Admit what you know - The best (small) colleges for pre-law in the West?

Which colleges are most suitable for a pre-law student? Meet Colby D., an A student in Sacramento, CA with a 630 CR, 610 M, and a 650 Writing. Colby wants to avoid the huge public schools that are prevalent in California and is interested in pre-law. However he’s restricted to Western schools because his family wants him within a one to two day drive. Colby had trouble finding schools using CollegeBoard.com. The problem was Colby thought he needed a school that had a major in pre-law studies. Actually, he doesn't. Instead, he needs a school with pre-law advising. If a school has a major in philosophy, economics, political science, or rhetoric, a student will be well-prepared for law school. (Note that is not necessarily true for criminal justice majors as they tend to do poorly on the LSAT.) A pre-law advisor should be able to find a combination of courses in these majors that will best suit the student's needs. Colby should do some more soul-searching to figure out what type of law he might want to go into (or what post-law school career) as that could affect what other courses he should consider.

Here’s a list of schools for Colby:

Reaches: (I would choose just one of the two. I don’t like the idea of applying to more than one school that has higher SAT medians than a student’s scores.)

Reed is one of the best liberal arts college in the country, Reed would ensure that Colby is politically aware and more than prepared for the rigors of law school. They offer majors he might need like econ, poli. sci, or philosophy. The city of Portland might be able to provide useful internships.

Whitman is Reed’s slightly more traditional rival. Although considered to be lower stress than Reed, the school is still very challenging. It has the right majors, a pre-law society and one of its alumni was a Supreme Court justice.

Targets:

Colorado College has the needed majors and something called the “block plan” which helps students focus on one subject at a time. This is particularly useful for courses with a lot of reading such as economics, and students get to know their professors very well in this kind of system. (Don’t forget most law schools require recommendations.)

Occidental has econ, poli sci, philosophy, and a beautiful campus. Located in Los Angeles, it’s an ideal place for a student heading toward entertainment law. A search of the website for “pre-law” shows that they indeed have pre-law advising through a Ms. Valerie Savior. If Colby were interested in “Oxy,” he might want to contact Ms. Savior and ask what percentage of students go on to law school and what career paths do they often choose.

Lewis & Clark, like Reed, is also in Portland. It has smart majors like philosophy, economics, political science, and rhetoric. The liberal “hippie” environment might suit Colby if he’s interested in advocacy for ACLU causes or for work with Amnesty International.

Safeties:

Pitzer College is in the Los Angeles area, has the philosophy, econ, and poli sci programs and offers the additional strengths of nearby powerhouses Pomona, Scripps, and Claremont McKenna if a course isn’t available at Pitzer. Pitzer’s multidisciplinary approach helps students become more analytical, something rather important when working as a trial attorney. Do they have pre-law advising? Most certainly.

Evergreen State is a financial safety (a public school that’s a good bet for admission as well as relatively cheap in case the private schools don’t come through with good aid packages) in Olympia, Washington. It does not have majors per se, but he could study philosophy, rhetoric, or poli sci here. Through the state’s PERL program he could do a summer residence course specifically coordinated for students interested in pre-law studies. Also, “green” careers are heating up, so this would be an excellent jumping off point for Colby if he was interested in environmental law.