Noah Leavitt (co-Director of the Career and Community Engagement Center)
Law schools want evidence that applicants can think, read, write, express themselves orally, and understand forces that have shaped human experience, developed its institutions, and ordered its values. A wide variety of courses in the liberal arts deal with such matters, though in different ways and with different emphases. The study and practice of law also requires analytical reasoning skills, which are fostered by certain courses in mathematics, natural sciences, economics, and philosophy.
Accordingly, Whitman does not have and does not recommend a formal prelaw major as preparation for law school, believing that no specific series of courses is correct for every student who intends to enter the legal profession. Major law schools and the Association of American Law Schools agree that a broad liberal arts program is the best general preparation.
Students planning a legal career are welcome to discuss their plans with a prelaw advisor.
The P-D-F grade option should be used by prelaw students with caution.
Students who hope to attend law school the fall following graduation should take the Law School Admission Test by the end of the fall semester of their senior year in order to meet most law school admission deadlines; we strongly encourage students to take the LSAT by the end of October. Students looking ahead to law school are encouraged to meet with a prelaw advisor during their junior year to map out a timetable for exams and applications.