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PreLaw Advisor
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  • Compare schoolsUp to four side by side
  • Areas of lawWhat lawyers do, and where it is taught
  • Degrees and program typesJ.D. formats, LL.M. and more
  • Costs and outcomesTuition, employment, bar passage
  • Admissions guideHow an application is put together
  • Application plannerChecklists, essays, deadlines
  • Law schools worldwideSchools in over a hundred countries
  • Data and methodologyWhere every figure comes from

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There is no pre-law major

Law schools do not require a specific undergraduate major, and they do not prefer one. Applicants are admitted from the sciences, the humanities, the social sciences, business, engineering and the arts.

How undergraduate study fits in

What law schools look for can be built in any field: careful reading, clear writing, reasoning from evidence, and the habit of finishing difficult work. A major you are interested in is the one you are most likely to do well in, and your record in it is what an admissions committee reads.

Some colleges offer a program called pre-law or legal studies. It is one option among many and carries no special weight in admissions. Pre-law advising is a different thing: a service most colleges offer to students in every major.

PreLaw Advisor does not rank majors and does not use your major to assess or predict anything. On your profile it is simply a record of what you studied.

One special case

Patent practice before the USPTO

Representing inventors before the United States Patent and Trademark Office in patent matters requires separate registration with that office. To register, a person must show scientific and technical qualifications and pass a registration examination. The Office accepts certain bachelor’s degrees in technical subjects and also sets out other ways to qualify.

This is a rule about one kind of practice, not about admission to law school. It does not apply to trademark or copyright work, and lawyers without the registration work on patent disputes in court. If patent prosecution interests you, read the Office’s current requirements directly, because they change.

USPTO: becoming a patent practitioner (opens in a new tab) · About patent law

Fields of study

Find your field

The list below is the federal Classification of Instructional Programs, the standard vocabulary colleges use to report their programs. It has 2,143 programs. If yours is not there, your profile accepts your own wording.

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All groups / CIP 41

Science Technologies/Technicians

Science Technologies/Technicians, General

  • Science Technologies/Technicians, General41.0000

Biology/Biotechnology Technologies/Technicians

  • Biology/Biotechnology Technology/Technician41.0101

Nuclear and Industrial Radiologic Technologies/Technicians

  • Industrial Radiologic Technology/Technician41.0204
  • Nuclear/Nuclear Power Technology/Technician41.0205
  • Nuclear and Industrial Radiologic Technologies/Technicians, Other41.0299

Physical Science Technologies/Technicians

  • Chemical Technology/Technician41.0301
  • Chemical Process Technology41.0303
  • Physical Science Technologies/Technicians, Other41.0399

Science Technologies/Technicians, Other

  • Science Technologies/Technicians, Other41.9999

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Sources

  1. 1.National Center for Education Statistics. Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP 2020) (opens in a new tab) Codes and titles. Program definitions are published by NCES.
  2. 2.United States Patent and Trademark Office. Becoming a patent practitioner (opens in a new tab)

CIP 2020 is the current edition. Categories that are not fields of undergraduate study, such as residency programs and secondary diplomas, are left out of this list.