a&m gets plenty in. All she needs is a high last score and a decent undergrad gpa.

Help, my daughter has said she wants to go to A&M and major in PolSci or BusAdm for Pre-Law. No problem there...

Here's the problem: TODAY, she comes home from HS and is concerned that she needs to go to another school that will increase her chances of getting into Law School...

Any quick help on A&M's record for Pre-Law students getting accepted into Law Schools?

Jared got in Columbia law...he went to A&M

I did just fine during law school admissions with my TAMU degree.

GPA, LSAT, and extracurriculars are what matter; she won't get shut out because she's from a state school, if that's what she's worried about.

edit: there are also a few other aggies here, and several at NYU Law, and the list goes on.

[This message has been edited by jared (edited 9/16/2003 3:39p).]

Major in something else - accounting or even engineering - then apply to law school.

One of the worst things you can do to hurt your odds of getting into law school is major in something like PoliSci, simply because so many PoliSci majors apply, and the law schools prefer a diverse makeup of undergraduate fields of study.

Additionally, if there's a change of plans or for whatever reason law school doesn't work out, a different major provides a more valuable degree to fall back on.

Oddly enough, the major with the highest acceptance rate to both medical school and law school is math.

[This message has been edited by Keegan99 (edited 9/16/2003 3:42p).]

yeah plus if you hate law you can actually do something else.

While DK is right that an "alternative" major can help you in law school admissions, don't feel like she has to shy away from polisci, econ, business, etc, if that's what she's interested in.

Econ and any degree from the College of Business would be good majors, no doubt.

Echoing other comments above, I majored in Mechanical Engineering and had no problem getting into several law schools. LSAT score, grades, and difficulty of undergraduate degree are all considered.

(And law school was a piece of cake compared to Mech. Eng.)

One more echo of Jared and Keegan's comments: My brother went to A&M and got into NYU Law. His undergrad was accounting.

And I'm a pretty good example of someone who thought he wanted to be a lawyer when he was 18, but was glad that I went with a major (also accounting) that gave me a solid skill if I changed my mind along the way. I interned at an accounting firm, decided that was what I wanted to do vs. law school, and entered the real world and got my CPA. It's been 7 years since I graduated and I've been very happy with my choice.

I've got to say that A&M has certainly not been an impediment to my legal career. It has helped me at every step along the way.

1. I had some real grade problems to overcome when I decided to go to law school, but A&M helped me get over them.

When I graduated with a 2.85 (bad grades, I know), Karen Severn at the Office of Professional School Advising (an AFS funded program) helped me prep for the LSAT and write sterling applications. As a result, I got into 4 of the 5 schools to which I applied. I went to Baylor on a full scholarship, which is reserved specifically for Aggies, and I was offered scholarships at 3 of the four schools that accepted me (2- full, 1- 1/2).

2. When it came job time, the Aggie Network really shined for me.

An Ol' Ag partner in a Fort Worth firm ponied up to give me a good job before law school. That firt job led directly to a prestigous 1L clerkship, a 2L clerkship, and now a six-figure associate position in my first-choice city.

When two other Ol' Ags, classmates of mine, started hunting for pre-law jobs, I made sure that my firm made offers to both of them. One of them clerked with us in 2002.

It's hard to say A&M hurt me in any way. As I look out my 21st-floor window on the lake, I have to realize that A&M has enabled me to go a great deal farther in the law than I deserved, based on my undergraduate grades.

3. Lots of Aggies get into Law School
A&M is the leading producer of admitted students at Baylor, and runs pretty close at t.u., UH, and SMU. Karen Severn at OPSA has the statistics, and our acceptance rate is pretty impressive. Having access to the Aggie Network will mean that you can find people who will help you get on your feet as a 1L.

4. A&M has impressive law alumni.
If you look at the founding leadership at the biggest firms in Texas, you'll find men like:
Mike Bagget (CEO of Winstead, Sechrest & Minnick)
Searcy Bracewell (Bracewell & Patterson)
Henry Gilchrist (Jenkins & Gilchrist)


[This message has been edited by Vestal_Flame (edited 9/16/2003 4:36p).]

Here is a list of schools that recently admitted Ags:

http://opsa.tamu.edu/pdf_files/lawadmissions.pdf

[This message has been edited by Vestal_Flame (edited 9/16/2003 4:09p).]

Ditto on the Aggie network. It's incredible the number of doors this has opened for my brother and myself over the years - both with job opportunities and client relationships.

[This message has been edited by BadaBing (edited 9/16/2003 4:09p).]

To listen to Mike Bagget (sp?) over at Winstead tell the story, 9 of his 10 best clients sit within 5 rows of him at Kyle Field.

Here's another HUGE catch nobody mentioned:

Everyone and their dog wants to go to law school, from Uncle Bob's College all the way to Harvard. You said she needs a "decent" GPA - a "decent" GPA will not get her in one of the better law schools - it's waaaay too competitive out there these days. You never know how the economy will be with a lot of people competing to go back or get into grad school. Don't shoot for decent.

It's not the school that is going to get her in - it's her GRADES, LSAT, and extra-curriculars.

If she goes to an extremely difficult school and makes average grades, then someone who went to a mediocre school could beat her out. Not that A&M is easy, but A&M is very doable as far as having a great GPA - A&M is also a name - some of the best lawyers in the country are Aggies.

Tell her to get involved in student government at A&M - A&M has some of the best extra-curricular law/business programs out there.

Stay with A&M. Make good grades and take some classes that will help with the LSAT (IE, Logic). Make killer grades and be involved. Don't burnout at some Stanford-type school just to get the diploma from there.

[This message has been edited by Go Postal (edited 9/16/2003 4:18p).]

2.85

hell I should have gone to law school and then i could waste all of my time on BBS boards and charge ridiculous amounts of money to clients


oh wait .....

^
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You can be a CPA and do the same thing.

^
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Or an account exec!

I should make the disclaimer that the 2.85 was in electrical engineering. Keegan popped me the URL at work.

My general theory on majors for law school is that the hard sciences, engineering, and math prepare you more adequately (than say English) for the type of reasoning that you use in law school. Philosophy can also do this if you study logic in a systematic way. My general experience with the typical liberal arts (POLS, ENGL, HIST) majors was that they experienced difficulty in the first year because they had not been forced to develop structured reasoning skills to the same degree as those of us who had been taking a great deal of math.

[This message has been edited by Vestal_Flame (edited 9/16/2003 6:47p).]

forget it then

EE be hard now if you had said Chem. E then 2.85 would have been easy

I have to disagree with Keegan about poli sci being a bad degree for law school. I don't think any major is preferred over any other, not does one prepare you more than another. With regard to Aggies in good law schools, I'm at UT Law, which has a pretty darn good rep. Aggies are the largest student group at the law school, with around 10% of UT LAw students being Aggies.

Good GPA, LSAT score, activites are the key to getting in a good law school, no matter what recruiting directors tell you. GPA and LSAT are the most important.

Don't major in pre-law. Interests change over time, and it's good to have a degree to fall back on like business or engineering.

Also, A&M is just fine for getting into law school. I applied to law school on a whim and got in with no prob. Grades and LSAT scores are far more important in the law school admissions process. The undergraduate institution you attend only affects the admissions process if it is (1) an Ivy League school, or (2) a really crappy school (like Texas Tech). People from A&M, UT, Baylor, SMU, etc. are all pretty much on a level playing field...no school is given preference over another. Again, regardless of where you go for undergrad, it is your GPA and LSAT that matter most. Someone from University of Houston with a 4.0 and a 170 LSAT has a better chance of acceptance than a person from Rice with a 2.8 and a 155 LSAT.

It should be noted that there is NO "Pre Law" major at A&M.

There isn't?

I could have sworn there was. There is a pre med isn't there?

Well, there are pre-law and pre-med student organizations, but there are no such *degree plans*.

bc75-

Recent grads appying to law school through the Office of Professional (and Graduate) School Advising http://opsa.tamu.edu/ are admitted to law school at a rate of about 20% higher than the national average (83% vs. 62%).

I can fax or email you a copy of OPSA's brag sheet if you'll email me a number....(email in profile)

ttt

My Poli Sci major wasn't really a bar for me to get into law school at SMU. Just so long as you have good grades, good LSAT, and at least one decent extracurricular (my SMU acceptance letter said they were particularly interested in my participation in the Eisenhower Leadership Development Program, which is a guaranteed A), there should be few problems in getting accepted to most any normal school. Hell, SMU was the only one I applied to.

so basically, you wanted to move to Dallas and hang out with rich kids.

Sure enough! Unfortunately, hanging out with rich kids can be kind of depressing when you're poor.

Grades and LSAT are all that matter.* Almost all schools (all in Texas for sure) use an index based on your LSAT and GPA to rank students for admission. The index does not factor in your undergrad school or major - just LSAT and GPA.

Go to the school where you think you can get the best grades. A 3.6 from TTech is better than a 3.4 from TAMU. (For purposes of law school admission - not for employment if you decide against law school).

Major in something you will do well in. A 3.7 in basket weaving is better than a 3.2 in engineering. Picking a field that gives you career options besides law school is a good idea incase you change your mind.

* If you are truely a bright student and achiever (top of HS class, 1400+ SATs etc) and you can get into a Princeton, MIT, Harvard, etc (or other truely "elite" school with rampant grade inflation) - it may be worth thinking about.