I want to become a lawyer and I was wondering what schools are best for undergraduates before law school?

Answered

If you want to be a lawyer in the PacNW, there are a few good options in Oregon. Both OSU and Willamette have what is called a 6 year BA/JD program where you study 3 years of Liberal Arts and 3 years of Law School. If you go to Willamette undergrad you get auto-admitted into Willamette Law School if you get accepted into the program. If you go to OSU you can opt into Willamette or Lewis & Clark Law School, both of which are very good law schools. In CA, CalStateNorthridge has the same program with Southwestern Law School, and UC Santa Cruz partners up with UC Hastings School of Law. In Washington there is no program like that however Gonzaga has a 2 year accelerated JD program where you go 2 years straight including summers & finish in 24 months, so you are done in 6 years total instead of 7. Southwestern and Pepperdine also have a 24 month JD program as well. If you are not so much into being an attorney as soon as possible, I would just focus on getting into the best possible Liberal Arts college or National University (doesn't matter where) where you can take a variety of core curriculum courses that will help you think better and more efficiently. Like the SAT/ACT, law schools have the LSAT so you will have to prep for that and get a good score. To get into a Top 50 Law School you need a 160 or above and to get into a Top 25 Law School you need a 165 and above. It's a really hard test to get 165+ but it's doable if you have a solid Liberal Arts background and prep hard. (One or two caveats about the 3/3 BA/JD programs are that you can't pick and chose your law schools. So if you get into Columbia U or UPenn you have to go to CU or UPenn law school. Also, you might change your mind and you don't want to be stuck on a BA/JD track at a school that you aren't in love with.) Becoming a lawyer can be a very long and rewarding profession so choose wisely and don't rush it in my opinion. Focus on just getting into the best undergrad school you can and things will work themselves out for the best. Good luck.