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#Pursue Graduate, Professional School and Fellowships: The Career Center: University of Vermont

Apply to Law School

Just getting started? If you are in the early stages of considering applying to law school, let us help you begin with advising information, choice of major and an undergraduate timetable in our Considering Pre-Law webpage. Don't forget to join the Pre-Law Listserv .

Pre-law Required Courses

The American Bar Association does not recommend any specific group of courses to prepare for a legal education. There are, however, important skills and values it recommends acquiring prior to law school. These include analytical and problem-solving skills, critical reading abilities, writing skills, oral communication and listening abilities, general research skills, task organization and management skills and the values of serving others and promoting justice.

In addition to these fundamental skills and values, there are some basic areas of knowledge helpful to a legal education. These include:

1. A broad understanding of history, including the various factors (social, political, economic and cultural) that have influenced the development of society
2. A fundamental understanding of political thought and the contemporary American political system
3. Basic mathematical and financial skills
4. A basic understanding of human behavior and social interaction
5. An understanding of diverse cultures within and beyond the US, of international institutions and issues, of world events and of the increasing interdependence of nations and communities in our world.

Finally, many of our students have found it helpful to take classes in logic and philosophy.

Interested in pursuing a pre-law path and applying to law schools?

Still deciding if law school is the best choice? See our information on Considering Law School