Unlike preparation for admission to medical school, no specific series of courses is required of pre-law students. Law school admissions representatives recommend that you choose a major that personally interests and challenges you so that you produce your best academic work. An examination of the majors of those accepted to law school shows that no single major is preferred over others.
Your goals as a pre-law student should be
- To develop your skills and knowledge in the following three areas:
- critical thinking and analysis - the ability to fairly interpret difficult or ambiguous texts, to analyze and evaluate facts, data, principles, rules, and policies, and to do so in a logical and methodical manner
- written and verbal communication - the ability to communicate with a high degree of clarity, organization, and precision
- attention to and awareness of society at large - interest in and understanding of a range of human institutions, values, and issues
- To take challenging courses within and outside of your major that will help you broaden your intellectual horizons and develop consistent, efficient study routines.
- To do your best work at all times, both for yourself and in an effort to obtain a high GPA and strong faculty recommendation letters for law school.
Even though law schools are not looking for specific courses (don’t take any course just because it has “law” or “constitution” in the title), they are looking for certain qualities in your course work. The Law School Admissions Council sums it up as follows:
"Legal educators agree that the development of skills and habits conducive to legal reasoning is more important than subject matter. The student's college courses should be geared, therefore, to the development of:
- Habits of thoroughness, intellectual curiosity, and scholarship;
- The ability to organize, critically analyze, and communicate ideas and information;
- A broad understanding of human nature, human institutions, and values;
- Mastery of a specific body of knowledge or discipline."
The development of these skills and abilities is precisely the goal of the core curriculum and a liberal arts education at Santa Clara.