience to prepare undergraduates for a specific industry or career.

So what's the point of picking up a pre-professional program? We've laid out the specifics of one of the most popular: pre-law


Pre-Law

Some colleges have an official pre-law curriculum, but this isn't incredibly common. Most pre-law programs involve meeting with an advisor to choose classes, clubs, and jobs that will appeal to law school admission committees. Law schools require a bachelor's degree, LSAT (entrance exam) scores, essays, and recommendations, but no specific coursework, so most pre-law programs' non-regimented nature makes sense.

"We don't have any preference of what someone studied in their undergraduate school as long as they're coming from an accredited college or university," says Andrea Depaoli, an information specialist at Harvard Law School.

It's more important for applicants to have done well in their majors than to have studied a law-related field. According to Lyon Zabsky, assistant director of pre-law advising and alumni resources at Princeton University Career Services, law schools want to admit a class with a range of intellectual interests.

"Law school admissions deans/committees look for how well an applicant did in his/her major. Law schools fill each class with diversity in every sense of the word, and major is one of them. A law school will not fill half the class with history majors and the other half with politics majors. For example, an art history major or a religion major will stand out among the 'typical' thought of majors for law school," Zabsky writes in an email.

Not only do law schools value a diverse student body, but each applicant should have widespread interests, too. According to Zabsky, taking a variety of classes in an area outside of your major shows you have varied passions and aren't risk-averse.

With that being said, pre-law students should demonstrate an interest in law. This doesn't necessitate taking politics courses: classes like anthropology of law or legal traditions can get the job done. Gaining law-related experience - for example, completing legal internship - shows law school admission committees that you're seriously interested in the field.

Law school is a good option for students who want to be a lawyer or government official. If you're interested in either career, meet with your school's pre-law advisor early on to begin to think about if you are passionate about law-related work and to get a more concrete idea of which courses and internships law schools favor.

The Bottom Line

Pre-law are not disciplines in themselves, but tracks that prepare undergraduates to apply to professional schools. For pre-law, take a varied course load that includes law--related classes, and show your interest in the subject matter through extracurricular and internship experience. Meet with a career advisor at your school to determine a curriculum that suits both your intellectual interests and your professional goals.