Jane Elliot Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 It's my turn to play name that college. :D We'd like a college with a good Criminal Justice program. DS may or may not like to go into law, so it would be nice if the college had a good track record for getting students into law school. It would be nice if the college was small to medium-sized. We'd prefer something in the western half of the country, but that's not essential. We'd prefer a Christian college, but that's also not essential. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samuel Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 Two Christian colleges I know of that have good law school admission records are George Fox in OR and Howard Payne in TX. Whitworth in WA might also be worth a look. For secular schools, look at Willamette and Lewis and Clark in OR Question re: Criminal Justice--is this seen as law school prep? In my understanding this is usually a standalone for people wanted to enter law enforcement or corrections on the basis of a BA. Most people I know who were successful in law school admissions either 1)majored in Political Science/Pre-Law or 2)majored in something like philosophy or science and took law related courses for a minor/elective and did very well on the LSAT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane Elliot Posted April 2, 2011 Author Share Posted April 2, 2011 Question re: Criminal Justice--is this seen as law school prep? This is a good question. I have no idea. I've been letting ds do the research, but I suppose I should discuss with him how he has come to his conclusions. Thanks for the school recommendations. I hadn't thought of George Fox and actually I've never even heard of Howard Payne. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane Elliot Posted April 2, 2011 Author Share Posted April 2, 2011 Not western, but midwestern, but Hillsdale College produces the highest LSAT scores in MI. I agree that most pre-law students are not criminal justice majors. Those are usually headed towards police work (where my dd hopes to end up). Thank you, Margaret. We've been eyeing Hillsdale, but it doesn't have a criminal justice major. Maybe we need to rethink the major. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganClassicalPrep Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 I don't have any advice about specific colleges, but I looked at going into law school at one time. I was told (by a number of people, including practicing attorneys and professors), that the best majors for law school applicants are philosophy, history, english... those majors that promote writing and researching, with philosophy being the number one. Also, law school admissions are almost entirely numbers driven, so your DS should major in something that he will do extremely well in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 Criminal Justice is a major for those who will work in law enforcment or directly with law enforcement. Several of our county sheriff's and undersheriff's have c.j. degrees as well as FBI agents (though the techies tend to have science degrees), federal marshalls, prison wardens, etc. Pre-law is a Bachelor's degree and it can be in any number of majors. You can be a music major and then go to law school as long as you can get a decent score on the LSAT. Now, not every law school in the world will accept you with a music background, but it can and has been done. Two of the strongly recommended majors are history and psychology. History is an excellent preparatory study to law. Choose a college that produces a large percentage of high LSAT scorers from amongst their pre-law graduates. Some schools may have an excellent psyche or history program, but very poor study classes for the LSAT. I know all of this from my sister's own pre-law, LSAT days. She did not attend law school, though she was accepted at a number of excellent law schools - health problems shortly after taking the LSAT. She doubled majored in history and psychology. Faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 John Jay Most lawyers I talk to sing its praises. Dd looked at going, and a friend's daughter who is this May graduating Northeastern for Criminal Justice said she wished she went there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tearose Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 John Jay Most lawyers I talk to sing its praises. Dd looked at going, and a friend's daughter who is this May graduating Northeastern for Criminal Justice said she wished she went there. :iagree: I have several family members who work in forensics, and John Jay is definitely the place to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 My d is pre-law and at one of the two colleges she may attend, she may very well do a criminolgy minor or double major. Why? She specifically wants to be a prosecutor and feels that such a major may actually give her information she wants. Other ones she is considering are psychology (less so lately), poly sci (again less so) and economics (more so). At one of the two colleges she is still considering, she has to have a major and minor or a double major. The main thing she needs is writing courses so to keep writing. WHile the economics would provide plenty of analytical skills, it isn't a major heavy on writing. One of the other social sciences or maybe English would provide that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samuel Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Just to follow up, I checked the catalog at the school I will be teaching at next year, which has both politics, where I teach, and criminal justice. Politics has two constitutional law classes, a criminal law and procedure class, legal evidence, and business law. Criminal justice has courses such as criminology, abnormal psychology, law and society, etc. Many of the law-related courses are actually taught, if I understand right, by the political science department. This will clearly vary from university to university, but my understanding is that in general a political science program with a good pre-law emphasis will have more of the courses that will provide a foundation in legal reasoning than will criminal justice, which is preparing future police and corrections officers. The other thing I would recommend is moot court or speech and debate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerriMI Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Eastern KY University has one of the top ones in the nation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest manhattan Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 Well there a couple of options for you, East Carolina University Florida International University Metropolitan State University of Denver University of New Haven University of Pennsylvania and a list of the top Universities here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
give_me_a_latte Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 I'm a bit late here....but wanted to chime in as I have a BS in CJ and a MS in Criminology. Totally agree with others that a CJ degree won't necessarily lead to a law program. Most CJ majors require some law courses at the undergrad level (I had to take Const Law and Criminal Law), but that's about it. Most of the undergrads I knew who were pre-law were PoliSci majors. I hope this doesn't sound crass, but if he wants to do actual hands on CJ work, it really doesn't matter too much where he gets his BS. I've worked at every level, local to Fed, and I can't really say that it mattered where anyone got their degree. In teaching/research positions it does matter, but then you're talking about Graduate programs and whatnot. The CJ field is one where everyone is at some point in their education, it seems. So many people are going back to school part time...so it's very common to see people with transcripts form multiple colleges and universities. Now, Law School is an entirely different beast. If he thinks he wants to go in that direction, I'd advise him to check out a few Law Schools and their admission requirements. Then tailor his undergrad years to meet those requirements. Best of luck to him!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halftime Hope Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 (edited) I've never even heard of Howard Payne. Dd has several friends at Howard Payne, as it's not very far from here. It is a very small school (1200 enrollment?) pretty far out in a small town. One of her friends that went there transfered somewhere else b/c she felt there just wasn't enough opportunity for her in town for jobs, student internships, etc. This gal said that she felt that a lot of kids found trouble b/c there wasn't enough to keep them busy. Several other friends' kids go there and are perfectly happy with it, and they're kids I respect. YMMV. Their only full tuition scholarship is for their MacArthur leadership program, which IIRC, caters to kids interested in law and public policy. You'd have to find it on their website in case I'm mistaken. ETA: http://www.hputx.edu/s/668/howardpayne.aspx?pgid=1048 My dd is at HPU's football rival, but her school usually wins ,and they're twice the size, so it's a lopsided rivalry. ;) Edited May 20, 2011 by Valerie(TX) provide a link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsmomto5 Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 Campbell University http://www.campbell.edu I have one child there now and another going in the fall. We love the school! They have a great law school and also have criminal justice. Lora in NC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal Sandra Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 If your son knows that he wants to practice criminal law then he can make that his focus in law school. A good goal right now would be to choose a major that will develop his writing skills and analytical abilities. Getting good grades at a reputable college and then a high LSAT score would be the next goal. If your son wants to do criminal trial work, then some public speaking experience would also be helpful. I don't know much about specific colleges, but I recall reading that the debate team at Patrick Henry College often beats teams from Ivy League schools and that some PHC team members have gone on to Harvard law school. I don't know much more about PHC, except the fact that it is Christian and admits many homeschoolers. HTH. Good luck to you and your son. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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