Pre-Law

Advisor: Dr. C. Arnold (Political Science), 450-5691

Law schools, unlike medical schools, do not require any particular degree or course of study for admission. Each applicant is required to have completed only a bachelor’s degree and the Law School Admissions Test.

A pre-law student at UCA may choose any field in which to complete a bachelor’s degree. Several things should be kept in mind when making this choice. A prospective law student should possess three basic qualities:

  1. Skill in the comprehension and use of language. Language is the lawyer’s working tool. In seeking to convince, in drafting legal instruments and legislation, and in oral and written arguments, a lawyer must have the capacity to communicate with clarity, precision, and persuasiveness. A program of study which requires one to write is, therefore, essential.
  2. Analytical and problem-solving skills. An important part of the lawyer’s work is problem-solving. Creative and analytical thinking requires the development of skills in research, use of facts, deductive and inductive reasoning, critical analysis, and the systematic formulation of principles and concepts.
  3. An understanding of and interest in human institutions and values. Lawyers are not just engaged in a process like that of a worker changing a tire on a car, rather, they are forces in the operation and shaping of the institutions and values with which humankind is concerned. The work which lawyers do can have a tremendous impact on a human life and even a whole community. A broad background in history, government, philosophy, economics, and the arts is, therefore, quite important.

Each pre-law student at UCA should consult with the pre-law advisor to choose a course of study which best fits the student’s needs and desires and offers the best preparation for law school. Students should also consult with the pre-law advisor for assistance in selecting the appropriate law schools to which they should apply.