Pre-Law Studies

A passion for truth. A reverence for justice. A relish for the spirited debate.

Pre-Law isn’t a major; instead, it’s a group of foundational courses that can be taken alongside the major of your choice, in preparation for your application to law school. The goal is a superlative background in the critical skills of reading, thinking, and writing, and a strong foundation in the history, culture, and political institutions that influence the law today.

Oglethorpe is the perfect place to pursue this goal. Here, Pre-Law complements the Core program, and the Core informs Pre-Law. Altogether, it’s an environment of thought-provoking questions, energizing discussions, and big ideas.

Another benefit? Oglethorpe offers small class sizes and student-focused faculty. The quality of that mentorship shapes your whole experience at Oglethorpe, as your professors and Pre-Law adviser will help you identify areas that interest you, design the perfect course of study, and strategically approach the law school admission process. And, when you and your professors have spent the last four years getting to know each other, recommendation letters are easy, too.

Real-World Experience
Life After Oglethorpe

At Oglethorpe, we work hard to help students gain real-world experience any way we can. Atlanta, with its large number of top-notch law firms, is an ideal place to make this happen and high-profile connections are everywhere. Making the transition from the classroom to the courtroom can be easier than you might think.

Thanks to the generosity and expertise of the Stormy Petrel Bar Association – made up of Oglethorpe alumni now working as attorneys – your community will extend well beyond campus and well past graduation. Members of the Stormy Petrel Bar Association mentor students who are interested in law school, and help motivated students obtain shadowing experiences, informational interviews, and resume-building internships. The association also sponsors lectures and hosts networking events.

Pre-Law students have completed internships with political campaigns, senators and members of Congress, the Georgia State Legislature, and the Georgia Justice Project (a not-for-profit, faith-based criminal defense firm).

The Charles S. Weltner Award, sponsored by the Stormy Petrel Bar Association, is presented each year to an outstanding Pre-Law student. It comes with both recognition and a monetary award. The Charles S. Weltner award is named for a notable Oglethorpe alumnus whose impressive career and early support for civil rights led to his role as Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court.

You already know that law is a strong career choice. Where will your degree from Oglethorpe take you next?

Oglethorpe Pre-Law students are exceptionally well positioned for application to law school. They’ve gone on to attend law school at many of the best institutions in the country, including Columbia University, Duke University, Emory University, Georgetown University, Harvard University, New York University, University of Chicago, University of Michigan, and Vanderbilt University.

Qualified lawyers have a number of varied career paths available to them. You could practice in business, environmental law, intellectual property, civil litigation, criminal prosecution or defense, and more. You could also become a law professor, a politician, or a judge.

Oglethorpe alumni include a staff attorney at the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights; a judge on the Georgia Court of Appeals; a Georgia State Representative; district counsel for the U.S. Small Business Administration; Chief Assistant Attorney for the Western District (GA) Public Health Defender’s Office; Vice President Real Estate and Strategic Investments for Cox Enterprises; and many practicing attorneys and partners at successful law firms.