Pre-Law on the Hill

At St. Olaf, we believe that the best preparation for a career in law is a broad liberal arts education. The most successful students and practitioners of law are well-rounded individuals who are able to think and express themselves with skill and creativity. For this reason, there is no set pre-law curriculum and students are discouraged from trying to limit their undergraduate education to the narrow field of legal studies. Instead, those interested in attending law school are encouraged to pursue a broad program of study that strengthens their abilities in writing, reading, speaking, and analysis. Students can pursue this type of broad learning through any department in the college, not just the traditional pre-law majors of political science, history and philosophy.


Guided by a shared commitment to the liberal arts, the Pre-Law Advisory Committee and the Center for Experiential Learning work together closely to help students explore the possibility of a career in law and successfully enter a law program. Pre-law advisers help students learn more about the career of law, provide information on law applications, scholarships, joint degree programs, and law-related careers. Throughout the year the CEL organizes events with alumni to speak about their work and study, holds law school information workshops, and arranges visits from law school recruiters. The Center also houses information on possible internships in the field of law, a library of law school catalogs, and materials on preparation for the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT). A special Pre-Law Bulletin Board is located on the third floor of Holland Hall. It contains information from the Pre-Law Advisory Committee and the CEL concerning law, careers in law, and law schools.

Each year 50 to 60 St. Olaf seniors and alumni apply to law schools. Slightly more than 80% are accepted at a school of their choice. While the majority of St. Olaf graduates study law in Minnesota, in any given year St. Olaf alumni who are studying law will be found scattered from the East Coast to the West. In recent years, they have attended such nationally known universities as Columbia, Cornell, Georgetown, Northwestern, Stanford, University of California at Berkeley, the University of Wisconsin, William & Mary, and Yale.

 

Pre-Law Advisory Committee:

Co-chairs
Kirsten Cahoon, Associate Director, Career Connections, Center for Experiential Learning, x3268
Douglas Casson, Assistant Professor, Political Science, x3484

Members
Karen Cherewatuk, Associate Professor, English
Steve Hahn, Assistant Professor, History
Gordon Marino, Professor, Philosophy