Pre-Law

Program Coordinator/Contact

Lisa Hager, Associate Professor of Political Science
School of American and Global Studies
Lincoln Hall 325, Box 2212
605-688-5343

Pre-Professional Interest Area Information

The formal academic training for law includes, with few exceptions, a bachelor’s degree and three years of study in law school to earn a Juris Doctorate. Law schools welcome and encourage a variety of educational backgrounds among their students. Breadth and intellectual maturity are more important than study of particular subject matter. However, law schools do recommend that the pre-law curriculum be carefully selected.

No specific subjects are prescribed for law school admission, and thus any undergraduate major available at SDSU can prepare a student to study the law.  The pre-law student should be involved in an undergraduate program that is intellectually challenging and requires rigorous academic discipline. Individuals who have chosen a field of study work with their major advisor as well as the pre-law advisor to select courses and create a plan of study.

Law School Admissions Test

All law schools require the Law School Admissions Test, and most pre-law students take it in June between the junior and senior year or during the undergraduate senior year. It is a nationwide, half-day test of general aptitude for undertaking law studies and for writing ability. Students are encouraged to contact the pre-law advisor for more information on the LSAT and law schools of interest early in their academic career.

Possible Majors

• American Indian and Indigenous Studies (B.A.)  
• Criminology (B.A./B.S.)  
• Economics (B.A./B.S.)  
• English (B.A./B.S.)  
• History (B.A./B.S.)  
• Interdisciplinary Studies (B.A./B.S.)  
• Political Science (B.A./B.S.)  
• Psychology (B.A./B.S.)  
• Sociology (B.A./B.S.)