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Pre-Law Advising
  2. Undergraduate-Courses
  3. Suggested Undergraduate Courses

Suggested Undergraduate Courses

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Vanderbilt very strongly recommends any course that will strengthen your analytical reading, reasoning and writing skills; specific courses that highlight the "thinking like a lawyer skill-set" are:

 

Philosophy 1003, General Logic

Philosophy 3003, Formal Logic and its Applications

  • Students who take these Logic courses anecdotally earn higher scores on the Logic Games and Logical Reasoning sections of the LSAT examination.

PSCI 1100, Introduction to American Government and/or PSCI 1103 Justice

  • These courses provide fundamental information needed for understanding American Judicial Institutions and the Philosophical underpinnings of the "Justice System" writ large

PSCI 2265, Constitutional Law: Powers and Structure of Government (offered every other Fall semester)

  •  The Constitutional Law course covers the same material one learns in the Constitutional Law course required at most law schools.  This is an excellent introduction to Law School Methodology.  

PSCI 3260, Introduction to American Law (offered every other Spring and every Maymester on campus)

  • The American Law course is colloquially referred to as 1L boot camp and should be taken if at all possible.  This course introduces students to Law School Methods as well as the substantive material learned the first year of law school.  Students also meet Nashville Lawyers and Judges who are experts in these practice areas. 

Vanderbilt also strongly recommends:

Communication Studies 1500, Fundamentals of Public Speaking

Communications Studies 2100, Argumentation and Debate

English 1230W, Literature and Analytical Thinking

English 3734/3734W, Literature and Law

History 3170, The Federalist Papers

Managerial Studies 3105, Negotiation

Philosophy 3610/3610W, Ethics and Law

Philosophy 3623, Modern Philosophies of Law

Political Science 2208, Law, Politics, and Justice

Political Science 2266, Constitutional Law: Civil Liberties and Rights

Sociology 3605, Law and Social Movements

Sociology 3613, Law and Society

Sociology 3621, Criminology

Sociology 3624, Prison Life

Any other course that interests and challenges you!