Preparation for Law
If you plan to enter law school after earning an undergraduate degree, it is prudent to choose a major that reflects your true academic interest. Law schools draw students from a variety of majors, and history has proven to be one of the most successful in launching students toward successful careers in law. This is because our courses provide an understanding of the context within which the western legal tradition emerged. They explain the impact that laws and courts have had on shaping society and, conversely, how societal change has reshaped legal practice. As critically the habits of a historian teach students to read and contextextualize evidence, to consider multiple perspectives, and to frame and express arguments, skills that numerous lawyers and administrators of law schools suggest are the closest approximation of legal practice that can be simulated in an undergraduate curriculum.
Additional information about the history department’s prelaw program is available at:
www.ohio.edu/history/undergraduate/prelaw.html.
In addition to our diverse array of history courses, you are advised to use your general electives to take other courses helpful in enhancing your analytical abilities. Those may include courses from English composition and literature, American literature, political science, economics, sociology, philosophy (include ethics and logic), accounting, psychology, and a foreign language. Courses in speech, and training in expression, as well as activities that develop the capacity for independent thought and action, are recommended.
The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that to enter law school you must be able to show possession of an undergraduate degree from an approved college if you wish to take the Ohio Bar Examination. Law schools in the State of Ohio require the degree of all entering students, regardless of the state in which they plan to take the bar examination. More general informaton regarding prelaw can be found at: www,cas.ohiou.edu/undergrad/cat/PreLaw.asp.
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