Online Bachelor's in Poli Sci from Walden Uni good for law school?

I know this has been asked before, but I wanted to get a more up-to-date answer since it has been more than ten years from the last post about this. Also my situation isn't the same as the previous post(s).

I transferred from Texas Tech University to Walden University, and am getting a B.S. in Political Science and Public Administration with a concentration in Law and Legal Studies. I already have minors in Mathematics, Biology and Chemistry. My goal is to become a corporate, contract or patent lawyer. I scored a 166 on the LSAT (taken once) and a 322 on the GRE (taken once). I have completed over 500 hours of community service and have been working a full-time retail job over these past few years. I have a 4.0 institutional GPA at Walden and just a cummulative GPA of 2.9.

According to my online research and phone calls to law schools, law schools claim it does not matter what your major is, and the academic prestige of your university has little value comparatively to your GPA and LSAT scores. Is this correct? If not, I am contemplating returning to Texas Tech, switching majors or both.

I appreciate any and all advice. Thank you.

 

I inquired many years ago about a local law school (Suffolk University) that is probably middle-of-the-road as far as prestige goes; not the Brooklyn Academy of Law, but certainly not Harvard or Chicago, either. For some reason, they keep sending me mailings, 15+ years after the fact, but one interesting thing I always check out is the undergraduate schools for the incoming class. I've seen many, many DL schools (TESC/U, Excelsior, Charter Oak, Granite State, etc.), some known for DL programs (U of Phoenix), and many others that have DL programs.

So, if your ultimate goal is law school, having a RA Bachelor's degree the admission ticket. Unless you're hell-bent on one of the elite law schools, I really wouldn't worry about the source of your undergrad degree, concentrate on your GPA and prepare for the LSAT.

 

Thank you Bruce for your response, that is great news to hear. So far from what I've also seen from the entrance classes, they seem to accept DL undergraduate students. However, when I speak to the law school admissions and ask them questions, they seem to stress a prestigious undergraduate school. Also, when I have spoken to recent law graduates, they also seem to stress the same thing. But at the same time, they do claim that their law school has accepted all types of majors from all types of schools. Which is why I'm so confused. I guess the only thing I can keep doing is working on my GPA, trying to improve my LSAT score some more, and keep up the volunteering.

 

I think Bruce is correct. It's your GPA and your LSAT that will get you in. As the application/enrollment numbers decrease at law schools, the acceptance criteria drop as well. Don't get discouraged, if you really want a law degree you'll find a school that will give you the chance.

 

I agree, but he also has minors in Mathematics, Biology and Chemistry. I'd say that not only makes him stand out, it's also good preparation for graduate study that would enhance many areas of law.

I ended up with one undergrad minor (Communication) completely by accident; I was filling up free electives, Communication courses were plentiful, and the scheduling worked out. I was told by one hiring manager just a few months ago that she was impressed that I had the drive to add a minor to my degree. I decided to not mention that I didn't even know I had one until I saw my transcript. :naughty:

 

Your LSAT score will go a very long way towards getting you in to a top-tier law school, and will substantially outweigh a lower GPA or most any other factor (unless you have some serious character issues or something like that). If you want to be a patent attorney, you will have to pass the Patent Bar, which generally requires a degree in one of the hard sciences, or at least a minimum number of credit hours in hard sciences (check for specifics). So this might inform your choice of switching majors. But as far as transferring schools, I don't think it's necessary if your goal is to gain admission to law school. As I said before, an LSAT score as strong as yours will help you more than just about anything else you could otherwise do to boost your chances at getting in. I wish you the best of luck.

 

A bachelor's degree in political science will not qualify you to sit for the patent bar. If you don't have one of the qualifying degrees, sometimes with programmatic accreditation, you'll need a certain number of credits in various areas in order to qualify.

http://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/OED_GRB.pdf

 

Firstly, a big second to what sanantone says. Patent law isn't just something you fall into after law school. There are specific educational requirements beyond the JD.

Second, I was accepted to Syracuse Law with my BS in Business Admin from CTU. Like Walden, CTU is U ranked, for-profit and RA. SU has a good local and regional reputation but it is hardly Harvard Law. With any RA BS you can probably get into A law school especially if you are willing to travel.

 

Don't go anywhere unless you can go for free or nearly. I'm not kidding. Full freight on a law degree at any really "prestigious" school, which is where you will HAVE to go for a reasonable shot at BigLaw, can run you near two hundred thousand dollars for tuition, books and fees alone. NO law degree is worth that kind of money, especially when you add in the costs of living without income for three years.