Pre-Law

Print Degree Planner (opens a new window) |

Advisor
Teresa Francis, JD, LLM
Department of Law and Justice
CWU-Pierce County
253-964-6260

The attainment of a law degree ordinarily involves a seven-year program—the completion of an undergraduate degree (four years), followed by three years at law school. Before winter quarter of one’s senior year, a future law student should take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) and apply to law schools.

Law schools do not require a particular major or courses as a condition for admission. Common undergraduate majors found in the law school population are history, English, economics, business, political science, and philosophy. No specific major will ensure admittance to law school. The most important criteria are your GPA and your score on the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT). The pre-law student should seek a course of study, which enhances his or her verbal comprehension and analytical thinking. Critical understanding of the human institutions and values with which the law deals is also very helpful.

The law and justice department offers an advisory program designed to assist students in choosing and gaining admission to law schools, with several advisors having law degrees. The pre-law student should carefully plan his or her program in close consultation with an advisor.

For more information on this program, please go to: www.cwu.edu/law. Also, visit www.lsac.org for more information.

Pre-Professional Programs Information

These programs are planned for two groups of students-those who want one or two years of college work prior to entering an occupation, and those who want to do pre-professional work for one, two, three, or four years before entering a professional school, university, or college.

The programs described are not to be considered unalterable. They represent patterns that generally agree with the requirements of many professional schools. Since there are many variations in the requirements of the professional schools, students should, after consulting the CWU catalog, select courses required by the institution from which they expect to earn a degree.

The following pre-professional programs are offered: pre-chiropractic, pre-dentistry, pre-dietetics, pre-engineering, pre-law, pre-medical technology, pre-medicine, pre-nursing in public health, pre-occupational therapy, pre-optometry, pre-pharmacy, pre-physical therapy, and pre-veterinary.