Academics
No specific course of study is required for admission to law school. Most law schools, including all in Ohio, require a bachelor’s degree for admission. The bachelor’s degree may be from any discipline or college at Kent State University. Law schools emphasize the value of reading comprehension, analytical skills and a good command of written English. While these skills can be obtained in various ways, a general liberal arts background is recommended. Courses in English literature, American history and government are considered essential. Many pre-law students choose a major in political science, history, sociology, psychology, economics or English.
Majors
Pre-law is not a major at Kent State, though political science is often a focus for pre-law study. Students electing to declare political science as a major must take 36 credits in political science distributed across core, upper division, elective and seminar courses, and they must maintain a GPA of at least 2.0 within the major. Majors may choose to concentrate their upper-division courses in American Politics, Public Policy or Comparative Politics/International Relations, or to maintain a “general” political science major with no concentration. This information is in the university catalog. Click this link to apply to become a political science major.
Pre-Law Minor
The political science department has a pre-law minor and it can be taken with a political science major or any other major offered across the Kent Campus. The Pre-Law minor provides a background for the study of law through challenging coursework that reinforces and extends the liberal arts foundation gained through the Kent Core. It prepares students for advanced analytical and writing dexterity, and introduces them to the social and governmental structures that underlie the law. Click this link to apply to become a political science pre-law minor.
Courses
A variety of courses across all disciplines and majors are available to develop the critical reading, writing and analytical reasoning skills required to succeed in law school and beyond. In political science, several courses are particularly germane for pre-law study and these include, among others, 30100 American Political Theory; 30110 Congress; 30120 Presidency and Executive Bureaucracy; 30130 Judicial Process; 40182 Con. Law: Government Powers; 40183 Con. Law: Civil Rights & Liberties; 30301 Introduction to Public Administration; 30820 International Organizations and Law; 30840 Nongovernmental Organizations; 40320 Ethics and Public Policy; and, 40410 Regulatory Policy.
"3 Plus 3" Bachelors/Law Accelerated Degree Program
The Political Science Department lets students save time and costs by participating in Three plus three undergraduate/law degree option (with Cleveland Marshall and University of Akron law schools)