150 Best Colleges for Pre-Law

Often grouped with Harvard and Princeton as the pre-eminent Ivy League institutions, Yale has about 6,700 undergrads and 8,800 grad students across 15 constituent schools, including the undergraduate college and the famous Yale Law School. Unlike other universities that might spread their graduate programs across other campuses, Yale is fairly compact, making it easier for undergrads to access opportunities at the Medical School or other graduate-oriented programs. 

Academically, Yale is most famous for the social sciences and humanities (Yale dominates in admissions to elite law schools), but Yale’s STEM programs are also world-class, especially in the life sciences, and should not be overlooked. Yale students are known for being intellectually curious, and Yale’s strength in performing arts and creative writing has created a stereotype of Yale as the most “artsy” of the Ivies. However, it should be noted that few students (less than 10%) at Yale double-major. Yale has a semi-urban campus, with green quads and gorgeous Collegiate Gothic university buildings set into the small city of New Haven, Connecticut. (New Haven is also just two hours by commuter train from New York City or 2.5 hours by Amtrak from Boston.) Yale’s campus life is known for its close-knit residential colleges. Yale competes in Division I athletics.

While pre-law students can choose any major, many might be interested in Yale’s BA in Political Science, the second largest major at Yale. Political Science majors are required to take two courses each in two of four sub-fields: American Government, Comparative Government, International Relations, and Political Philosophy. Courses in the subfields of political philosophy and analytical political theory (both qualitative and quantitative methodology) further support studies. Two courses from other departments can be counted towards the standard major. Yale also offers the option to create an interdisciplinary concentration in Political Science, in which students focus on an area of study that crosses conventional disciplinary and departmental boundaries (e.g. urban studies, health politics and policy, political economy, political psychology, or a focus on the politics of a given global region informed by the study of the history and society of that region). can apply three courses from other departments towards the major. Students can apply for the intensive version of the Political Science major, which adds more extensive coursework and research, including a yearlong senior essay.

Another major often chosen by pre-law students at Yale is the interdisciplinary BA in Ethics, Politics, & Economics (EPE) sponsored by the Program on Ethics, Politics, & Economics, which employs foundations in contemporary economic analysis and issues in ethics and political philosophy to investigate policies with complex political, economic, and moral implications. All students in the major will define their own particular area of concentration within the major; for most students, the concentration will treat a contemporary problem with a substantial policy dimension (domestic or international), but some students may wish to emphasize philosophical and methodological issues. A semester-long or year-long senior research essay is required for the major.

Extraordinary Yale students are eligible to apply for Yale’s BA/MA Program at the end of their junior fall semester, earning both a BA in Political Science and a MA in Political Science in four years.

Yale students are also eligible to apply in their junior spring for Yale’s five-year BA–BS/MPP program combining a Yale undergraduate degree (BA or BS) with a Master in Public Policy from Yale’s Jackson School of Global Affairs.

Outside of the classroom, Yale is home to numerous law-related extracurricular organizations, including the Yale Undergraduate Legal Aid Association, Yale Undergraduate Mock Trial Association, Yale Undergraduate Moot Court, the Yale Undergraduate Law Journal, and pre-law affinity groups for Black and Hispanic students. 

Pre-law students at Yale can benefit from the assistance of a pre-law advisor at Yale’s Office of Career Strategy. Yale is one of only ten colleges whose undergrad students are eligible to apply for the prestigious Liman Summer Undergraduate Fellowship via Yale Law School, which sponsors students interested in public service and social justice (often pre-law) to participate in the Liman Colloqium at YLS and spend a summer working in publicly or nonprofit social services, cultural entities, or government organizations. 

According to data from 2017, the average LSAT score of Yale students (167.50) was the highest in the nation.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 8.4% of Yale grads attended law school, which is one of the highest law-school feeder rates in the country. Yale grads do better in elite law school admissions than anyone else: out of Yale grads who attended law school, 73% attended a T14 law school, the highest proportion in the nation. The top law schools drawing the most Yale grads are Harvard and Yale. (Yale College grads are known to have a slight advantage in admission to Yale Law School.)

3.9% admitted 730–780 Reading, 740–790 Math 3.9+ GPA

Perhaps the most famous university in the world, Harvard needs no introduction. However, readers might be surprised by how small Harvard College (the undergrad division of the university) is compared to the twelve graduate schools: Harvard has about 7,000 undergrad students but 14,000 grad students. Harvard’s main campus is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts; opinions are divided whether Cambridge should properly be categorized as its own small city or a suburb of Boston. An adjoining campus for Science & Engineering is located across the Charles river in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, and the medical campus in Boston's Longwood Medical Area. 

Founded in 1636, Harvard is the oldest university in the US and has the largest endowment of any university in the world (calculated per student it’s in the top five). Harvard boasts strong departments in nearly every academic field. Students interested in multiple disciplines should be aware that very few students double-major at Harvard (fewer than 4% of Harvard students are pursuing double concentrations, which only recently were allowed at all). Harvard competes in Division I athletics.

Pre-law students might be especially interested in the BA in Government offered by Harvard’s Department of Government. Within this major (which Harvard calls a concentration), students can choose an optional focus in one of five areas: Data Science, Tech Science, Public Policy, Political Economy, or Law & Justice. Students pursuing the honors track will write a senior thesis. Harvard students majoring in Goverment are eligible to apply for a variety of funded summer internships offered in partnership with several Harvard Centers abroad.

Harvard’s Mignone Center for Career Success offers pre-law advising, but Harvard undergrad students also have access to pre-law advising through their residential House (which students enter at the end of their first year and which forms a key part of the Harvard experience). Each House has their own pre-law tutors, usually current Harvard Law School students or recent graduates, who can assist with the entire pathway to law school. Harvard is one of only ten colleges whose undergrad students are eligible to apply for the prestigious Liman Summer Undergraduate Fellowship via Yale Law School, which sponsors students interested in public service and social justice (often pre-law) to participate in the Liman Colloqium at YLS and spend a summer working in publicly or nonprofit social services, cultural entities, or government organizations. 

Law-related extracurricular opportunities available to Harvard students include the renowned Harvard Debate Council, Harvard Undergraduate Mock Trial, Harvard Undergraduate Moot Court, the Harvard Undergraduate Law Review, the Harvard Undergraduate Legal Committee, and the Harvard Undergraduate Black Pre-Law Association. 

According to data from 2017, the average LSAT score of Harvard students (167.40) was the second-highest in the nation.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 6.6% of Harvard grads attended law school, which is one of the highest law-school feeder rates in the country. Harvard grads do very well in law school admissions: out of Harvard grads who attended law school, 70% attended a T14 law school, a rate second only to Yale. The top law schools drawing the most Harvard grads are Harvard and Yale.

3.0% admitted 740–780 Reading, 770–800 Math 3.9+ GPA

Although Princeton is often named in together with Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and MIT as one of the most elite universities in the nation, most people would be surprised by its small size — Princeton has about 5,300 undergrads but only about 3,100 grad students, almost all of which are PhD students (as Princeton has no graduate schools of law, medical, business, journalism, or other professional degrees). This means that Princeton is famously more “undergrad focused” than its peers among the Ivies and other elite research universities. One of the most distinctive features of the Princeton education is the senior thesis requirement: while some colleges require theses for honors degrees or particular majors, Princeton requires significant faculty-mentored senior theses for all students, along with substantial independent work in the junior year to prepare, and the scale of this independent work is often more comparable to a Master’s thesis. This means that Princeton tends to attract students particularly excited about independent research: a recent survey found that nearly half of Princeton freshmen are considering pursuing careers in academia and research. The senior thesis requirement also means that Princeton does not allow students to double-major. Academically, Princeton is strong across the board, but it’s particularly famous for its mathematics, physics, economics, and public policy departments.

Located in the affluent town of Princeton, New Jersey, the university is just one hour by commuter train from New York City or 1.5 hours by train from Philadelphia and has a very suburban feel. The campus itself is largely contiguous, featuring Collegiate Gothic architecture and green quads, and is known as one of the most beautiful campuses in the country. Calculated per student, Princeton has the largest endowment of any research university in the world, which leads to plentiful opportunities for students. Princeton competes in Division I athletics.

Pre-law students might consider Princeton’s BA in Politics, one of the most popular majors on campus. Politics majors can choose to follow one of four optional tracks: American Ideas & Institutions, Political Economy, Quantitative & Analytical Political Science, or Race & Identity. 

Princeton’s renowned School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA, formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy) offers a liberal arts BA in Public and International Affairs. Students in this interdisciplinary major combine coursework in statistics, microeconomics, sociology or psychology, politics or history, and other courses relevant to the study of policymaking, policy analysis, and policy evaluation. Students will focus either on a specific allied discipline (e.g. Economics) or on a theme such as Community & Individual Health, Education & Well-being, Economic Development, Environment & Energy, Globalization & International Relations, Governance & Law, Inequality & Human Rights, or National & International Security & Conflict. All students in the SPIA major are required to complete a substantial cross-cultural or field experience, such as an internship involving public policy work in a nonprofit, government or international agency such as the United Nations, the World Bank, Congress, or a state or federal agency.

Within the Department of Economics, the Program in Political Economy (PPE) offers the opportunity to focus on issues at the intersection of Economics and Politics, such as how political forces shape markets and other economic institutions. Students admitted to the PPE program earn a BA in Economics. 

Students more focused on political theory might consider Princeton’s BA in Philosophy, as the Department of Philosophy offers many classes on democratic theory and the philosophy of law.

Pre-law students might also be interested in the Law, Politics, and Economics track within the BA in Anthropology, which explores the comparative studies of law, politics, development, globalization and microeconomics across societies.

In addition, Princeton’s Center for Human Values offers an interdisciplinary minor in Values & Public Life that includes core approaches to the field of ethics and public affairs. In addition to foundational courses in moral philosophy and political theory, students in the minor take additional courses related to a thematic focus, such as environmental ethics or the theory or human rights.

The substantial independent research and writing requirements for all Princeton students, regardless of major, are excellent preparation for law school.

Although Princeton does not have a law school, the Program in Law and Public Policy, part of the School of Public and International Affairs, hosts distinguished law faculty fellows, advances interdisciplinary research on questions of law and public policy, and supports courses, workshops, and events aimed at advancing understanding of law’s role in shaping policy decision-making in the United States and around the world.

Princeton’s Center for Career Development offers pre-law advising, and the dedicated pre-law advisor also hosts Law School Prep events for the Princeton Pre-Law Society.

Princeton supports students to engage in funded summer internships in civic service through many different fellowships and programs, including the Princeton Internships in Civic Service (PICS) program, the Princeton RISE (Recognizing Inequities and Standing for Equality) program, the Bogle Fellows in Civic Service program, the Malkiel Fellowship, Projects for Peace, and others. Shorter “Princeternships” during winter break give Princeton students the chance to shadow alumni in legal fields for one to four weeks. For recent graduates, the Project 55 Fellowship sponsored by the Princeton AlumniCorps organization supports positions at non-profit organizations across the country. Princeton is one of only ten colleges whose undergrad students are eligible to apply for the prestigious Liman Summer Undergraduate Fellowship via Yale Law School, which sponsors students interested in public service and social justice (often pre-law) to participate in the Liman Colloqium at YLS and spend a summer working in publicly or nonprofit social services, cultural entities, or government organizations. 

Princeton has a variety of law-related student organizations, including the American Whig-Cliosophic Society (Whig-Clio), Princeton Mock Trial, the Princeton Legal Journal, the Princeton Progressive Law Society, the Princeton Federalist Society, the Princeton Pre-Law Society, and the Princeton Black Pre-Law Society.

According to data from 2017, the average LSAT score of Princeton students (166.10) was the third-highest in the nation.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 6.4% of Princeton grads attended law school, which is one of the highest law-school feeder rates in the country. Out of Princeton grads who attended law school, 61% attended a T14 law school, which places Princeton in the top ten for elite law school admissions. The top law schools drawing the most Princeton grads are Harvard and UVA.

3.5% admitted 740–780 Reading, 770–800 Math 3.9+ GPA

Unlike its East Coast elite peers, Stanford is a much younger university, founded in 1891. The university has about 7,800 undergrads and 9,700 grad students spread across seven schools on a large campus adjacent to Palo Alto, a suburb of San Francisco. Stanford has strong programs across all fields, but it’s most famous for STEM (especially computer science), benefitting from its location in the heart of Silicon Valley. Stanford competes in Division I athletics. Along with Duke, it’s one of the few top-tier private universities with fairly strong athletic teams. 

Stanford’s School of Humanities & Sciences offers a BA in Political Science that is a popular choice for pre-law students. Political Science majors focus on two of five tracks: Data Science; Elections, Representation, & Governance; International Relations; Justice & Law; or Political Economy & Development. Students can apply to the Political Science Research Honors Program, which entails writing a research thesis, in their junior year. There is also a minor in Political Science.

The McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society at Stanford develops interdisciplinary ethics initiatives that relate to pressing public problems. The Honors Program in Ethics in Society offers students in any major the opportunity to write a senior honors thesis on a topic that applies moral and political philosophy to a contemporary practical problem.

The Center on Democracy, Development, & the Rule of Law is an interdisciplinary center at Stanford for research on development in all of its dimensions: political, economic, social, and legal, and the ways in which these different dimensions interact with one another. Through the Fisher Family CDDRL Honors Program, students focusing on related subjects in any department can earn a certificate of Honors in Democracy, Development, & Rule of Law.

Stanford’s Program in International Relations offers an interdisciplinary BA in International Relations featuring classes in political science, economics, history, environmental policy, languages, and other fields. The Policy Practicum offers students hands-on experience in policy-making by having them work in small teams to develop an analysis or recommendation for a client organization. There is also a minor in International Relations; IR minors may focus on a range of issues including international security, international trade & finance, political & economic development, human rights & humanitarian policy, democratization, climate change, global health, or a specific region.

The Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford sponsors a selective Interschool Honors Program in International Security Studies, providing an opportunity for seniors from all undergraduate schools and majors to conduct rigorous, scholarly research on international security issues and to graduate with Honors in International Security Studies. Honors students participate in the CISAC Honors College, a two-week program that takes place in Washington, DC, and on the Stanford campus prior to the start of senior year. Students will have the opportunity to learn about international security policy and discuss their thesis ideas with government officials, legislators, journalists, and think tank scholars.

Stanford is one of only ten colleges whose undergrad students are eligible to apply for the prestigious Liman Summer Undergraduate Fellowship via Yale Law School, which sponsors students interested in public service and social justice (often pre-law) to participate in the Liman Colloqium at YLS and spend a summer working in publicly or nonprofit social services, cultural entities, or government organizations. 

The Office of Academic Advising offers one-on-one pre-law advising, pre-law programming, and other resources. The Haas Public Service Center helps to facilitate funded internships for the public good. Student organizations on campus include the Stanford Pre-Law Society, Stanford Women in Law, Black Pre-Law Society, Derechos Latino Pre-Law Society, Environmental Law Society, Stanford in Government, Mock Trial, and the Stanford Debate Society.

According to data from 2017, the average LSAT score of Stanford students (165.72) was in the top five in the nation.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 4.9% of Stanford grads attended law school, which is a strong law-school feeder rate. Out of Stanford grads who attended law school, 65% attended a T14 law school, which places Stanford in the top five for elite law school admissions. The top law schools drawing the most Stanford grads are UC Berkeley and Stanford.

3.6% admitted 740–780 Reading, 770–800 Math 3.9+ GPA

Consistently ranked as one of the top five liberal arts colleges in the country, Amherst is a small private liberal arts college located in the town of central Massachusetts town of Amherst, along with the much larger University of Massachusetts. (Don’t confuse Amherst College with UMass Amherst!) The town of Amherst is about two hours from Boston and has a classic college town feel; while Amherst College has only about 2,000 undergrad students, there’s plenty of student life from UMass Amherst (over 31,000 students), and the nearby small liberal arts colleges of Hampshire, Mt. Holyoke, and Smith. Founded in the early 19th century as an attempt to relocate Williams, Amherst has one of the largest endowments per student in the country. 

Like Brown, Amherst has an open curriculum (no core curriculum or distribution requirements), and it’s particularly known for the social sciences and pre-law. Amherst tends to be supportive of combining multiple majors: over 50% of students in the class of 2024 had multiple majors, while 10 students that year even completed triple majors and 3 students completed quadruple majors! The student culture tends to be fairly preppy and athletic. Amherst competes in Division III athletics.

Pre-law students might be interested in Amherst’s BA in Political Science. The major covers three main areas of study: Political Theory, Domestic Politics & State–Society Relations, and International Politics & Practices. Students who wish to be eligible for departmental honors will need to write a senior thesis.

In collaboration with the rest of the Five College Consortium, Amherst offers a certificate in International Affairs that can be added as a complement to a major. In addition to demonstrating competence in a foreign language, students pursuing this certificate will take at least seven courses on world politics and institutions, the international economy, the history of the international system, US foreign policy, and the politics, history, economy, or culture of one or more foreign areas.

Created 35 years ago, Amherst’s Department of Law, Jurisprudence, & Social Thought (LJST) offers a unique interdisciplinary major that has become one of the most popular at Amherst. The BA in Department of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought places the study of law within the context of a liberal arts education, studying law as a historically-evolving and culturally-specific enterprise in which moral argument, distinctive interpretive practices, and force are brought to bear on the organization of social life. Students in the LJST major take a combination of courses in Legal Theory (which emphasize the moral and philosophical dimensions that inform legal life and link the study of law with the history of social and political thought), Interpretive Practices (which emphasize the ways law attempts to resolve normative problems through rituals of textual interpretation), Legal Institutions (which focus on the particular ways different legal institutions translate moral judgments and interpretive practices into regulation and socially sanctioned force), and Historical and Cross-Cultural Perspectives (which explore non-American and non-Western legal traditions, the ways in which law and societies change over time, and the interdependence of law and culture).

Latham Scholarships are awarded each year to Amherst students who are seeking to spend the summer working as interns in Washington, D.C., in offices of the federal government or in other positions in public service.

Outside of the classroom, Amherst offers plenty of law-related extracurricular organizations, including Amherst College Mock Trial, Amherst College Moot Court, the Amherst College Law Review, and the Black Pre-Law Society.  

Amherst’s Loeb Center for Career Exploration & Planning offers extensive pre-law advising: one-on-one advising to find internship opportunities to explore and test out an interest in the legal field; assistance with searching for and applying to full time employment prior to attending law school; and resources, guidance, and support during the law school application cycle.

According to data from 2017, the average LSAT score of Amherst students (162.79) was in the top twenty in the nation.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 8.5% of Amherst grads attended law school — more than any other college in the US after Fordham and Georgetown. Out of Amherst grads who attended law school, 56% attended a T14 law school, which places Amherst in the top ten for elite law school admissions. The top law schools drawing the most Amherst grads are Harvard and Georgetown.

9.0% admitted 740–780 Reading, 750–800 Math 3.9+ GPA

Despite Dartmouth’s name, it’s actually classed as a research university, not a college. Dartmouth is the smallest of the eight Ivy League universities, with about 4,500 undergrads and 2,300 grad students. (Princeton, the next smallest Ivy, has about 5,300 undergrads and 3,100 grad students.) Like Princeton, Dartmouth is known for being primarily “undergrad-focused” in comparison to peer research universities. Dartmouth is located in Hanover, a small college town in rural New Hampshire, two hours from Boston. Dartmouth’s campus culture is dominated by Greek life, but also tends to draw outdoorsy students attracted to the easy access to nature. (Dartmouth is one of three colleges to have their own ski area!)

Academically, Dartmouth is particularly known for economics, political science, and other social science fields. Dartmouth operates on a quarter system (fall, winter, spring, and summar quarters), with a uniquely flexible “D-Plan” that allows students to mix quarters taking classes on-campus with quarters doing research on campus or around the world. Dartmouth competes in Division I athletics.

One of the most popular majors for pre-law students at Dartmouth is the BA in Government. Students majoring in Government complete introductory courses in at least two of the four subfields (American Government, Comparative Politics, International Relations, and Political Theory), one quantitative political analysis class, and advanced discussion-based seminars. There is also a minor in Government.

Many departments also have what Dartmouth calls “modified majors” — established versions of the major that combine courses from a related field into a coherent plan of study. For example, the Department of Government offers three modified majors: Government Modified with Economics, Government Modified with Philosophy, and Government Modified with Philosophy & Economics.

The Rockefeller Center for Public Policy at Dartmouth offers a minor in Public Policy open to students from any major. Students in the minor complete at least three courses around a policy theme, such as economic policy, foreign policy, education policy, environmental policy, or law & public policy.

Dartmouth students majoring in either Government or Economics are eligible to apply for the Dartmouth-Oxford Exchange Program, which allows them to be fully-integrated students at Keble College at Oxford, taking classes in Oxford’s renowned tutorial style; students who are also pursuing the minor in Public Policy will be given special consideration when applying. 

Dartmouth’s Center for Professional Development offers one-on-one pre-law advising and other resources. The Dartmouth Lawyers Association connects Dartmouth alumni in legal careers. Student organizations on campus include the Dartmouth Minority Pre-Law Association, Dartmouth Women in Law & Politics, the Dartmouth Mock Trial Society, Moot Court, and the undergrad-run Dartmouth Law Journal. 

According to data from 2017, the average LSAT score of Dartmouth students (165.67) was in the top ten in the nation.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 5.8% of Dartmouth grads attended law school, which is a strong law-school feeder rate. Out of Dartmouth grads who attended law school, 57% attended a T14 law school, which places Dartmouth in the top ten for elite law school admissions. The top law schools drawing the most Dartmouth grads are Harvard and UVA.

4.5% admitted 730–780 Reading, 780–800 Math 3.9+ GPA

Consistently ranked as one of the top five liberal arts colleges in the country, Williams is a small private liberal arts college nestled in the Berkshires, in rural northwestern Massachusetts. The college has about 2,000 undergrad students and just a handful of grad students (about 50 students) in economics and art history. Founded in the 18th century, Williams has one of the largest endowments per student in the country. Williams maintains a special relationship with Oxford and offers a unique option to take tutorial classes modeled on Oxford and Cambridge, with students meeting weekly in pairs with a professor. Williams tends to be supportive of combining multiple majors: more than 45% of students graduate with double or triple majors. Williams competes in Division III athletics, and there’s a fairly big sports culture given the small size of the college.

Williams offers some classes in a tutorial format adapted from Oxford; in tutorials, pairs of students meet weekly with a professor, taking turns presenting a point of view on that week’s readings while the other student critiques it. Up to 100 tutorials are offered each year, and more than half of all Williams students take at least one tutorial before graduating. This intense learning experience is excellent training for law school. 

Williams offers a BA in Political Science that is a popular choice for pre-law students. Political Science majors at Williams focus on one of four subfields: American politics, international relations, political theory, or comparative politics. Students seeking departmental honors can apply to write a senior thesis.

There is also a minor (concentration) in Leadership Studies with tracks in either American foreign policy or leadership studies.

Founded in 1946, the Political Economy Program offers the oldest interdepartmental major at Williams. The BA in Political Economy focuses on political and economic forces as they combine to produce public policy. Majors acquire a substantial mastery of economics, broad knowledge of the American and international political context, an understanding of the economic and moral stakes in key current public policy issues, and the opportunity to analyze policy for themselves. Students seeking departmental honors can apply to write a senior thesis. The Center for Development Economics at Williams offers one of the only graduate programs on campus, and advanced undergrad students can take advantage of grad-level classes available in policy economics.

Students interested in international law and foreign policy can apply for the selective three-week Summer Institute in American Foreign Policy. There is also a minor (concentration) in Global Studies that offers a variety of thematic tracks, including Economic Development Studies, Human Rights, or War & Security.

The Center for Career Exploration at Williams offers one-on-one pre-law advising and other resources. Student organizations include the Williams Law Society, Mock Trial, and Moot Court.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 6.1% of Williams grads attended law school, which is one of the highest law-school feeder rates in the country. Out of Williams grads who attended law school, 59% attended a T14 law school, which places Williams in the top ten for elite law school admissions. The top law schools drawing the most Williams grads are Harvard and Georgetown.

8.3% admitted 740–780 Reading, 750–790 Math 3.9+ GPA

One of the eight Ivy League universities, Columbia is the leading research university in New York City. As at Hopkins and Northwestern, the number of undergrad students is dwarfed by the grad students at Columbia: the university has only about 4,600 undergrads across three undergrad schools, but about 37,000 grad students across 16 grad schools. Columbia’s urban campus in Morningside Heights, on the West Side of Upper Manhattan, gives students access to a wealth of opportunities in the city. 

A particularly distinctive feature of the Columbia educational experience is the Core Curriculum, a liberal arts sequence required for all Columbia students featuring literature, philosophy, and other humanities disciplines. (Undergraduates in the School of Engineering and Applied Science take half of the humanities Core, plus a Technical Core.) Although Columbia has obviously been at the center of political controversies in recent years, it has maintained a strong reputation for academics across many fields, and is usually ranked among the T10 research universities in the nation. Columbia competes in Division I athletics.

A common choice for pre-law students at Columbia is the BA in Political Science offered within the College of Arts & Sciences. The department divides courses into four subfields: American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, and Political Theory. Political Science majors complete at least four classes in the subfield that they choose as their primary specialization and at least two courses in their secondary subfield. There is also a minor in Political Science.

In addition, the Department of Political Science offers two interdepartmental majors. The BA in Economics–Political Science focuses on the intersection of those two fields, and is especially well-suited for students interested in public policy or international affairs. Courses for the interdepartmental major are drawn from economics, mathematics, statistics, and political science. Meanwhile, the interdepartmental BA in Political Science–Statistics applies statistical tools to analyze data related to social science and public policy research.

Starting in fall 2026, Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), which previously only offered graduate programs, will offer an undergraduate BA in Global Affairs & Public Policy. (It’s worth noting that some faculty have criticized Columbia for rushing the launch of this major, which will fill the gap left by a decrease in international graduate student enrollment at SIPA.) The new major is built around an integrated foundation in political science, economics, history, ethics, data science, and regional studies; students will apply both quantitative and qualitative skills in policy analysis to study how different political systems, economic frameworks, historical contexts, and leadership choices shape policymaking at the local, national, and international levels. There is also an accelerated joint degree program that allows students to earn both a BA and an MIA or MPA degree in five years. 

Columbia’s office of Preprofessional Advising offers pre-law advising and support to Columbia undergrads. Student organizations on campus include the Columbia Pre-Law Society, Columbia Women of Color Pre-Law Society, Columbia Women in Law and Politics, the Columbia Undergraduate Law Journal, and Athena Mock Trial. Undergrad students at Columbia can take advantage of access to Columbia Law (a T14 law school).

According to data from 2017, the average LSAT score of Columbia students (165.00) was in the top ten in the nation.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 3.0% of Columbia grads attended law school. Out of Columbia grads who attended law school, 67% attended a T14 law school, which places Columbia in the top five for elite law school admissions. The top law schools drawing the most Columbia grads are Columbia and Harvard.

! Do not confuse Columbia University, the Ivy League institution in NYC, with Columbia College Chicago, a small private college in Chicago. Note that the spelling of Columbia University differs from that of Colombia, the South American country.

3.9% admitted 740–780 Reading, 770–800 Math 3.9+ GPA

While Duke may be famous among the general population for their basketball team, it’s also unequivocally one of the best research universities in the country. Located in Durham, North Carolina, Duke is the only T10 research university in the South. Hosting approximately 6,600 undergrads and 10,000 grad students across three campuses featuring Collegiate Gothic and Georgian architecture, the university is known as one of the most beautiful campuses in the country. Although Duke’s East Campus is walkable to downtown Durham, the campus feels more suburban. Duke forms one of the corners of the powerful Research Triangle region, together with North Carolina State University in Raleigh and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Although Duke’s academics are strong across the board, Duke is especially known for strengths in health sciences, global health, public policy, economics, and engineering. Unlike many of its ultra-selective peer institutions, Duke also offers a somewhat a more active student life and “typical college experience,” including a Greek system and a strong athletics program with tons of school spirit. Duke competes in Division I athletics. 

Duke’s Trinity College of Arts & Sciences offers a flexible BA in Political Science. Several years ago the Department of Political Science re-organized their undergraduate curriculum, and Political Science majors now select one of five “career concentrations” that focus more on planned career applications than on traditional subfields of the discipline; majors can select from American Political Institutions & Behavior, International Relations, Law & Political Theory, Decision Theory & Data Science, or Political Economy. There is also a minor in Political Science. The department is supportive of double majors in fields like Economics, History, Mathematics, Philosophy, Psychology, Public Policy, Sociology, or Statistics. 

In addition, the Department of Political Science has two affiliated certificate programs. The certificate in Philosophy, Politics, & Economics (PPE) explores the overlaps between the three disciplines. Duke’s PPE certificate mirrors a minor in PPE at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, and students in either program can take courses at the other school to meet the relevant requirements. Meanwhile, the certificate in Decision Sciences focuses on how humans make decisions in a variety of contexts, including economic, political and social choices; the certificate encompasses behavioral economics, game theory, machine learning, and other fields that cross disciplinary boundaries.

Duke’s Trinity College of Arts & Sciences also offers a BA in International Comparative Studies that allows students to focus on the culture(s), history, politics, and language of one geographic region of the world through region and foreign language coursework, complementing this multidimensional study of a particular part of the world with an examination of transnational dynamics through core and comparative coursework in global studies. 

Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy offers a BA in Public Policy that may also interest pre-law students. (Any student admitted to Duke may major in public policy through the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences.) In addition to rigorous coursework in political analysis, microeconomic policy, applied statistics, and other areas of public policy, all Public Policy majors complete an internship in public policy, typically the summer before their senior year. 

Duke’s unique Program II offers a way to create an individualized degree as an alternative to a traditional major; past Program II titles touching on legal themes have included “International Political Economy & Economic Development,” “Environmental Policy & Planning,” “Racial Policy & Social Change,” “Ethics in Public Policy-Making,” and “Political Implications of Contemporary Christian Thought.”

Duke’s Office of Pre-Law Advising serves both current undergrads and alumni from the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences and the Pratt School of Engineering. The office offers one-on-one pre-law advising both as a drop-in service and by appointment, as well as pre-law information sessions and group advising. Student organizations on campus include Bench & Bar (which acts as an intermediary between undergrads and the pre-law advising office), the Black Pre-Law Society, Duke Mock Trial, and the co-ed pre-law fraternity Phi Alpha Delta. Undergrad students at Duke can take advantage of access to Duke Law (a T14 law school).

According to data from 2017, the average LSAT score of Duke students (164.58) was in the top ten in the nation.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 6.7% of Duke grads attended law school, which is one of the highest law-school feeder rates in the country. Out of Duke grads who attended law school, 48% attended a T14 law school, with the top law schools drawing the most Duke grads being Duke (unsurprisingly) and Harvard.

5.4% admitted 740–770 Reading, 770–800 Math 3.9+ GPA

The most selective university in Washington, DC, Georgetown was founded just after the Revolutionary War, making it almost as old as the Ivies. Approximately 7,800 undergrads and 12,000 grad students attend this private research university set into the affluent Georgetown neighborhood along the Potomac River on the west side of downtown DC. Affiliated with the Jesuit order of the Catholic Church, Georgetown has retained many aspects of its Catholic identity, although only roughly 40% of undergrads at Georgetown identify as Catholic.

Academically, Georgetown is especially famed for political science, international relations, and public policy, benefitting from its location in the nation’s capital. However, Georgetown also has strong programs in many other fields, including business and the health sciences; a surprisingly high number of Georgetown students are pre-med. Georgetown competes in Division I athletics.

Georgetown’s five undergraduate schools are distinct colleges under the jurisdiction of separate deans (with separate essays during the college application process), and students wishing to switch to a different school within Georgetown will have to apply for an internal transfer. Students intending to pursue a legal career might be particularly interested in majors within the College of Arts & Sciences (CAS), the Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS), or McCourt School of Public Policy, and will have to decide when applying which school better fits their interests.

Within the College of Arts & Sciences, the Department of Government offers a BA in Goverment. Government majors complete foundational coursework in U.S. Political Systems, Comparative Political Systems, International Relations, and Political Theory. Students pursuing departmental Honors can apply to write a research thesis. There is also a minor in Government. Outstanding Georgetown students can apply to the department’s five-year accelerated BA/MA program in American Government or the accelerated BA/MA program in Democracy & Governance.

Also within the College of Arts & Sciences, the Departments of Government and of Economics jointly offer a BA in Political Economy that explores the methodological and substantive overlaps between the two fields. Methodologically, political economy emphasizes rigorous and frequently quantitative methods, including formal modeling, econometrics, and comparative case study methods. Substantively, political economy analyzes how international and domestic political factors interact with macro and micro economic factors to determine outcomes in a wide variety of areas including globalization, international trade, international finance, regulation, development, taxes, institutional design, the environment, and income distribution. Students pursuing departmental Honors can apply to write a research thesis. 

The new (launched in fall 2025) interdisciplinary minor in Law, Justice, & Society within the College of Arts & Sciences explores law as a social and situated institution with deep moral and ethical dimensions. The minor requires students to spend one semester in residence at the Capitol Campus’s Capitol Applied Learning Labs next to DC’s courthouses and Judiciary Square. The minor’s interdisciplinary structure differentiates it from traditional pre-law programs, as students “focus not only on case-law, institutions and legal structures, but also bring in history, theory and philosophical questions of justice that you would deal with in law school.”

Georgetown’s renowned School of Foreign Service (SFS) offers eight majors that all lead to a BS in Foreign Service: Culture & Politics, Global Business, International Economics, International History, International Political Economy, International Politics, Regional Studies, and Science, Technology, & International Affairs. A wide range of subject minors across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences allow SFS students to broaden their education, including a minor in Justice & Peace Studies. In addition, the McDonough School of Business and School of Foreign Service jointly offer a Program in Business and Global Affairs at the intersection of business and policy.

Offered jointly by Georgetown’s College of Arts & Sciences and McCourt School of Public Policy, the relatively new BA in Public Policy is a unique degree that combines a liberal arts and policy-focused interdisciplinary and experiential curriculum with living and learning opportunities, spending their first two years on the Hilltop main campus and their junior and senior years at the McCourt School’s Capitol Campus in downtown DC. As part of the Public Policy curriculum, students will complete coursework focusing on one of four policy themes: International Development, Political Strategy & Governance, Social Policy, or Environment, Energy & Climate Change.

The Cawley Career Education Center at Georgetown hosts informational sessions and offers one-on-one pre-law advising appointments to current students and recent alumni. Student organizations on campus include the Georgetown Pre-Law Society, the Minority Pre-Law Association, Georgetown Mock Trial, Georgetown Debate, and the Georgetown University Undergraduate Law Review. Undergrad students at Georgetown can take advantage of access to Georgetown Law (a T14 law school).

Pre-law students considering Georgetown will be particularly interested in Georgetown’s Early Assurance Program, which allows outstanding Georgetown undergrads to apply during their junior year for early admission to Georgetown Law, bypassing LSAT requirements. 

According to data from 2017, the average LSAT score of Georgetown students (163.48) was in the top twenty in the nation.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 8.5% of Georgetown grads attended law school — more than any other college in the US except Fordham. Out of Georgetown grads who attended law school, 47% attended a T14 law school, with the top law schools drawing the most Georgetown grads being Georgetown (unsurprisingly) and Harvard.

6.0% admitted 700–770 Reading, 690–780 Math 3.9+ GPA

Consistently ranked as one of the top five liberal arts colleges in the country, Swarthmore is a small private liberal arts college located in a suburb of Philadelphia, half an hour from downtown. Swarthmore is certainly a small college, with only about 1,700 undergrad students, but through the Quaker Consortium students can also enroll in classes at Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and Penn; a free shuttle service runs between Swarthmore, Haverford, and Bryn Mawr (the Tri-College Consortium). Founded in the mid-19th century, Swarthmore has one of the largest endowments per student in the country. 

Swarthmore is particularly well-known for economics, but they’re strong across the board academically and typically send many students to top PhD programs. Uncommon for a liberal arts college, Swarthmore also has an engineering program. Swarthmore is supportive of combining multiple majors: about 40% of students graduate with double or triple majors. Students tend to be politically-engaged and socially progressive. Swarthmore competes in Division III athletics.

Swarthmore offers a BA in Political Science that is a common choice for students interested in legal careers. The academic program of the major encompasses the four major subfields of the discipline: American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, and Political Theory. Within the Political Science major, students can pursue an optional Law & Politics concentration to gain a deeper understanding of the intersection between law, politics, society, and governance. There is also an honors minor in Political Science.

The interdisciplinary BA in Philosophy, Politics, & Economics considers the social and political reality using the approaches of the three constituent disciplines, providing excellent training for future public servants and politicians. At Swarthmore, students in the PPE major can be based in either the Philosophy or Political Science departments (not in Economics). 

The minor in Global Studies emphasizes processes and phenomena common across borders with particular attention to differences in the global-local connection. Students who wish to essential major in international relations can also create an Individualized Major in Global Studies; within this major, two possible themes are Global Political Economy or Global Politics & Policies.

The Pre-Law Office at Swarthmore offers one-on-one pre-law advising, facilitates a series of meetings with law school admissions deans each fall, and provides support throughout the law school application process. The Lang Center for Civic & Social Responsibility connects Swarthmore’s academics with engagement in local and global communities using Engaged Scholarship; the center can provide funding support for public interest projects, internships, and studies. Student organizations on campus include the Swarthmore Pre-Law Society, Swarthmore Mock Trial, Debating for Democracy, and the Peaslee Debate Society. The Tri-Co Law Review is an undergrad student publication open to students from Swarthmore, Haverford, and Bryn Mawr.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 5.5% of Swarthmore grads attended law school, which is a strong law-school feeder rate. Out of Swarthmore grads who attended law school, 53% attended a T14 law school, with the top law schools drawing the most Swarthmore grads being Harvard and Penn.

7.5% admitted 740–770 Reading, 750–790 Math 3.9+ GPA

As one of the eight Ivy League universities, Brown is a mid-sized private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Like Princeton, Brown has far more undergrads than grad students, with about 7,200 undergrads and only 3,100 grad students. One distinctive feature of Brown’s academic approach is their Open Curriculum: students have no general education requirements, allowing them to pursue interdisciplinary interests, and any course can be taken as pass/fail (without a letter grade). About 20% of Brown’s students ultimately graduate with two concentrations (majors). This flexibility, combined with significant grade inflation, likely contribute to Brown’s reputation as the most relaxed and “happy” of the Ivies. The same conditions have also made Brown a popular choice for pre-med students: as many as 19% of Brown students ultimately apply to medical school, one of the highest med school feeder rates in the nation.

Situated in the affluent College Hill neighborhood of Providence, adjoining the renowned Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Brown feels somewhat between suburban and urban: Providence itself is a small city, and it’s just an hour away from Boston by Amtrak or bus. Brown competes in Division I athletics.

Brown offers a flexible BA in Political Science that is a popular choice for pre-law students. Students concentrating (majoring) in Political Science take classes across at least two of the four subfields (American politics, international relations, comparative politics, and political theory), as well as a methods class and upper-level electives. Students pursuing departmental honors can apply to write a year-long research thesis. Students from any concentration (major) at Brown are able to apply for an accelerated one-year MA in Political Science through Brown’s 4+1 program.

Students interested in either public policy or foreign policy might consider the BA in International & Public Affairs offered by Brown’s cross-disciplinary Program in International & Public Affairs, associated with the Watson School of International & Public Affairs. All students in the concentration (major) take a common core of five classes in addition to advanced classes within their specialization track: Development, Policy & Governance, or Security. This concentration (major), which combines two previously separate majors in Public Policy and in International Affairs, is a popular choice at Brown, graduating 183 students in 2026.

Students interested in public policy can also consider the special Public Policy track within the BA in Economics. In addition to core classes in economic principles and economic policies, students on this track take at least two classes from other departments (like Political Science) that explore the implementation of public policies.

Brown’s Tisch Center for Career Exploration has a dedicated team for Pre-Law Advising that offers one-on-one advising and other resources. Student organizations on campus include the Pre-Law Society, Women’s Pre-Law Association, Black Pre-Law Association, La Alianza Pre-Law Association, Mock Trial, and the Brown Undergraduate Law Review. 

The Brown in Washington program offers students the opportunity to complete a part-time internship in the public or non-profit sector in DC while also remaining full-time Brown students.

Brown is one of only ten colleges whose undergrad students are eligible to apply for the prestigious Liman Summer Undergraduate Fellowship via Yale Law School, which sponsors students interested in public service and social justice (often pre-law) to participate in the Liman Colloqium at YLS and spend a summer working in publicly or nonprofit social services, cultural entities, or government organizations. 

According to data from 2017, the average LSAT score of Brown students (164.31) was in the top twenty in the nation.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 5.8% of Brown grads attended law school, which is a strong law-school feeder rate. Out of Brown grads who attended law school, 57% attended a T14 law school, which places Brown in the top ten for elite law school admissions. The top law schools drawing the most Brown grads are Harvard and Georgetown.

5.4% admitted 740–780 Reading, 770–800 Math 3.9+ GPA

Consistently ranked as one of the top five liberal arts colleges in the country, Pomona is a small private college located in Claremont, an affluent suburb to the east of Los Angeles, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. Pomona has only about 1,700 undergrad students on their campus, but Pomona’s campus is contiguous to the other four Claremont Colleges (Harvey Mudd, Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, and Scripps), which together have about 8,500 undergrad students. It’s easy to cross-register for classes at the other colleges, and many extracurricular activities are held jointly across the 5Cs, as they’re called. Although Pomona is a newer college, founded in the late 19th century, they have one of the largest endowments per student in the country. Pomona is particularly known for their rigorous academics and preparation for top grad programs; they also have a strong fine arts culture and a pretty campus. Pomona–Pitzer competes in Division III athletics. 

Pomona offers a BA in Politics that is a popular choice for pre-law students. Politics majors take at least one course in each of the four subfields: Political Theory, American Politics, Comparative Politics, and International Relations. Students can opt to take a Subfield Specialization in one of the subfields.

The interdisciplinary BA in Philosophy, Politics, & Economics, jointly administered by three departments, integrates knowledge of economic and political institutions with a broader vision of the goals and purposes of human society. This flexible program is an excellent choice for students pursuing careers in law and public service.

Pomona’s unique BA in Public Policy Analysis combines traditional academic fields like economics or biology with hands-on policy study. Students complete coursework in public policy, statistical and quantitative methods, and a concentration in one of eleven possible intersecting fields: anthropology, biology, chemistry, economics, environmental analysis, geology, physics, politics, psychology, science-technology-and-society, or sociology. As seniors, students complete a 180-hour policy-related internship and a thesis. 

The intercollegiate Science, Technology, & Society Program examines how social and political conditions influence developments in science and technology, as well as investigates cultural changes, policy issues and philosophical questions prompted by those developments. Program faculty are drawn from different departments at Pomona, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, and Scripps Colleges. The BA in Science, Technology, & Society and the associated minor in Science, Technology, & Society combines courses in philosophy, history, STEM, and public policy, and is a surprisingly popular choice for pre-law students.

Pomona provides one-on-one pre-law advising and other pre-law resources through their Career Development Office. Student organizations on campus include the Pre-Law Society and Mock Trial.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 5.6% of Pomona grads attended law school, which is a strong law-school feeder rate. Out of Pomona grads who attended law school, 23% attended a T5 law school and 53% attended a T14 law school, with the top law schools drawing the most Pomona grads being UC Berkeley and Stanford.

7.1% admitted 740–770 Reading, 750–790 Math 3.9+ GPA

As Penn students and alumni like to remind everyone, Penn (or UPenn) is an elite Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, typically ranked in the top ten universities in the nation. Penn has approximately 9,800 undergrads and 13,600 grad students spread across four undergraduate schools and twelve graduate and professional schools. The core of Penn’s campus covers a contiguous area of West Philadelphia, and its mix of Collegiate Gothic and modern architecture on green quads give Penn a semi-contained campus feel. Like UChicago and Columbia, Penn is near some rougher urban neighborhoods, but is generally safe within the campus bubble. 

Penn is most well-known for business and economics at the Wharton School, but it’s academically strong across most fields, including engineering and the health sciences. Overall, Penn has a more “pre-professional” vibe in its approach to academics, more comparable to Duke, Northwestern, or Hopkins than to the other Ivies. Compared to some of the other Ivies, Penn is more supportive of combining multiple majors: around 25% of students in the College of Arts & Sciences double-major, and around 30% of Wharton students earn more than one degree. Penn competes in Division I athletics.

Penn offers a wide range of majors and minors that might appeal to students pursuing a legal career.

Within Penn’s College of Arts & Sciences (CAS), the Department of Political Science offers a BA in Political Science with several possible specializations. Students can earn a degree in General Political Science, but they also have the option to pursue a specialized major in American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Economy, or Political Theory. There is also the possibility for an Individualized specialization in Political Science developed in consultation with faculty advisors. In addition, the department offers a minor in Political Science.

Penn’s College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) also offers an interdisciplinary BA in Philosophy, Politics, & Economics (PPE) that is an excellent pre-law major. Within the PPE major, students select one of four thematic concentrations to shape their course selection: Choice & Behavior, Globalization, Public Policy & Governance, or Distributive Justice. Students pursuing departmental honors can apply to write an honors thesis.

The Department of Sociology within Penn’s College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) offers an interdisciplinary BA in Law & Society that explores the place of law in economic, cultural, political, and social life. While core classes in the major (covering sociology methods, the criminal justice system, social systems, and the intersection of social problems and public policy) are drawn from Sociology, electives for the major can be drawn from a wide range of departments, including Political Science and Wharton’s Legal Studies & Business Ethics Department.

The International Relations Program within the College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) offers an interdisciplinary BA in International Relations that provides foundations in political science, history, and economics to explore the ways in which governments, private groups, and individuals relate to each other in the global political and economic systems.

In addition, the Penn Development Research Initiative (PDRI) administers an interdisciplinary minor in International Development that emphasizes the interconnectedness of various social, economic, and political factors influencing development processes, enabling students to critically analyze both internal dynamics and external pressures.

Students from any major within Penn’s College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) are eligible to add the minor in Law & Society offered by the Department of Sociology. This program gives students the opportunity to study and understand the law within a sociological framework by examining the factors that affect variations in the law and how those variations affect individuals and populations differently.

The College of Arts & Sciences and the Wharton School jointly offer a minor in Legal Studies & History that is available to either CAS or Wharton students. Students pursuing this minor take four courses from CAS and four from Wharton, studying the history of law in the US, the philosophical foundations of law, the development of contract law, and the interaction of political and regulatory systems with social norms. 

The Department of Political Science in CAS also offers a joint minor in American Public Policy with the Business​ Economics and Public Policy (BEPP) Department of the Wharton School.

All Wharton students earn a BS in Economics, but Wharton students also choose focused area of study (concentration), several of which might interest pre-law students, especially the concentration in Business Economics & Public Policy and the concentration in Legal Studies & Business Ethics.

Penn’s Career Services offers one-on-one pre-law advising, helps students to improve their law school applications, coordinates peer support, and distributes a weekly pre-law newsletter. Student organizations on campus include the John Marshall Pre-Law Honor Society, the Black Pre-Law Association, the co-ed pre-law fraternity Phi Alpha Delta, the Wharton Business & Law Association, Penn Mock Trial, and the Penn Undergraduate Law Journal. Undergrad students at Penn can take advantage of access to Penn Law (a T14 law school).

The Penn in Washington program allows students interested in politics, policy, law, international affairs, and public service to spend a semester interning in DC (in Congress, the White House, think tanks, law firms, international organizations, or the media) while taking classes. The Fox Leadership Program supports Penn students pursing civic service fellowships during the semester or summer.

According to data from 2017, the average LSAT score of Penn students (164.58) was in the top ten in the nation.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 6.1% of Penn grads attended law school, which is one of the highest law-school feeder rates in the country. Out of Penn grads who attended law school, 46% attended a T14 law school, with the top law schools drawing the most Penn grads being Penn and Georgetown.

! Do not confuse Penn, a T10 Ivy League university in Philadelphia, with Penn State, a large public T50 university on the other end of the state! Penn grads hate this.

5.4% admitted 730–770 Reading, 770–800 Math 3.9+ GPA

An elite liberal arts college, Claremont McKenna (usually shortened to CMC) is located in Claremont, an affluent suburb to the east of Los Angeles, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. CMC has only about 1,300 undergrad students on their campus, but their campus is contiguous to the other four Claremont Colleges (Pomona, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, and Scripps), which together have about 8,500 undergrad students. It’s easy to cross-register for classes at the other colleges, and many extracurricular activities are held jointly across the 5Cs, as they’re called. Academically, CMC is particularly known for economics, government, public policy, and business. CMC’s motto is “preparing students for thoughtful and productive lives and responsible leadership in business, government, and the professions,” and their focus on government, policy, and the thoughtful implementation of the social sciences makes CMC an excellent choice for students considering careers in the law or public service. Claremont–Mudd–Scripps (CMS) competes in Division III athletics. 

The Government Department at CMC, which houses faculty spanning American Politics, Public Law, Political Philosophy, Comparative Government, and International Relations, offers three majors that may interest pre-law students. The BA in Government emphasizes the literature and methods of ancient, modern, and contemporary students of politics and government. The interdisciplinary BA in International Relations introduces students to the world through theory, area studies, and political and policy coursework; IR majors combine courses in government and economics with advanced language classes and study abroad. The BA in Public Policy takes an interdisciplinary approach to policy that melds concepts from political science, economics, and other fields; the major emphasizes experiential learning through internships and faculty-supervised projects for real-world clients via the Policy Lab.

The selective Tutorial Program in Philosophy, Politics, & Economics at Claremont McKenna College is adapted from a similar program at Oxford and makes use of small seminars and tutorials to encourage students to develop their expository skills. Students apply to the program in sophomore fall and begin the program in sophomore spring. Students earn a BA in Philosophy, Politics, & Economics.

In addition, the BA in Philosophy & Public Affairs, housed in the Philosophy Department, allows students to design a specialized course plan integrating philosophy with government and/or economics. This interdisciplinary major offers students the chance to combine a philosophical knowledge of how society should work with practical information from government and economics about how society does work.

CMC also offers what they call “sequences,” which are essentially minors. The sequence (minor) in Legal Studies is a popular choice for pre-law students; in this interdisciplinary program, students examine how law shapes and is shaped in turn by political, economic, and cultural forces, emphasizing critical understanding of and inquiry into theoretical frameworks, historical and cultural dynamics, and social meanings and change in law and legality.

Pre-law students might also consider the sequence (minor) in Ethics, which explores ethical theory and its application both to the conduct of individuals and to the formulation of public policy. Meanwhile, the interdisciplinary sequence (minor) in Human Rights, Holocaust, & Genocide Studies teaches students to identify, analyze, and act constructively to prevent current human rights abuses and genocidal conflict.

Government majors can apply to the Claremont Scholars Program, which allows students to begin work on one of three possible Master’s degree in political science (a Master’s in Public Policy, a Master’s in International Studies, or a Master’s in Politics) at the Center for Politics and Economics at the Claremont Graduate University during their senior year at CMC, double-counting classes towards both their BA and Master’s to earn both in an accelerated timeframe.

Since its establishment over fifty years ago, the CMC Washington Program has allowed students from across the Claremont Colleges to combine a full-time internship in the nation’s capital with a rigorous classes in government and public policy; past participants have interned at the White House, in congressional offices, federal agencies, embassies, major non-profit organizations, and top news outlets.

CMC’s Soll Center for Student Opportunity offers pre-law advising and a variety of other resources serving students interested in government, law, and public policy. The Soll Center organizes (free or cost-subsidized) networking treks to Washington, DC, to help students make connections in government and public policy. CMC offers internship positions through the CMC Rose Institute of State & Local Government or the CMC Lowe Institute of Political Economy, among other CMC academic centers. Student organizations include the CMC Pre-Law Society, the Claremont Government Society, the Claremont International Relations Society, the Claremont Alexander Hamilton Society, CMC Mock Trial, and the Claremont Law & Business Review.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 6.9% of Claremont McKenna grads attended law school, which is one of the highest law-school feeder rates in the country. Out of CMC grads who attended law school, 35% attended a T14 law school, with the top law schools drawing the most CMC grads being UC Berkeley and Georgetown.

9.6% admitted 720–770 Reading, 750–790 Math 3.9+ GPA

Thanks to popular culture and its location at the heart of New York City, NYU is one of the most well-known universities in the nation, and although it’s usually hovering below the T20 or even T30 in most national rankings, it’s the dream university for many students. NYU is perhaps the prototypical urban campus, with university buildings interwoven with the surrounding city; it’s thus best for students who are excited to take advantage of New York City, and who don’t mind the lack of a traditional campus or green quads. NYU is also considerably larger than most other ultra-selective private universities, with about 30,000 undergrads and 28,000 grad students; the only top-tier private universities of similar size are USC and Boston University. Academically, NYU is especially known for the Stern School of Business and the Tisch School of the Arts, but it also has fairly strong programs in most fields. NYU competes in Division III athletics.

Within NYU’s College of Art & Science, the Wilf Family Department of Politics offers a BA in Politics that’s a popular choice for pre-law students. Students complete foundational courses in at least two of the four subfields (American politics, comparative politics, international politics, and political theory) but are otherwise free to select electives within the major. There is also an optional track in American Political Practice & Leadership that allows Politics majors to concentrate in American politics. At the end of their studies, Politics majors can apply for the Honors Program, which requires writing a yearlong senior research thesis. There is also a minor in Politics.

The Wilf Family Department of Politics also offers a BA in International Relations that combines a foundation of core courses in politics, economics and statistics with advanced classes on international relations and political economy as well as elective courses focused on a particular region. All IR students are required to study abroad for at least one semester and achieve proficiency in a foreign language. Students pursuing departmental honors write a yearlong research thesis.

Politics courses are also offered at many of NYU’s Study Away sites, including extensive curricula at the department’s Global Pathways sites in Florence, Italy and Washington, DC. A select number of incoming CAS students complete the first year of their studies at NYU London, in a cohort with first-year students from other NYU schools. London Global Gateway students follow the same academic path as their New York City campus counterparts, while accessing a specially curated range of opportunities and experiences that take advantage of NYU’s global network.

The Sociology Department within the College of Art & Science offers a minor in Law & Society that provides an interdisciplinary perspective on law as a social institution, exploring how law shapes, and is shaped by, a variety of political, religious, cultural, economic, and social forces. The minor also provides students the opportunity to pursue advanced and specialized work through faculty-mentored independent study projects, as well as access to graduate classes. This minor is a common choice for pre-law students.

NYU’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and the Department of History within the College of Arts & Science jointly offer an interdisciplinary BA in Public Policy that draws on faculty from economics, political science, law, and statistics, teaching both analytical skills and historical context to understand how governments, markets, and the non-profit sector work. Wagner has also partnered with several other schools within NYU to offer a range of minors: Wagner and CAS jointly offer a minor in Public Policy, Wagner and Stern jointly offer both a minor in Social Entrepreneurship and a minor in Public Policy & Management, and Wagner and NYU’s Silver School of Social Work jointly offer a minor in Leadership, Spirituality, & Social Innovation. NYU Wagner’s various Bachelor's-Master's tracks allow students to pursue an accelerated course of study and complete both a BA and MPA/MUP in just five years.

The Preprofessional Advising Center offers one-on-one advising, webinars, and other resources for pre-law students at NYU. Student organizations on campus include the NYU Undergraduate Law Society, the NYU BIPOC Legal Society, the NYU Liberal Studies Law Cooperative, the co-ed pre-law fraternity Phi Alpha Delta, the Stern Business & Law Association, Mock Trial, and the NYU Undergraduate Law Review. Undergrad students at NYU can take advantage of access to NYU Law (a T14 law school).

NYU’s renowned Lawyer Alumni Mentoring Program (LAMP) is a mentorship program housed within the College of Arts & Science. The program pairs CAS pre-law students (who are juniors and seniors) with CAS alumni who are now practicing attorneys, taking advantage of NYU’s location in the heart of the legal and business capital of the world. Some of LAMP’s events, like the annual LAMP Moot Court, are open to the entire University community; other activities, such as individual mentoring and the LAMP alumni reunion brunch, are available to LAMP participants only.

According to data from 2017, the average LSAT score of NYU students was in the top thirty in the nation.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 5.5% of NYU grads attended law school, which is a strong law-school feeder rate. NYU grads do particularly well with law school admissions: out of NYU grads who attended law school, 69% attended a T14 law school, a rate which is behind only Yale and Harvard. The top law schools that draw the most NYU grads are NYU (unsurprisingly) and Georgetown.

9.2% admitted 720–760 Reading, 760–800 Math 3.9+ GPA

An elite private university just north of Chicago, Northwestern (also abbreviated as NU) is typically ranked among the top ten research universities in the nation. Along with UChicago, its elite rival on the other side of downtown Chicago, Northwestern is certainly the pre-eminent university in the Midwest. Like Hopkins and Columbia, Northwestern has many more grad students than undergrads across their eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools, with only about 4,000 undergrads compared to 23,000 grad students. Located in Evanston, on the edge of Lake Michigan, the Northwestern’s setting feels somewhere between urban and suburban. 

Academically, Northwestern is strong across the board, but it’s most famous for journalism, engineering, health sciences, the performing arts, and quantitative social sciences like economics; overall, Northwestern has a more “pre-professional” vibe in its approach to academics, comparable to Duke, Penn, or Hopkins than to its other elite wpeers. Northwestern operates on a quarter system (fall, winter, and spring quarters, with an optional summer quarter), not a semester system, so classes move quickly! Among top-tier universities, Northwestern is particularly supportive of combining multiple majors: more than 30% of students graduate with double or triple majors. Northwestern was one of the founding members of the Big Ten and competes in Division I athletics; along with Duke and Stanford, it’s one of the few top-tier universities that also boasts a strong sports culture.

Northwestern offers a BA in Political Science that remains a popular choice for pre-law students. Political Science majors take a methodology course and at least three core classes introducing the fundamental subfields of the discipline: American government, international relations, comparative politics, law in the political arena, and political theory. Majors can opt to complete one of the following thematic concentrations: law and politics, peace & conflict studies, political economy, public policy, quantitative analytics, political representation, or “sovereignty & anarchy.” Students pursuing departmental honors can apply to write a research thesis. There is also a minor in Political Science.

Northwestern’s Center for Legal Studies, based within the Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences, also offers an interdisciplinary BA in Legal Studies that explores law from historical, cultural, and empirical viewpoints. The program has several attorney professors, including some who are cross-listed with the law school. Students from any school within Northwestern are eligible to pursue the major, but students do need to apply to the major in the winter of their freshman, sophomore, or junior year, as places in the major are restricted to keep class sizes small. All Legal Studies majors complete the two-quarter Advanced Research Seminar, in which students design and execute an original socio-legal research project and produce a thesis under faculty mentorship. In contrast, any student can pursue a minor in Legal Studies (with no need to apply).

Northwestern’s Buffett International Studies Program, also housed within the Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences, offers an interdisciplinary BA in International Studies that can only be completed as an adjunct major (in addition to a primary major). There is also a minor in International Studies. Students in both the major and the minor will need to select a thematic concentration from among the following: global humanities, political economy, borders & crossings, global law & society, the US and the world, or world language & experience.

Within Northwestern’s School of Education & Social Policy, the BS in Social Policy also sends plenty of graduates to law school. This interdisciplinary major draws on anthropology, communication studies, economics, ethnic studies, gender studies, history, philosophy, political science, public health, and sociology to explore how social policies and social institutions influence the course of human lives and how people can influence social policies. In addition to core courses in lifespan development, research, and statistics, students have the flexibility to tailor the program to their unique interests by creating an interdisciplinary specialization; many students choose to double major or minor while keeping social policy as their primary focus. All Social Policy majors complete a one-quarter practicum internship during their junior year.

Northwestern’s unique Civic Engagement Certificate connects classroom studies with real involvement with local policy efforts. Undergrads pursuing the certificate have the chance to oversee policy implementation of community development projects and gain civic leadership skills. 

Northwestern Career Advancement offers pre-law advising to current students and recent graduates through both walk-in hours and scheduled appointments. Student organizations on campus include the co-ed prelaw fraternity Phi Alpha Delta, Northwestern Womxn in Law, the Northwestern Black Pre-law Association, Mock Trial, and the Northwestern Undergraduate Law Journal. Undergrad students at Northwestern can take advantage of access to Northwestern Law (a T14 law school).

The innovative Chicago Field Studies program coordinates full-time and part-time internships for Northwestern students. Through this experiential learning program, students earn academic credit towards their Northwestern degree. Pre-law students might be particularly interested in the programs available in Legal Field Studies, Civic Engagement, and Social Justice, all of which offer opportunities for internships in law & legal advocacy or government & politics. The Northwestern Externship Program is a shadowing program offering current Northwestern students the opportunity to accompany alumni on the job to learn more about a variety of professional fields, including law. 

According to data from 2017, the average LSAT score of Northwestern students (164.30) was in the top twenty in the nation.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 5.0% of Northwestern grads attended law school, which is a strong law-school feeder rate. Out of Northwestern grads who attended law school, 38% attended a T14 law school, with the top law schools drawing the most Northwestern grads being Northwestern (unsurprisingly) and UMichigan.

! Do not confuse Northwestern, a T10 university in Chicago, with Northeastern, a T50 (formerly T100) university in Boston! Northwestern should also not be confused with the various public universities with similar names.

7.7% admitted 740–770 Reading, 770–800 Math 3.9+ GPA

An elite private research university rivaling the Ivies, UChicago has about 7,500 undergrads and 11,000 grad students across an undergraduate college, four graduate research divisions, and seven professional schools (in law, business, medicine, public policy, etc.). The university’s urban campus features green quads and classic Collegiate Gothic architecture set into the bookish neighborhood of Hyde Park, an affluent bubble in the midst of Chicago’s South Side. 

Academically, UChicago has long been a powerhouse across most fields; it’s been incredibly influential worldwide in economics, public policy, and other social science fields, but it also has strong programs in physics, mathematics, history, and other fields across the physical sciences and the humanities. (Note that UChicago has no engineering programs outside of molecular engineering.) Often known as “where fun goes to die,” UChicago is known for academic rigor, and although there is still plenty of student life on campus, this is not a party school. UChicago operates on a quarter system (fall, winter, and spring quarters, with an optional summer quarter), not a semester system, so classes move quickly! Like Columbia, UChicago is known for their Core Curriculum, a set of liberal arts requirements across the humanities, social sciences, and STEM that makes up about a third of every student’s undergraduate coursework. About 25% of UChicago students end up double-majoring. UChicago competes in Division III athletics.

UChicago offers a flexible BA in Political Science that is a popular choice for pre-law students. Political Science majors take the department’s research methods course and at least three courses introducing the main subfields of the discipline: americal politics, comparative politics, international relations, and political theory. All Political Science majors are required to complete a substantial paper, either a faculty-supervised BA Thesis or a “Long Paper” written for a class. Students wishing to pursue a specialized topic can apply for an Independent Study course under the guidance of a faculty member. In addition, UChicago offers a joint BA/MA in Political Science through the MA Program in the Social Sciences.

UChicago also offers a BA in Law, Letters, & Society, a selective interdisciplinary major in the social sciences designed for students interested in law, political philosophy, political economy, and rhetoric. The program grew out of a novel collaboration between UChicago’s Law School and the College in the 1970s, when it was known as “Politics, Economics, Rhetoric, & Law,” and has been revitalized in the past decade. UChicago students can apply to the Law, Letters, & Society program in their sophomore year. Students in the program design their own focus fields within the major, which allows them to take courses across the College’s curriculum as they study a particular theme or question in depth. In their final year, all students produce a BA thesis. 

UChicago has long been known for their influence in public policy research, and students interested in this field can pursue the pre-professional BA in Public Policy from the Harris School of Public Policy. This interdisciplinary major draws from economics, sociology, political science, and law, among other disciplines, and involves substantial quantitative analysis. Public Policy majors also complete at least three courses that form an area of specialization, e.g. Urban Policy, Data Science, Human Rights, Education Policy, Health Policy, International Development, or Environmental Policy. The major culminates in a capstone experience in the form of either a year-long BA thesis or a class-based writing project. The program encourages students to double-major, especially in Public Policy and Economics. In addition, the BX/MPP in Public Policy Studies offers students an opportunity to earn both a four-year undergraduate degree (BA or BS) in their declared major and a two-year Master of Public Policy (MPP) in just five years of study.

Students interested in international relations can select classes within the Political Science major that focus on IR, and are eligible to apply for a five-year joint BA/MA in International Relations with UChicago’s Committee on International Relations, the nation’s oldest graduate program in international affairs.

The Law & Politics Program is a selective, one-year program featuring specialized advising and targeted programming offered to rising second-, third-, and fourth-year students interested in exploring the intersection of careers in politics and the law. Created in 2020, the Law & Politics track is a partnership between Career Advancement, the Office of Civic Engagement, the Institute of Politics, and the Parrhesia Program for Public Discourse. The track culminates with each student presenting an individual or small-group capstone project such as a campaign speech, issue brief, mock press conference, or debate. Students are eligible to receive funding for an unpaid internship in the summer following their participation in the program.

The Legal Research & Writing seminar is a non-credit seminar offered to undergrad students at UChicago interested in receiving an introduction to conducting case law research utilizing search tools such as Westlaw, learning the basics of statutory and administrative law, reading and dissecting case law through case briefing tools, and learning the components of a legal memo. The seminar is taught by Careers in Law in partnership with faculty from the D’Angelo Law Library at the Law School.

Career Advancement at UChicago has developed a Law Applicant Support Series that combines workshops, one-on-one advising, mentorship events with current law school students, information sessions with T20 law school admissions teams, and discounted access to LSAT prep courses. Legal career treks sponsored by the Careers in Law program bring students to visit top law schools, government legal agencies, court systems, law firms, and legal nonprofits in cities like NYC, LA, and Washington, DC. The Metcalf Internship Program sponsors internships in a variety of fields, including legal fields. Student organizations on campus include the co-ed pre-law fraternities Phi Alpha Delta and Kappa Alpha Pi, Mock Trial, Moot Court, and the University of Chicago Undergraduate Law Magazine. Undergrad students at UChicago can take advantage of access to UChicago Law (a T14 law school).

In addition, the Rising Attorneys Program from UChicago’s Careers in Law team offers further support to junior and senior pre-law students who come from low-income families. The program includes free LSAT prep, a mentor working in the legal field, and other special resources. 

UChicago students and undergrad alumni are eligible for the Chicago Law Scholars Program, which provides an opportunity to apply Early Decision to UChicago Law (in the fall of their senior year or after graduation) and receive both an expedited decision and a substantial law school scholarship.

According to data from 2017, the average LSAT score of UChicago students (165.98) was in the top five in the nation.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 5.5% of UChicago grads attended law school, which is a strong law-school feeder rate. Out of UChicago grads who attended law school, 49% attended a T14 law school, with the top law schools drawing the most UChicago grads being UChicago (unsurprisingly) and UMichigan.

! Do not confuse UChicago, a private T10 research university, with the University of Illinois in Chicago (UIC), a large public T100 university.

! Note that UChicago is one of the most notorious colleges for selecting a significant amount of their incoming first-year class via binding Early Decision (ED) applications. UChicago offers ED 0 (for students who participated in summer programs on campus), ED I, and ED II. Very few students are admitted as Regular Decision applicants. If UChicago is your first choice, consider applying ED in the fall!

4.0% admitted

In many ways, Cornell is the odd one out among the eight Ivy League universities. For one, it’s much larger than the others, with over 16,000 undergrads across eight undergrad colleges and 10,600 grad students across seven graduate divisions. For another, Cornell is much newer than the other Ivies; while the other seven are all older than the US itself (founded between 1636 and 1769), Cornell was created in 1865 as a land-grand university. Finally, Cornell is an unusual hybrid of public and private — twelve of its divisions are private, while four (the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, the College of Human Ecology, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, and the College of Veterinary Medicine) are public. Each one of Cornell’s undergrad colleges handles their own admissions process, and admit rates can vary significantly across the different colleges.

Located in Ithaca, upstate New York, Cornell is also famously the most remote of the Ivies. (The closest small cities to Ithaca are Rochester and Syracuse, both about 1.5 hours away, while NYC is about a four-hour drive.) That said, Cornell is also known for having a beautiful campus, with easy access to nature. The social scene at Cornell tends to be dominated by Greek life, though the university is large enough to have plenty of other options as well. Academically, Cornell is best known for engineering, computer science, economics, architecture, the life sciences, and hospitality (they’re the only elite college to have a four-year hotel management program). Cornell competes in Division I athletics.

Within Cornell’s College of Arts & Sciences, the Department of Government offers a BA in Government that’s a classic choice for pre-law students. (Cornell clarifies that “Government” is their term for “political science.”) All Government majors take courses in at least three of the program’s subfields: American politics, comparative politics, international relations, and political theory. The department has designed several optional pathways that focus on specific themes in political science: global politics, authoritarianism & violence, political thought & criticism, public policy & US politics, or race & politics in the US. Goverment majors can apply to the departmental honors program, which involves a research design seminar and faculty-supervised research thesis in their senior year. 

The Department of Government also offers two minors. The interdisciplinary minor in Public Policy explores issues of domestic policy (including health, education, energy, criminal justice, natural resources, immigration, social welfare policy, and urban policy) and foreign policy (including foreign aid and national security). The minor in Crime, Prisons, Education, & Justice addresses the civil rights challenges of mass incarceration and the carceral state. Students in the minor study these issues in the classroom, but also participate in community engagement projects like the Cornell Prison Education Program, serving as Teaching Assistants for Cornell classes in New York prisons.

While the minor in public policy is administered by the Department of Government, the major in Public Policy at Cornell is administered by the Brooks School of Public Policy. As of 2025, there are now two ways to pursue this major at Cornell: either as a student in the Brooks School earning a BS in Public Policy, or as a College of Arts & Sciences student earning a BA in Public Policy. Both versions of the major integrate the disciplines of economics, political science, sociology, demography, communication, statistics, and law to analyze and develop public policy. Arts & Sciences students complete liberal arts requirements in addition to the more pre-professional focus of the Brooks coursework. Brooks students can elect to spend their first semester in the DC Start program, an immersive program at the heart of Washington, DC.

The Brooks School also offers a minor in Policy Analysis & Management open to all Cornell undergraduates.

Also within the College of Arts & Sciences, the Sage School of Philosophy offers a minor in Law & Society that attracts many pre-law students. This minor, open to any Cornell student, studies interactions between law and society from an interdisciplinary perspective predominantly rooted in the social sciences and humanities: anthropology, comparative literature, economics, government, history, philosophy, psychology, science and technology studies and sociology. It’s supported by the Cornell Program on Ethics & Public Life, which promotes interdisciplinary learning about morally central questions concerning public policies and social, political and economic processes. 

Cornell’s Einaudi Center for International Studies is home to an interdisciplinary minor in International Relations open to Cornell students from any major. Students pursuing the IR minor complete at least one course across each of four subfields: international economics & development, world politics & foreign policy, international policy, and regional studies. There is an optional regional track that involves foreign language proficiency and focused study on one region.

Pre-law students might also consider the BS in Industrial & Labor Relations offered by Cornell’s School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR), one of the public divisions of the university. (Because ILR is public, students from New York state pay lower tuition rates.)

Students from any major and school at Cornell are eligible for DC Connect, Cornell in Washington’s longstanding residential professional internship program in DC. Students spend a semester taking Cornell classes while simultaneously completing a part-time internship in a federal agency, non-profit organization, think tank, or similar. All Cornell students are also able to pursue Cornell’s Capital Semester, completing a paid full-time internship in the New York State Legislature in Albany while earning academic credit. In addition, all Cornell students are eligible to apply for the Cornell Pre-law Program in Paris, a summer program in international and comparative law co-sponsored by Cornell Law School and the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.

Cornell provides pre-law advising through the Pre-Law Advisory Network, with different advisers serving each of Cornell’s undergrad colleges. The Law Career Community page through University Career Development helps to publicize further resources for pre-law students at Cornell. Student organizations on campus include the co-ed pre-law fraternities Kappa Alpha Phi and Phi Alpha Delta, the Black Ivy Pre-Law Society, the Cornell Latinx Association of Pre-laws, Mock Trial, Speech & Debate, Moot Court, and the Cornell Undergraduate Law & Society Review. Undergrad students at Cornell can take advantage of access to Cornell Law (a T14 law school).

According to data from 2017, the average LSAT score of Cornell students (162.65) was in the top twenty in the nation.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 5.0% of Cornell grads attended law school, which is a strong law-school feeder rate. Out of Cornell grads who attended law school, 40% attended a T14 law school, with the top law schools drawing the most Cornell grads being Cornell and Harvard.

! Don’t confuse Cornell University, the Ivy League university in New York state, with Cornell College, a small liberal arts college in Iowa. Cornell University is made up of many undergraduate colleges, including the College of Arts & Sciences (Cornell CAS), but no division of Cornell University is called Cornell College.

8.4% admitted 730–770 Reading, 770–800 Math 3.9+ GPA

As one of the top public universities in the nation, UCLA hardly needs introduction. Part of the outstanding University of California system, UCLA tends to be one of the only large public universities ranked among the T20, along with UC Berkeley and the University of Michigan. Accordingly, UCLA is significantly larger than private universities of similar selectivity: with over 33,000 undergrads and 13,600 grad students, UCLA is on a very different scale. The university is known for having a lively and social student community with a pretty and sunny campus. Located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, between Beverly Hills and Santa Monica, UCLA’s campus can feel like a bubble, but it’s still fairly connected to the surrounding city.

Academically, UCLA is especially known for film, engineering, and the life sciences; UCLA has a strong pre-med student culture, with nearly 20% of students ultimately applying to medical school [LINK]. UCLA operates on a quarter system (fall, winter, and spring quarters, with an optional summer quarter), not a semester system, so classes move quickly! UCLA competes in Division I athletics.

Within the Social Sciences division of UCLA’s College of Letters & Sciences, the Department of Political Science offers a BA in Political Science that requires students to complete a statistics methodology course and at least four foundational courses across American politics, comparative politics, world politics, and political theory. Students pursuing departmental honors can apply in their junior year and complete an original research thesis. 

Housed in the International Institute, the Global Studies interdepartmental program offers a research-oriented BA in Global Studies that features three thematic pillars (Culture & Society, Governance & Conflict, and Markets & Resources) that examine the unprecedented depth and breadth of interconnections among nation-states, ethnic and religious groups, and individuals. There is also a minor in Global Studies.

UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs offers a BA in Public Affairs that applies critical thinking, social science methodology, and experiential learning to topics within Public Policy, Social Welfare, and Urban Planning. During their final year at UCLA, Public Affairs majors are required to complete a three-quarter experiential learning internship and capstone project in fields such as education, immigration, human services, energy and the environment, transportation, housing, mental health, and criminal justice. There is also a minor in Public Affairs.

The Department of Communication within the Social Sciences division of UCLA’s College of Letters & Sciences offers an interdisciplinary BA in Communication with a track dedicated to Political & Legal Communication that is another popular choice for pre-law students. Students pursing departmental honors can complete an independent research project in their senior year.

The UCLA Career Center offers pre-law workshops, one-on-one advising, panels with law schools admissions staff, and other resources. Student organizations on campus include the Pre-Law Society, the First Generation Pre-Law Association, LeGal (women’s pre-law society), the AAPI Pre-Law Society, the Armenian Pre-Law Student Association, the Black Pre-Law Association, the Latinx Pre-Law Association, the Association of Muslims in Politics & Law, the Middle Eastern Pre-Law Student Association, the Persian Pre-Law Association, the Pilipinx Pre-Law Pipeline, the co-ed pre-law fraternity Phi Alpha Delta, the co-ed pre-law fraternity Kappa Alpha Pi, the Undergraduate Business Law Association, the Business Law & Investing Society, the Undergraduate Law Society for Family Justice, Moot Court, the Pre-Law Litigation Club, the UCLA Undergraduate Law Journal, and the Undergraduate Journal of International Law at UCLA. Undergrad students at UCLA can take advantage of access to UCLA Law (a top-ranked law school).

The Quarter in Washington program allows UCLA students to study at the UC Washington Center, combining coursework in US national politics and foreign policy with internships in governmental agencies, advocacy organizations, think tanks, lobbying and policy groups, media outlets, research firms, or national museums and archives. UCLA students can also enroll in UC Center Sacramento for a quarter, gaining first-hand knowledge of California's public policy challenges and processes while studying and interning in the state capitol.

According to data from 2017, the average LSAT score of UCLA students was in the top fifty in the nation.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 5.7% of UCLA grads attended law school, which is a strong law-school feeder rate. Out of UCLA grads who attended law school, 22% attended a T14 law school, with the top law school drawing the most UCLA grads being Berkeley.

9.0% admitted 3.9+ GPA

Vanderbilt (or, more informally, Vandy) is an elite private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. With about 7,200 undergrads and 6,300 grad students across eleven schools, Vanderbilt is a mid-sized university considered the best in the South after Duke. While Vanderbilt’s campus is situated at the heart of Nashville, it’s a self-contained, leafy bubble within that urban setting. 

Academically, Vanderbilt is strong across the board, but its education program is the best in the nation, and it’s particularly known for attracting pre-law and pre-med students; nearly 20% of Vanderbilt students ultimately apply to medical school, one of the highest rates of medical school attendance in the nation (after Hopkins and Emory, tied with WashU). Among top-tier universities, Vanderbilt is particularly supportive of combining multiple majors: about 35% of students graduate with double or triple majors. Among its ultra-selective peers, Vanderbilt is known for having a fairly good quality of life, with a balance between academics and social life. Vanderbilt competes in Division I athletics.

Within the College of Arts & Sciences, the Department of Political Science offers several majors and minors that are popular among pre-law studnets at Vanderbilt. The BA in Political Science requires four courses across five subfields (American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Theory, and Research Methods) in addition to upper-level classes. Students pursuing a minor in Political Science choose one of three concentrations: American politics, political theory, or world politics.

The Department of Political Science also administers an interdisciplinary BA in Public Policy Studies that draws on courses from political science, economics, sociology, anthropology, and history to analyze, evaluate, and develop effective policies that address critical issues facing society. Students interested in public policy might also consider the minor in Political Economy offered jointly by the departments of Political Science and Economics, which introduces economic analysis of political institutions and behavior, as well as the analysis of the political consequences of economic decisions, policies, and outcomes. 

The third major offered by the Department of Political Science is the BA in National Security, an interdisciplinary program that encompasses study of the U.S. national security policy process, foreign affairs, and theories of conflict, as well as the development of skills in data science, computer science, or engineering. The program emphasizes experiential learning, including a tabletop exercise course and a senior capstone course centered on an in-depth research project. Vanderbilt’s Institute of National Security provides further research, mentorship, and internship opportunities. There is also a minor in National Security.

In 2024 Vanderbilt introduced a special undergrad minor in Legal Studies taught by Vanderbilt Law faculty. Students pursuing the minor in Legal Studies will have access to specialized programming throughout the school year on a variety of Law School topics, including the admissions process, legal career paths, and the graduate student experience.

Vanderbilt’s Pre-Law Advising is now housed at Vanderbilt Law School (a move made in 2025 to centralize support for pre-law students) with support from both the undergraduate minor in Legal Studies and the Vanderbilt Career Center. All Vanderbilt students have access to drop-in support and one-on-one pre-law advising with a dedicated counselor (who holds a JD and LLM). Pre-Law Advising also hosts workshops, information sessions with law school admissions, and an annual Law School Admission Fair. Student organizations on campus include the Pre-Law Society, Mock Trial, and Moot Court. More than at many other universities, undergrad students at Vanderbilt can take advantage of easy access to Vanderbilt Law (a top-ranked law school).

According to data from 2017, the average LSAT score of Vanderbilt students (163.45) was in the top twenty in the nation.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 6.5% of Vanderbilt grads attended law school, which is one of the highest law-school feeder rates in the country. Out of Vanderbilt grads who attended law school, 23% attended a T14 law school.

5.1% admitted 740–770 Reading, 770–790 Math 3.9+ GPA

Johns Hopkins (often shortened to Hopkins or JHU) is a mid-sized research university in Baltimore, Maryland. The size of the grad programs dwarf the undergrad: Hopkins has about 5,300 undergrads but over 25,000 grad students. The university is divided across four campuses in Baltimore, but the two two undergrad divisions (the Krieger School of Arts & Sciences and the Whiting School of Engineering) are both located located on the Homewood campus (near the Charles Village neighborhood), which has a self-contained campus feel. Meanwhile, the School of Medicine, School of Nursing, and Bloomberg School of Public Health are located on the medical campus in East Baltimore, which is a bit grittier, while the Peabody Institute (which does offer Bachelors degrees in the arts) is in Baltimore’s artsy Mount Vernon neighborhood. Hopkins is world-renowned for research in medicine, public health, and biomedical engineering, and as many as 33% of Hopkins undergrads ultimately apply to medical school [LINK]. The student culture is academically-driven and can feel competitive, but that varies on your major (pre-med majors are notorious for being particularly competitive). Hopkins competes in Division III athletics.

Hopkins may be most famous for the health sciences and other STEM fields, but they also have very well-regarded programs in the humanities and social sciences (especially international relations), and plenty of Hopkins students are pursuing careers in law.

Within the Krieger School of Arts & Sciences, the Department of Political Science offers a BA in Political Science. All Political Science majors complete at least one course in each of four subfields: American politics, comparative politics, international relations, and political theory. Several courses in comparative and international politics are given at the renowned Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, DC. Students have the option to write a senior research thesis, with the potential to earn departmental honors.

The new BA in Moral & Political Economy, associated with the SNF Agora Institute for civic engagement and dialogue, explores economic problems in their social, cultural, moral, and political contexts. In addition to core classes in economics, students complete a research project “lab”, a reading seminar in a tutorial format, and a senior thesis. All majors select a “focus track,” either of their own design or a pre-established track: Borders & Migration, Cities & Communities, Finance & Trade, Gender & Identity, Labor & Class, Land & Environment, Law & Social Order, Progress & Development, Race & Inequality, or Technology & Innovation. 

The SNF Agora Institute has also launched a new minor in Civic Leadership that explores historical and contemporary struggles to realize the principles of liberal democracy in pluralistic societies.

Student organizations on campus include Mock Trial, JHU Debate Council, and the Johns Hopkins Undergraduate Law Review.

Hopkins’ easy proximity to Washington, DC (less than an hour) offers a wide variety of internship possibilities

According to data from 2017, the average LSAT score of Hopkins students was in the top thirty in the nation.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 3.7% of Hopkins grads attended law school, which is a lower law-school feeder rate but perhaps expected given the STEM focus of many Hopkins students. Out of Hopkins grads who attended law school, 35% attended a T14 law school.

4.6% admitted 750–780 Reading, 780–800 Math 3.9+ GPA

Founded as the sister school to Columbia (which became co-ed only in 1983), Barnard is an elite private women’s liberal arts college in New York City. (Barnard was one of the “Seven Sisters,” the elite women’s colleges in the Northeast created as a parallel to the all-men’s Ivy League colleges.) Barnard and Columbia have a unique relationship: students share academic resources along with extracurricular activities, athletic fields, and dining halls, and other campus resources. Barnard students benefit from the experience of a women’s college with small, intimate classes, while also retaining access to the vast resources of Columbia. Barnard has separate admissions and requires a certain portion of courses to be taken within Barnard, but at graduation Barnard students and Columbia College students are awarded the same degree, which is conferred at Columbia University’s commencement ceremony. Because of the connection to Columbia, Barnard is the only women’s college to compete in Division I athletics.

Barnard offers a flexible BA in Political Science. Students in the major take classes across at least three of the four subfields (political theory, American government & politics, comparative politics, and international relations), and have the option of specializing in one or two of the subfields. Barnard does not offer separate majors in International Relations or Public Policy, but students can specialize in these fields through the Political Science major. There is also a minor in Political Science. Students wishing to combine disciplines can pursue an established combined major (e.g. Political Science + Human Rights or Political Science + Women’s Studies) or apply to create a new combined major.

Barnard’s interdisciplinary Human Rights Program explores the basic normative, theoretical and empirical knowledge and skills necessary to contribute to public debates and policy initiatives related to social justice in the modern world. There is no standalone major in Human Rights; instead, Barnard’s program is designed to be pursued as a combined major in either a disciplinary (e.g. Political Science, History, Psychology) or area (e.g. American Studies, Slavic, Asian & Middle Eastern Cultures, Spanish) focus.

Barnard also offers a minor in Science & Public Policy that studies the moral and ethical issues that arise at the intersection of science, public policy, and societal concerns.

Barnard offers pre-law advising and other resources. Hosted by Barnard’s career services (Beyond Barnard), the Law, Policy & Government Focus series brings guest speakers from law firms, public interest law associations, advocacy organizations, government agencies to Barnard, helping students connect with employers and graduate programs. Student organizations include the Athena Pre-Law Society, the Columbia Pre-Law Society, Columbia Women of Color Pre-Law Society, Columbia Women in Law and Politics, the Columbia Undergraduate Law Journal, and Athena Mock Trial. 

Barnard is one of only ten colleges whose undergrad students are eligible to apply for the prestigious Liman Summer Undergraduate Fellowship via Yale Law School, which sponsors students interested in public service and social justice (often pre-law) to participate in the Liman Colloqium at YLS and spend a summer working in publicly or nonprofit social services, cultural entities, or government organizations. 

The SIPA 4+1 program gives Barnard students the opportunity to earn their undergrad degree and a Master of International Affairs (MIA) or Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree in five years from Columbia’s renowned School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Students can apply in their junior spring.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 6.7% of Barnard grads attended law school, which is one of the highest law-school feeder rates in the country. Out of Barnard grads who attended law school, 21% attended a T14 law school.

8.8% admitted 730–770 Reading, 740–790 Math 3.9+ GPA

Considered one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country, Bowdoin is a small private liberal arts college located in the charming small town of Brunswick in mid-coast Maine, about half an hour from Portland and two hours from Boston. (While not directly on the open ocean, the campus is only about three miles from Casco Bay.) Bowdoin has about 2,000 undergrad students and a large endowment per student. Many students participate in outdoorsy activities, and Bowdoin competes in Division III athletics.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 4.9% of Bowdoin grads attended law school, which is a strong law-school feeder rate. Out of Bowdoin grads who attended law school, 32% attended a T14 law school.

7.1% admitted 730–770 Reading, 740–780 Math 3.9+ GPA

A mid-sized private research university in Houston, Texas, Rice has about 4,800 undergrads and 4,100 grad students. The university has a well-defined campus filled with trees that feels separate from the surrounding city; the campus is bordered by the Texas Medical Center and is set next to some of the wealthiest areas of the city, including the museum district, while downtown Houston is a few minutes away by light rail. Rice tends to top the lists of the “happiest” colleges — student culture is studious and hardworking, but also fun and supportive, with a social life centered around the residential colleges. Typically ranked at the bottom of the T20 universities overall, Rice is particularly known for STEM, especially biomedical engineering and the life sciences; Rice has one of the strongest pre-med cultures in the country, and nearly 18% of Rice students apply to med school [LINK]. Architecture and music performance are also very strong programs. Among top-tier universities, Rice is particularly supportive of combining multiple majors: about 40% of students graduate with double or triple majors. Rice competes in Division I athletics.

According to data from 2017, the average LSAT score of Rice students (163.44) was in the top twenty in the nation.

A study based on data from LinkedIn found that approximately 5.0% of Rice grads attended law school, which is a strong law-school feeder rate. Out of Rice grads who attended law school, 36% attended a T14 law school.

8.0% admitted 740–770 Reading, 770–800 Math 3.9+ GPA

MIT is now perhaps the most famous university worldwide for the sciences and engineering, but the university didn’t rise to prominence until WWII, when it became the nation's largest wartime R&D contractor. Since then, MIT has been synonymous with bleeding-edge scientific research in many fields. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, across the Charles River from Harvard, MIT has about 4,500 undergrads and 7,000 grad students; opinions are divided whether Cambridge should properly be categorized as its own small city or a suburb of Boston. MIT’s student culture is high-pressure and unabashedly nerdy, but many also describe it as collaborative, and a surprisingly high percentage of students are involved with Greek life. MIT competes in Division III athletics.

MIT doesn’t send many students to law school (which is unsurprising given the STEM focus of the institution), but out of the MIT grads who did attend law school, 45% attended a T14 law school.

4.5% admitted 730–780 Reading, 780–800 Math 3.9+ GPA