Undergrad Extracurriculars For Pre-Law
Do what you’re interested in.
Extracurricular activities are something that never goes away. The question is always, “What extracurriculars are important for Harvard Law School?”
I really hate extracurriculars, since you have to do them even if you don’t want to do them. They’re like journals in law school —completely useless. But in college there’s so much you can do. Find something you are interested in. If you are really passionate about it, then do it. It will count on your law school application.
There isn’t anything that you shouldn’t do in terms of extracurricular activities, though being really enthusiastic in sports probably won’t help. Still, you should do it because it’s fun and keeps you in shape. You don’t have to be in ULAC or an organization. You don’t have to be in a political thing or a legal thing – just something that grabs your attention and doesn’t let go.
Law schools like diversity. They are not looking for people strictly pre-law. They want people that are interested in other other areas, like theatre, music, etc.
In college, I participated in sports, political organizations, volunteer work at a homeless shelter and honor societies. Most of it, to be honest, was resume building. I didn’t contribute a lot to those organizations, but I still had fun with activities like soccer and ballroom dancing.
Undergraduate Majors For Law School
Be diverse and don’t default to easy majors.
The major that you chose matters, so again it’s frowned upon to be strictly pre-law, just like political science is frowned upon. I double majored in political science and economics. Any major that looks easy is also frowned upon; psychology and communications are considered easy majors. But I do think you should just major in what you’re interested in. You can’t go wrong if you do something you are interested in.
There are conflicting reports about easy majors. Some people argue that majors matter, but others say that law schools have limited spaces, so they only look at G.P.A. I say that you should just do what you are interested in. Here at HLS, there are film, Spanish and Portuguese majors.
Languages
They don’t matter for law school apps.
Language experience isn’t necessarily an advantage for getting into law school. I was required to do Spanish in college, but it didn’t effect my application. There are certain societies and organizations in college where having a 2nd language helps, but it doesn’t affect your application.
