I am sophomore poli sci/economics major at a large public university, I was just wondering how much your major plays into law school admissions. I understand grades matter above all, but given two applicants with the same gpa how much does ones major play into the admissions equation? The school I am attending is a very good school with plenty of internship/externship opportunities and a great faculty, however it carries virtually no name recognition and is still working to shed its reputation as a mainly commuter school. The law schools I plan on applying to are Case, OSU, Cinci, and Depaul and Akron as safeties.

Thanks

It doesn't really play all that much. You can major in math and get into a good school or major in art and do the same. Schools want well-rounded, intelligent students who've done some interesting things (joining pre-law society is not interesting, in my opinion). Obviously, good GPA and LSAT are key.

The questions you should ask yourself are these: do you actually want to be a lawyer? Why do you want to be a lawyer? And do you know exactly what being a lawyer actually entails in terms of sacrifice, stress, etc.?

I agree with the comments above. Unfortunately, the only three factors that matter (unless you are a coveted minority; Black or Hispanic, but not Asian) are (1) LSAT, (2) GPA and (3) the prestige of your undergrad, in that order. Your clubs, service, etc. will matter little, if any unless you are one of the last students to get admitted from a pile of similarly situated candidates. Then it's a crap shoot depending on what the administrator likes.

I would think long and hard about becoming a lawyer. It is not that it is a bad profession per se (although its full of jerks), but it is full of stress and very few lawyers truly enjoy it. The ones that do have mental illnesses and/or no social life (they thrive in the attention at work).

Grades and LSAT. Nothing else matters.