Every day, we follow numerous laws that we don’t even think about it. Do you always follow the rules? Do you think about how different laws affect society? A legal studies major, which focuses on law and legal issues from the perspectives of the social sciences and humanities, might be for you.
Education
Legal studies is offered at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Though it doesn’t increase your chances of getting into top law schools, legal studies is a good pre-law major. If you love to read and write and are interested in social, political, philosophical and historical issues, you’ll do well in legal studies. You’ll take courses such as law, psychology, justice, constitutional law, the philosophy of law, legal research and writing and civil rights. This major requires a lot of papers and your education may end with a senior thesis. There are a lot of areas of law, so you’ll be able to tailor your education by choosing from the variety of electives. Classes in high school to take to prepare for a legal studies major are statistics, sociology, AP Comparative Government & Politics, AP U.S. History and AP U.S. Government & Politics.
Questions to ask
It’s important to know whether or not legal studies has its own department or if the major consists of courses taught in other departments. Law school may be your goal — ask if the school offers pre-law advising. Be sure to find out what recent grads are doing now.
Salary
The average salary of a lawyer in 2012 was $113,530, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Being a paralegal is another option with a legal studies major. If you don’t want to be in the spotlight, but enjoy research, it might be for you. In 2012, a paralegal made an average salary of $46,990.
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