Pre-Law Program

To connect with pre-law at Furman, contact the pre-law advisor in the Office of Pre-Professional Advising. It’s also a good idea to fill out the pre-law interest form.

Furman’s study away programs represent engaged learning at its finest. Add a global dimension to learning as you cultivate intellectual curiosity, develop new skills and build self-confidence – keys to competing in a complex, ever-evolving world. The majority of study away programs, including semester-long and three-week May Experience (MayX) courses, are interdisciplinary in nature and open to students of all majors. Law-focused MayX options led by alumni who are attorneys have addressed the intersection of medicine, poverty and law, as well as trial advocacy.

In addition to interning at legal firms, our students have secured internships at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, public defender agencies, government agencies, health care systems and nonprofits. Through the Upstate Medical Legal Partnership, our students gain valuable experience at Prisma Health. Furman remains the only undergraduate institution in the nation to partner with a medical legal partnership.

Working under the supervision of practicing attorney faculty members, our students acquire real-world experience representing clients through The Justicia Project, a partnership with the Department of Politics and International Affairs and a local law firm. Joining Furman’s prestigious mock trial program is another way aspiring attorneys develop and polish their skills in trial advocacy, public speaking and critical thinking.

If you are interested in law, choose any major you are passionate about. Students typically declare a major by the end of their sophomore year, so there’s plenty of time to explore options. There are no academic major requirements to participate in pre-law activities at Furman. Grades matter in pursuing downstream law schools as do LSAT scores, so select a major that inspires you and one in which you think you’ll excel.

Students planning to go directly to law school after graduation typically take the digital LSAT in the summer after junior year. Ideally, students would only need to take the LSAT once; however, LSAC permits students to take the exam up to three times in a testing cycle. While law schools have access to all test scores, they overwhelmingly consider students’ high LSAT score. Because the rolling admissions cycle opens in September or October each year, it’s in your best interest to submit applications as soon as you have a strong admissions packet ready in the fall. Students taking gap years have more flexibility, and many students opt to take the LSAT in the summer after graduation. The LSAT remains on file for five years.

Furman graduates gain admittance to a range of institutions from smaller colleges to larger Tier I, Top 50 universities (as ranked by U.S. News and World Report). Some of the Tier I law schools our Furman alumni have attended in the last five years include University of Chicago, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, New York University, University of Virginia, University of California Berkeley, University of Michigan, Duke University, Cornell, Northwestern, Georgetown, Boston University, University of Texas, Vanderbilt University, University of Florida, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, George Washington University, University of Alabama, Notre Dame, University of Georgia, Emory, Ohio State, William and Mary, University of Illinois, Washington and Lee, Boston College, Fordham University, Wake Forest University, University of Maryland and University of Colorado. Other Top 100 schools our alumni have matriculated to in the last five years include University of Richmond, SMU, Loyola, Georgia State and University of South Carolina.

Payscale.com reports that the average starting salary for attorneys is $87,606. If you study at the Top 14 law schools, then gain employment in “biglaw” (the largest and most successful firms), your starting salary could be as much as $235,000 including bonus pay.