STEM Majors Who Excel On The LSAT Have No Interest In Law School

[mahatmakanejeeves]

STEM Majors Who Excel On The LSAT Have No Interest In Law School

Is it any wonder that law schools are gunning to accept GRE scores for admissions purposes?

By STACI ZARETSKY

at 1:15 PM

Take a look around the average entering law school class, and you’ll find that the vast majority of the students who are about to begin their very expensive, three-year journeys have not only graduated with degrees in social sciences, but they’ve also scored lower on the LSAT than their peers with degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). On average, those who have majored in math, physics, and biomedical engineering have scored 160 or higher on the exam, while those with degrees in political science, a stereotypical pre-law major, have scored below 155.

Professor Robert Anderson of Pepperdine University School of Law recently compiled data on undergraduate majors, GPAs, and LSAT scores, and found that the only other majors — aside from the STEM majors mentioned above — that broke the 160 average on the LSAT were classics and linguistics. Check out the rest of Professor Anderson’s findings below (click to enlarge):



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Staci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. Why in the world would someone with no interest in attending law school

take the LSAT?

Although if I'm reading the chart correctly, it looks like almost no physics majors take it, just as one for instance. And lots and lots of Political Science majors do, which matches the general perception of what undgrads go on to law school.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Parental pressure? NT

[exboyfil]

4. I think that is what they are saying

by the large circle (reflects number of test takers). Kind of imprecise statistics. The assumption is that everyone taking the LSAT is seeking admission into law school. Given the cost and time required to prep, I have to think it is a reasonable assumption. The finish off the statistic would be to determine the number of LSAT takers by major and how many of that major graduate in a year.

[exboyfil]

3. Part of the problem is the STEM group

are self selected on who takes the test. Anyone who finishes an engineering degree and aspires to be a lawyer is already exceptional. From a payback standpoint it seems to make little sense until they have a clear direction in mind (patent attorney for example).

Those who take majors to study for the vocation of law from the undergraduate level (social science) have fewer later opportunities available. That being said the science and engineering pool will be stronger than the social studies pool.

You see the same phenomenon for the MCAT. The Life Science majors have some of the poorest performance scores. The Physical Science and Engineering majors have some of the highest average scores.