What’s the Most Popular Major for Law School Applicants?

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Summary: What’s the best and worst majors for future law school students? 

Does it matter what you study if you want to go to law school? While law schools don’t have  pre-requisites like medical schools have, there has been an ongoing debate whether some majors are “better” than others when applying.

  

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In 2012, U.S. News and World Report said that criminal justice and pre-law students had a rough time getting admitted because those majors were viewed as “easier,” than say, chemistry or engineering. Those majors also had significantly lower LSAT scores and admissions rates than applicants who studied philosophy or English. The Law School Admissions Council compiles student data yearly, and their recent poll shows a similar trend.

The LSAC studied thousands of 2015-2016 law school applicants and found that political science was still the most popular major for law school applicants. Almost 13,000 students applied with that major, and they had an average LSAT score of 153.

Almost 4,000 criminal justice majors applied for law school, and 65% of them were admitted with an average LSAT score of 146. While this admittance percentage was worse than other humanities students, they did fare better than their comrades who studied nursing or social work.

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Astronomy, classics, physics, mathematics  and biomedical majors averaged the best LSAT scores (160+) while guidance counseling (140) and personnel management (142) students had the lowest scores.

For the LSAC’s complete list of applicant stats, click here.