Ok so i am going to law school after college, but I am having trouble deciding which minor to pick. I know you can major and minor in whatever you want, but I also know that they want you to be good at reading a lot, and writing a lot. I have also heard that knowing Latin is really helpful. So, I am majoring in political science, and I have enough room for 2 minors. But I am trying to choose from 3, and they are: Spanish, Latin and Writing. I am thinking Latin and Writing will help me the most when I get to law school, but I am not sure if maybe Spanish is more important than any of these. So which of my 3 will help me the most when im in law school so that I can get through it with the best skills? Thanks!
Of those three, I would do writing and Spanish. It is always good to be fluent, or at least conversational, in a second or third language. Writing is good because as you said, it is important to write well.
If your school offers philosopy as a minor, I think that would be a great complement to your pre-law studies. Not only would you have to do a lot of writing, but you would have to do a lot of convincing writing. A philosophy minor will challenge you to think and write analytically and to make convincing arguments for or against different beliefs and points of view.
I'm in law school now. I would highly recommend anything that makes you write A LOT.
Some ideas: Political Science, History, Government, English, Philosophy
As long as you can write, it really doesn't matter what you're major is though. I've always heard that Math majors do the best on the LSAT, which is interesting since there's no math on the test. Oh, and I don't think Latin would help a whole lot. If you love Latin, then go ahead but we aren't really tested on vocab words or specific terms where Latin would help.
I'm in law school, and I agree that latin won't help much. Knowing a second language is a really big boost to the resume, though. Also, since admissions are so incredibly competitive, I've heard having an unusual major helps mak an application stand out. So if you have an interest in something off the wall, don't think following the crowd is a more practical option. Oh, and there are a number of good books on preparing for law school. If you know you're going to go, you might enjoy reading one or two.
I have been looking for books about preparing for law school but I cant find anything! All I have seen are things on different stats on the law schools. Do you know of any specific books or what kind of search I should do to find books for people who PLAN on going but arent in the application process yet?
I graduated from law school in May, and I agree that Latin will not be particularly helpful. Anything that involves writing is good, but I think another thing to consider is what type of law you want to practice. Most people don't decide this until their third year of law school, or even after that, but if you do have an idea, you can use that as a guide. For example, if you want to do immigration or any kind of public interest law, Spanish would be great. If you are interested in patent law, you have to take a certain number of science classes to qualify for the patent bar, so a science would be an option. Or if you wanted to do tax or corporate, you could consider a business minor. Overall, what you choose isn't going to be that big of a deal, but it can give you an edge later on when you are interviewing for jobs. As for books about preparing, most of the ones I know of are for when you are actually applying (help with essays, etc.). What you may want to do is look into the statistics for the schools you are interested in. That will give you an idea of what GPA you should shoot for. They also may have a list of majors of their first years (my school did) that can give you an idea of what others are doing. Good luck!