Would a B.A. in paralegal studies do you a disservice for law school application? Forum

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lawapplicant2017

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Would a B.A. in paralegal studies do you a disservice for law school application?

Post by lawapplicant2017 » Wed Jan 23, 2019 8:52 pm

Everyone has told me that one's individual major is not of concern for the law school application process. The LSAT and LSAC gpa are the fundamentals. And I understand that.

My school offers a B.A. (Bachelor of Arts) in Paralegal Studies degree. Some students in the major go on to law school and some go on to get paralegal certification. You take many similar law school courses (Contracts, Torts, Civil Litigation, Bankruptcy Law, Real Estate Law, Legal Research, Applied Legal Research, Internship, etc) and the program is graded in a rigorous manner to prepare one for law school or legal career.

I have a great LSAT and gpa. I don't want to switch majors to say Business, because then I will have to go 2 years longer. So while a BA in paralegal studies might not have the rigor of a business degree, I can't think it would be looked on any worse than a BA in Poli Sci, Psychology, etc.

A lay person told me the Paralegal Studies degree is going to do me a disservice because Adcomms will think I was indecisive about whether I wanted to go into law or paralegal and how abysmal this will look on post law school resume's and many firms would turn me down for it.

I can't think this would be true. Again, I don't want to switch majors since I am six credits away from finishing. So can someone tell me how much it may hurt?

albanach

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Re: Would a B.A. in paralegal studies do you a disservice for law school application?

Post by albanach » Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:46 pm

lawapplicant2017 wrote:A lay person told me the Paralegal Studies degree is going to do me a disservice because Adcomms will think I was indecisive about whether I wanted to go into law or paralegal and how abysmal this will look on post law school resume's and many firms would turn me down for it.

I can't think this would be true. Again, I don't want to switch majors since I am six credits away from finishing. So can someone tell me how much it may hurt?
Sounds like the lay person mistakenly believes law School admission is holistic. It is not.

Admissions care about your GPA and LSAT. If you want to go to law school, take the major most likely to maximize your GPA.

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