Posted on 09/01/2009 12:43:02 PM PDT by stan_sipple
Using 1994-1995 and 2002-2003 data, Nieswiadomy (1998, 2006) found that economics majors scored well on the LSAT. These results are frequently posted on university web sites by Economics and other departments. This note, which updates the prior studies using current 2007-2008 data for the 2008-2009 class of students entering law school, finds that Economics majors still perform at or near the top of all majors taking the test. Economics majors (LSAT score of 157.4) are tied for first (with Philosophy) of the 12 largest disciplines (those with more than 1,900 students entering law school). Economics is tied for second (with Philosophy/Religion (157.4)) behind Physics/Math (160.0) in a set of 29 discipline groupings that are created to yield at least 450 students with similar majors. I also think the data suggests that those disciplines that place a greater emphasis on logic and syllogistic reasoning are better preparation for the LSAT than those that do not.
(Excerpt) Read more at volokh.com ...
Tthe fundamental problem is an overage of attorneys.
Of course our local tv stations would probably go out of business if they lost all the adverts for personal injury and social sec disability tort hounds.
I would have thought other left brain disciplines would have beat out Philosophy.
But then any engineer taking the LSAT would probably be doing it because he washed out of engineering.
But then any engineer taking the LSAT would probably be doing it because he washed out of engineering.
You have to admit, it is a possibility.
engineers might have a hard time finding work with all our manufacturing going overseas. but an engineer with a law degree could make a killing doing patent litigation. theres really no way for a lawyer with a non-technical background to get into patent work.
I’ve actually been toying with the idea of becoming a lawyer. Primarily focused on being a prosecutor for SEC cases. Of course, I would basically have to go back and get a bachelors (sooooooo long out of college and totally wrong major) AGAIN ... but economics might not be a bad course of study.
And then there is the cost ... ouch
some of the very best law students used to be journalists who got good at writing very fast. filling up a lot of blue books cant hurt your chances on an exam
take corps, criminal law, specialized securities, administrative and tax courses. if you cant get on with the SEC try out for your state’s securities regulator, attorney general or local prosecuting attorney’s office.
A reasonably intelligent person could spend six months studying and pass the bar exam. It’s not that hard.
I dont doubt you are right. But everytime I try to read a patent application my eyes glaze over.
Tedious and boring way to make a living IMHO.
of course they’re all looking for that million dollar case too
“I would have thought other left brain disciplines would have beat out Philosophy.”
Yes, well, the LSAT isn’t about that sort of thinking persay. it’s about cracking boring and seemingly impenetrable paragraphs. Philosophy students spend a lot of time reading dense treatises that may or may not be meaningless, and in any case, things regular people think pointless.
I thought you were Pre-Med.
The best preparation for the LSAT is to be smart. And there’s a concentration of smart students at the top-ranked colleges. Those colleges rarely have a ‘prelaw’ major, which means most prelaw majors come from students at lower level schools. Also, some majors have few ‘unsmart’ students, such as math and physics.
As other Freepers have noted, facility with writing is also useful for law school.
Yeah, I’m thinking that my comp sci with emphasis is networking and cryptography is not a really solid background to build on for security regulation. :-)
“A reasonably intelligent person could spend six months studying and pass the bar exam. Its not that hard.”
That’s the way it used to be. An aspiring lawyer would apprentice with an experienced attorney until he learned enough to be accepted by the legal community and the pubvlic at large as an attorney. Medicine and engineering were simlar. The only reason one went to a non-military college was to become either a minister or an educator.
pre-law programs also allow less qualified but “deserving” students the chance to become political activists and earn enough brownie points to make up for their intellectual shortcomings.
i cracked open an mcat prep book once and shut it right away!
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