Pre-Law Scholars Program
Program Information For 2008 Incoming Freshmen
The Pre-Law Scholars program allows you to reduce from seven years to six years the total time needed to complete your bachelor's and law degrees. A typical bachelor's degree program in the College of Business Administration consists of two parts: core curriculum requirements (business and non-business) and electives. In your first three years of the Pre-Law Scholars program, you will complete core curriculum requirements and some electives. You will save your remaining electives until your fourth year, when you begin your studies in the Law School. The courses you take in that first year of law school count toward the elective courses of your bachelor's degree and toward the completion of your law degree. You are essentially applying the credits for the courses you take in your first year of law school twice. The majors you may choose to pursue are:
- Accounting
- Business Economics
- Entrepreneurship
- Finance
- Human Resource Management
- Information Technology
- Marketing
- International Business
- Operations and Supply Chain Management
- Real Estate
Note: Students majoring in accounting, international business or entrepreneurship will need to take courses in summer school.
Your admission to this program guarantees you a place in Marquette Law School's first-year class of 2011, after you complete your third year of undergraduate studies (having earned at least 100 credits) in the College of Business Administration provided you fulfill the following requirements:
- Maintain a minimum cumulative 3.4 g.p.a. in your undergraduate program.
- Earn a score on the Law School Admissions Test that is equal or greater than the median score of the class admitted to the Law School in the year before you are to enroll in the Law School (i.e., the first- year class of 2010). You may take the LSAT as many times as you need to earn this score, but remember that the Law School considers your score to be the average of all the LSATs you have taken.
- Meet the Law School's standards for character and fitness.
You should know that, while the Law School is bound to hold your place when you meet all of these requirements, you are not bound to the Law School. If, at any point in the program, you decide that law school or the practice of law is not for you, you are not obligated to attend Marquette's Law School, or even to enter the profession. You can stay at Marquette and complete your undergraduate degree in the major(s) you have chosen.
One of the things that will be the key to your success, and, ultimately, that of the entire program, is a sound advising system. We realize that we are asking you to make a pretty big academic and life decision relatively early in life. We intend to work with you every step of the way to ensure that you are confident in and happy with your decision to be in this program and to attend law school. One of the ways we can do that together is through regular discussions with your Pre-Law Scholars adviser, who will help you to ask questions of yourself, to reflect upon your academic and social experiences, and to continue to evaluate how you are progressing in the program. The Pre-Law Advisor is:
Assistant Dean Joseph Terrian
DS 101E
(414) 288-7142
Joseph.Terrian@marquette.edu
Since you will be spending only three undergraduate years at Marquette, the financial aid and scholarships you receive will be applicable only to your first three years at Marquette. After you complete your first three years, you must apply for financial aid and scholarships through the Law School, rather than your undergraduate college.
You may discover during your third year that you'd really like to spend one more year in your undergraduate program, perhaps completing another major along the way. If you should choose to do so, you will, of course, not be able to start in the Law School in your fourth year. However, as long as you continue to earn the minimum required grade point average and achieve the requisite score on the LSAT, you will be admitted to the Law School after the additional year just as you would have been admitted after your third undergraduate year.
The College of Business Administration will base its calculations for academic honors on all credits that will count toward the bachelor's degree. This will include all Business Administration credits and whatever Law School credits will bring the student to 129 total credits.
The College of Business Administration will accept for credit all Law School classes in which the student earns at least a grade of "D", the minimum necessary to earn credit for a course in the Law School. A student must earn 129 credits through his or her courses in the College of Business Administration and the Law School in order to earn a bachelor's degree. If a student were to earn a grade lower than "D" in the first year of Law School, that student, in order to earn the bachelor's degree must make up those credits. This may be done by retaking the Law School course (which would have to happen anyway), or by taking an undergraduate course that fulfills credit requirements for the College of Business Administration.
The Pre-Law Scholars Selection Committee, comprised of members of the College of Business Administration and the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, will give primary consideration to high school students who have followed a rigorous college preparatory curriculum and who have demonstrated a potential for success by fulfilling the criteria below:
Application
Students will provide two applications for the program: the Application for Undergraduate Admission and a separate application for the Pre-Law Scholars program.
High school class rank (if available)
Upper 10 percent
Test Scores
SAT combined score of 1260 or ACT composite score of 28
Interview for semifinalists
Essay
"In 350 to 500 words, describe what personal and educational experiences you have had that have stimulated your interest in a law career."
Deadlines and notification
This application process coincides with the university's other scholarship competition deadlines, which generally fall on February 1. Notification of winners would occur in early March, thereby allowing students ample time to weigh their options.
Important note about financial aid and scholarships
Since the criteria for admission to the Pre-Law Scholars Program match the criteria for many of the merit- based scholarships awarded by the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, it is highly probable that the students in the program will also receive merit-based scholarships to Marquette University. It is important to note that these scholarships, while they are renewable for each of four years at the university, are only for undergraduate study. As a result, the students would only be able to apply these scholarships to their first three years at Marquette, since they will no longer be undergraduates once they begin their classes in the Law School. The fourth year of the scholarship will be forfeited.
Pre-Law Scholars would be eligible to apply in their third year for any Law School financial aid and scholarships that would be available to them for their first year in the Law School.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Office of Admissions (1-414-288-7302 or 1-800-222-6544) or Assistant Dean Joe Terrian (414-288-7142).
|
