Pre-Law Emphasis
Many students interested in going to law school choose to study philosophy. This is sensible given that philosophy provides students with a number of valuable skills. Philosophy courses emphasize the critical reasoning skills required of students in law school. Such courses also help students improve their writing skills needed for practicing law. That philosophy provides excellent training in this regard is related to the fact that philosophy majors have some of the highest scores on the law school LSAT exam. Recent studies have shown that philosophy majors nationally scored the second highest on the exam overall, and had higher scores than all other humanities majors. This means philosophy majors perform very well among the pre-law majors which students enroll in. For more information about the value of studying philosophy, see the list of LSAT scores and the links on the Resources page.

There is no separate major or minor in the department for students interested in applying to law school. Students should satisfy the requirements described for the relevant program and take a variety of courses. To plan an appropriate course of study, students are encouraged to meet with a faculty advisor. There are several courses that may be particularly useful to pre-law students and recommended.

Recommended Courses