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What are some good colleges?
Hey my name is Lakiya , and I attend Hillcrest Highschool in Memphis, Tn, and I want to be a lawyer and I was wondering what are some good colleges, I'm open minding to moving out of state also! #lawyers #colleges #fun #law
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4 answers
Meighan Middleton
Former College Advisor and Admissions Professional/Surface Warfare Officer
38
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Newport, Rhode Island
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Meighan’s Answer
There is no one best undergraduate program to prepare you for a future career as a lawyer. Rather, your undergraduate time should be spent excelling in a strong curriculum so that you are competitive for top law programs. Pick a school that you will enjoy studying at and makes sense for your budget. Work hard and do well, and consider getting involved in pre-law extracurricular activities and potentially earning your Paralegal certificate and working in a law firm on the side. Then, once you have set yourself up for success, you will be competitive for your first choice law school, which will be much more important than your undergraduate school for your law career.
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Ananya’s Answer
Georgetown University and other schools with strong liberal arts programs are helpful to set you up for success going into law school.
Thank You so much this is so helpful!
Lakiya
Updated
Dan’s Answer
Full disclosure: I am not a lawyer, but I have many friends who are! The main thing about being a lawyer is that it requires a graduate degree from a law school after you complete your undergraduate degree. I have seen political science, history, english, business, and several other undergraduate majors all go on to law school and be successful, as the main thing to do in undergraduate is learn how to critically think and analyze, and then law school is for the specific purpose of learning law. What that means generally, is that if you want to be a lawyer, there are no specific paths to get there until you go to law school, and it's up to you how you want to get there! If you want to start getting an idea of what are the best law schools, several publications publish rankings every year with details about admission statistics and what specific areas of law they are the best in - there are more fields of law than most people realize. The lists are always a great place to start and see what interests you, and start to research what kind of applicants they have, what kind of scholarships and funding they give students, career placements, and much more. If you want to get started, I'm going to post links to some articles and rankings for you to start you on your journey in the optional next steps.
https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools
https://abovethelaw.com/2020/03/2021-u-s-news-law-school-rankings/
Dan recommends the following next steps:
Thank you so much for the advice, I will keep this in mind!!
Lakiya
Updated
Fred’s Answer
There is not a simple answer to this, as many factors should be considered. Location, size of the school, campus life, dorms, extra-curricular activities, staff-student ratio, program (history, chemistry, etc)...and others are all factors you should think about.
Are you bold and adventurous and want to forge your own path, or are you more comfortable going somewhere your friends are going so you have a pre-built support group? Don't be judgemental or think about what you'd like to be - try and be realistic. I shuddered at the thought of going far from home. My daughter can't get far enough away from home (hmm....wonder what that says about me, lol).
For undergraduate, you want to go somewhere you can thrive, excel academically, and still enjoy your time there. College is often the best times of people's lives, and you don't want to go somewhere that makes you miserable.
Also, remember you can transfer to a new college if your first choice doesn't work out. Sometimes you lose a few credits when doing so, but i know many people who did transfer and never looked back.
Are you bold and adventurous and want to forge your own path, or are you more comfortable going somewhere your friends are going so you have a pre-built support group? Don't be judgemental or think about what you'd like to be - try and be realistic. I shuddered at the thought of going far from home. My daughter can't get far enough away from home (hmm....wonder what that says about me, lol).
For undergraduate, you want to go somewhere you can thrive, excel academically, and still enjoy your time there. College is often the best times of people's lives, and you don't want to go somewhere that makes you miserable.
Also, remember you can transfer to a new college if your first choice doesn't work out. Sometimes you lose a few credits when doing so, but i know many people who did transfer and never looked back.