Question for Current Students at T14 Forum

[tartan2016]

Hi guys,

For you current students, is there any undergraduatr course which you feel helped you the most in law school? Not in terms of substantive material but in the problem solving approach/writing skill needed?

[UVA2B]

Short answer...no.

Slightly longer answer: any class that makes you read a lot and synthesize your argument/thesis into a coherent and persuasive narrative is helpful in an abstract sense, but even this type of class is doing very different reading/writing than anything you're doing in law school.

Pick classes that interest you and that will allow a good GPA. That's it.

[BigZuck]

Can Georgetown students answer this question?

What about recent grads from UT?

I think a speed typing class would probably be the most helpful you can take. The more word vomit you can vomit out on racehorse exams, the better.

Aside from that, probably anything where you read boring stuff closely would be helpful. I would say writing classes might be helpful but not really, usually law profs don't care about spelling/grammar.

[Lawcat11]

Honestly I wish I had taken more economics/finance courses- I took two in undergrad and I feel behind a lot of my classmates. But that's mainly for certain professors who are into that stuff on exams and for employment purposes.

For law school classes in general I would take a lot of reading-heavy classes with a lot of dry material.

[stoopkid13]

Can Georgetown students answer this question?

What about recent grads from UT?

I think a speed typing class would probably be the most helpful you can take. The more word vomit you can vomit out on racehorse exams, the better.

Aside from that, probably anything where you read boring stuff closely would be helpful. I would say writing classes might be helpful but not really, usually law profs don't care about spelling/grammar.

GULC or georgetown undergrad?

[fiercegoldfish]

Honestly I wish I had taken more economics/finance courses- I took two in undergrad and I feel behind a lot of my classmates. But that's mainly for certain professors who are into that stuff on exams and for employment purposes.

For law school classes in general I would take a lot of reading-heavy classes with a lot of dry material.

I also think econ is a good idea. It comes up in some classes more than others, but sometimes the professor will get into econ and you can see half the class' eyes glaze over. It's also similar to the thinking you do in law school to an extent (at the macro-econ level there are very few "right" answers and two different equally smart economists may completely disagree as to the effect a policy will have)

[Winter is Coming]

Basic accounting if you are going into Corporate. Basic econ for torts (especially for some profs). American history (if you don't have a background in it, especially helpful for Con Law for foreign students--a lot of Con Law assumes you know stuff about Separation of Powers, Federalist Papers, etc.).

Anything that teaches you to be a better writer/typer will help. I found that being a good writer really helped me first semester 1L, probably because all 1L tests are word vomit and professors would rather read an organized and semi-well written test than a complete jumble.

Not especially helpful for 1L, but I wish I would have taken sometype of advanced Excel class. Not that you absolutely need it and you can learn a lot on your own, but it's always good to know.

[Nebby]

Take any classes that require a lot of writing. Doesn't matter what type of writing so long as you're practicing

[k5220]

A really basic understanding of microeconomics was really helpful for the law & economics stuff that inevitably comes up in Torts/Contracts, and philosophy classes (esp. Political Philosophy and Poststructuralism) were helpful for developing analysis/writing skills. But I'll echo what everyone else is saying, and note that you should really just take classes you're passionate about and can get good grades in.