Pre-Law
When considering law school, the first question to ask is, "Why do I want to be a lawyer?" At Berea College, this question begins a multi-year process for a student of asking questions, seeking information, and designing experiences aimed at understanding the legal profession. A student's first step in this process is to schedule a meeting with the Campus Pre-Law Advisor, Dr. Daniel Huck, to begin laying out a plan for considering law as a professional career. That individual plan might include pursuing specific course work, linking up with a mentor who practices law, participating in law-related internships, and other activities offered through Berea. As a student progresses through each new milestone in their plan, the student can move closer to deciding whether to pursue a career as an attorney and how the student might begin that career by getting into a law school program after graduation.
As a general matter, law schools in the United States neither require nor recommend any particular major or undergraduate course of study as preparation for legal study after college. Instead, Berea College prepares students for the study of law through developing their analytical abilities, especially their ability to read, write, and reason well about a broad range of issues. Also, Berea does not have a "Pre-Law Major" as such, but the College does offer a minor in Law, Ethics and Society (LES) that may serve some students in considering the depth of their interest in the study of law. Therefore, students considering a legal career should choose an academic major at Berea that prepares them for the rigors of law school by developing their abilities to read difficult texts, to write structured arguments, and to reason in depth. Whatever a student's academic major, strong preparation for law school also will require demonstrated excellence in a broad curriculum of study, including courses in literature, mathematics, history, the social sciences, and the arts.