Pre-Law
Pre-Law at Baylor University is not a major, but instead consists of two academic designations,‘Pre-Law’ and ‘Pre-Law Interest.’ There are no course prerequisites for attending law school. Rather, experts recommend that Pre-Law students maximize their education by taking the most rigorous and demanding classes possible. Students planning to attend law school should select a major that reflects their interests and aptitude. Pre-Law students thrive in many of Baylor’s diverse academic programs but should carefully choose courses that will prepare them for law school success. A well-rounded Pre-Law curriculum will include courses that require substantial writing, under close scrutiny, the development of analytical reasoning skills, reading comprehension and oral expression, and courses relevant to a student’s specific legal interests. Pre-Law students may want to consider adding a minor in Legal Reasoning and Analysis (see College of Arts & Sciences-Multidisciplinary Programs). Although not required for law school, this minor is designed to ensure optimal preparation for the academic rigors of law school.
Baylor Pre-Law helps students navigate this interdisciplinary preparation. The function of the Pre-Law program is to help students from all academic majors to explore the possibility of attending law school, move through the application process, and prepare for success in law school, and the legal profession. One-on-one professional advising is available to help Pre-Law students begin to prepare for law school. All designated students have access to the program’s resources from the time they enter as freshmen. Regular workshops and speakers, connections with lawyer-alumni, and internship opportunities enable Pre-Law students to gain a realistic understanding of the legal profession, and to begin to develop the skills they need to succeed as future lawyers.
All students may add the ‘Pre-Law’ designation prior to the completion of 24 residential credit hours, at Baylor. Following the completion of the required 24 credit hours, students must hold, and maintain, a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.2. Those who do not meet this minimum GPA requirement cannot add, or retain, the Pre-Law designation beyond the completion of those initial 24 credit hours. However, they may choose the alternative ‘Pre-Law Interest’ designation, which does not require a minimum GPA and can be added at any stage of a student’s undergraduate studies, regardless of their cumulative GPA. Exceptions are made only in rare circumstances, and at the discretion of the Pre-Law Program Manager.
Students should note that regardless of their designation as either ‘Pre-Law’ or ‘Pre-Law Interest,’ they will have full access to the services and resources of the Pre-Law program. However, students who do not meet the academic requirements are encouraged to meet with the Pre-Law Program Manager to discuss their goals and how to improve their academic performance. The minimum GPA required for the ‘Pre-Law’ designation (3.2) will be assessed at the conclusion of each spring semester, allowing students who fall below the requirement at the end of the fall semester to retain the designation until the end of the spring, allowing them the chance to bring their cumulative GPA back up to the required 3.2.
More information about the services Baylor Pre-Law offers can be found at http://www.baylor.edu/prelaw or by contacting the Pre-Law Manager.
The adoption of either the ‘Pre-Law’ or ‘Pre-Law Interest’ designations does not restrict a student’s career options in any way and as such, all students who are considering careers in the legal profession should add the full Pre-Law designation to their student records upon arriving at Baylor. Adding either the ‘Pre-Law’ or ‘Pre-Law Interest’ designations gives students access to Baylor Pre-Law emails and events and other Baylor Pre-Law resources. Students wishing to add or delete the Pre-Law designation on their student records should contact the Pre-Law Program Manager, or their academic advisor.
The Legal Reasoning and Analysis (LRA) minor is ideal for students interested in preparing for the Pre-Law track. It provides a solid foundation for legal education and exposes students to the type of reasoning that law students and lawyers use. It also includes the core skills and values that the American Bar Association recommends for success in law school and the legal profession.
Students who are not Pre-Law may choose to minor in LRA to understand how law and reasoning affect their chosen major or field of study. However, if chosen for Pre-Law preparation, the LRA minor also prepares students for academic success on the LSAT.
Courses include Critical thinking, Argumentative and Persuasive Writing, Contemporary Ethical Theory, Law and Economics, and Economics of Poverty & Discrimination.
Requirements for a Minor in Legal Reasoning and Analysis
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Logic | 3 | |
| Logic | ||
or PHI 1307 | Critical Thinking | |
or PHI 4345 | Intermediate Logic | |
| Analytical Reasoning | ||
| Select 3 hrs. from the following: | 3 | |
| Survey of Accounting | ||
| Issues in Economics for Non-Business Majors | ||
| Introduction to Economic Analysis and Policy | ||
| Principles of Microeconomics | ||
| Statistics | ||
| Elementary Statistics | ||
| Introductory Statistical Methods | ||
| Probability and Statistics | ||
| Social Statistics | ||
| Areas of Study | ||
| Twelve semester hours from the following categories. Courses must be taken from four of the six areas of study below: | 12 | |
| Additional Requirements | ||
| A grade of C is required for all courses in the minor. | ||
| Note: Business classes are not generally available to non-business majors. | ||
| Total Hours | 18 | |
Areas of Study
Background Knowledge & Exposure to Law
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| AVS 3310 | Aviation Law | 3 |
| BL 3305 | Legal Environment of Business | 3 |
| BL 4303 | Employment Law | 3 |
| BL 4310 | Cyberlaw | 3 |
| BL 4320 | International Business Law | 3 |
| ECO 4318 | Law and Economics | 3 |
| ENGL 4333 | Literature and Law | 3 |
| ENV 4307 | Environmental Law | 3 |
| FORS 3340 | Expert Witness Testimony | 3 |
| HIS 3373 | American Revolution and Constitution | 3 |
| HIS 4375 | The American Civil Rights Movement | 3 |
| JOU 4380 | Law and Ethics of Journalism | 3 |
| NSC 3381 | Neuroscience and the Law | 3 |
| PHI 3318 | Philosophy and Constitutional Issues | 3 |
| PHI 4318 | Philosophy of Law | 3 |
| PSC 2303 | Criminal Justice and Community Law Enforcement | 3 |
| PSC 3321 | Criminal Law | 3 |
| PSC 3339 | Law and Religion in the United States | 3 |
| PSC 3353 | American Political Thought | 3 |
| PSC 3372 | Law, Justice and the Community | 3 |
| PSC 3392 | Washington Internship | 3 |
| PSC 4305 | International Law | 3 |
| PSC 4321 | Administrative Law | 3 |
| PSC 4342 | Public Policy and the Courts | 3 |
| PSC 4361 | American Constitutional Law | 3 |
| PSC 4375 | International Organization | 3 |
| PSC 4381 | American Constitutional Law | 3 |
| PSC 4383 | Contemporary Political Thought | 3 |
| PSY 3380 | Forensic Psychology | 3 |
| SOC 3360 | Juvenile Delinquency | 3 |
| SOC 4335 | Sociology of Law | 3 |
| SOC 4352 | Criminology | 3 |
Commitment to Justice
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| ANT 4311 | World Food Problems | 3 |
| ANT 4321 | Climate Anthropology | 3 |
| CFS 4357 | Child and Family Policy and Advocacy | 3 |
| ENGL 4311 | The U.S. Through Immigrant Eyes | 3 |
| ENGL 4334 | Literature, Medicine, & Public Health | 3 |
| HIS 4375 | The American Civil Rights Movement | 3 |
| PHI 3301 | Moral Philosophy | 3 |
| PPS 4304 | Nonprofits, the Social Sector, & Philanthropic Innovation | 3 |
| PPS 4310 | Philanthropy, Civil Society, & the Public Good | 3 |
| PWR 2382 | Writing for a Better World | 3 |
| PWR 4311 | Writing for Social Change | 3 |
| REL 3390 | Christian Ethics | 3 |
| REL 3394 | War and Peace in the Christian Tradition | 3 |
| REL 4389 | Disability Ethics | 3 |
| REL 4393 | Environmental Ethics | 3 |
| REL 4395 | Bioethics | 3 |
| REL 4397 | Race, Racism, and Religion in America | 3 |
| SOC 3311 | The Sociology of Race and Ethnicity | 3 |
| SOC 4309 | Social Psychology | 3 |
| SOC 4322 | Stratification in Society | 3 |
| SOC 4360 | Social Problems in Modern Society | 3 |
| SWO 4315 | Foundations for Social Justice | 3 |
| SWO 4317 | Human Trafficking | 3 |
Critical Reasoning & Problem Solving
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| ANT 4305 | Anthropological Theory | 3 |
| CLA 2306 | Greek and Roman Mythology | 3 |
| CLA 3301 | Roman Republic | 3 |
| CLA 3302 | Greek History and Civilization | 3 |
| CSI 1401 | Introduction to Programming I | 4 |
| CSS 4310 | Political Communication | 3 |
| CSS 4394 | Rhetorical Theory | 3 |
| ECO 4319 | Game Theory | 3 |
| ENGL 3371 | Contemporary Critical Theory | 3 |
| ENGL 3373 | History of Critical Theory | 3 |
| ENGL 4350 | How We Read: Understanding Narrative Forms | 3 |
| ENGL 4381 | Theory and Practice of Satire from the Classical Period to the Present | 3 |
| ENV 2376 | Environment and Society | 3 |
| ENV 3300 | The Environment and Political Processes | 3 |
| GTX 4351 | Confession and Autobiography | 3 |
| LING 4302 | Semantics and Pragmatics | 3 |
| PHI 4311 | Epistemology | 3 |
| PHI 4342 | Contemporary American Philosophy | 3 |
| PHI 4345 | Intermediate Logic | 3 |
| PHI 4353 | Philosophy of Language | 3 |
| PHI 4360 | Contemporary Ethical Theory | 3 |
| PHI 4361 | Social Philosophy | 3 |
| PPS 4302 | Civic & Community Innovation | 3 |
| PSC 3363 | Classical Political Philosophy | 3 |
| PSC 3373 | Western Political Thought: Modern | 3 |
| PSC 4365 | International Political Economics | 3 |
| PSC 4373 | Special Topics in Political Philosophy | 3 |
| PSC 4395 | Terrorism | 3 |
| REL 4395 | Bioethics | 3 |
| SOC 4391 | Social Theory | 3 |
Oral Communication
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| CSS 1304 | Argumentation and Debate | 3 |
| CSS 3302 | Introduction to Rhetorical Theory and Criticism | 3 |
| CSS 3305 | Advanced Public Speaking | 3 |
| CSS 3306 | Interviewing | 3 |
| CSS 3307 | Legal Communication | 3 |
| CSS 3316 | Persuasion | 3 |
| HIS 2V89 | Introduction to Model Organization of American States | 1-3 |
| HIS 4V89 | Advanced Model Organization of American States | 1-3 |
| MKT 3310 | Professional Selling and Communications | 3 |
| MGT 4320 | Negotiating and Conflict Resolution | 3 |
| PSC 3311 | Moot Court | 3 |
| PSC 3375 | Model United Nations | 3 |
| Any 3000- or 4000-level course in ARB, CHI, FRE, GER, GRK, ITA, JPN, LAT, SPA, RUS | ||
Research
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| ANT 4362 | Applied Anthropology | 3 |
| ENV 3303 | Directed Reading in Environmental Studies | 3 |
| HIS 4348 | Readings in European History | 3 |
| HIS 4366 | American Legal History to 1877 | 3 |
| HIS 4398 | Readings in American History | 3 |
| LAS 4390 | Advanced Reading and Research in Latin American Studies | 3 |
| LING 4V20 | Independent Study in Linguistics | 1-3 |
| PHI 4V99 | Special Topics in Philosophy | 1-3 |
| PSC 2301 | Research Writing: Political Science Methods | 3 |
| PSC 4390 | Reading Course in Political Science | 3 |
| SOC 4303 | Applied Sociology | 3 |
| SOC 4381 | Methods of Social Research | 3 |
| SOC 4V70 | Special Topics in Sociology | 1-3 |
Writing & Editing
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| BUS 3315 | Business Communications | 3 |
| ENG 3305 | Sociolinguistics | 3 |
| ENG 3310 | Introduction to Linguistics | 3 |
| ENGL 3332 | Modern English Grammar | 3 |
| JOU 3325 | Editing | 3 |
| JOU 3372 | Writing for Media Markets | 3 |
| PHI 4319 | Philosophical Writing, Research and Oral Presentation | 3 |
| PWR 3303 | Persuasive and Argumentative Writing | 3 |
| PWR 3326 | Studies in Public and Civic Writing | 3 |
| PWR 4309 | Undergraduate Research and Publication | 3 |
| PWR 4311 | Writing for Social Change | 3 |
| PWR 4375 | Special Topics Lecture in Writing and Rhetoric | 3 |
| PWR 4377 | Writing Internship | 3 |
| Any 3000- or 4000-level course in ARB, CHI, FRE, GER, GRK, ITA, JPN, LAT, SPA, RUS | ||