The Association of American Law Schools defines Pre-legal Education as follows:
“Shortly stated, what the law schools seek in their entering students is not accomplishment in mere memorization but accomplishment in understanding, the capacity to think for themselves, and the ability to express their thoughts with clarity and focus.”
Although pre-law students can gain adequate preparation for law school with any strong major, they have found the liberal studies major especially valuable. A major in Liberal Studies provides excellent preparation for law school.
Through the Whitney Young School, it is possible to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree following a specially-designed, individualized curriculum. A student-designed liberal studies curriculum permits a student to pursue a course of study that combines related subjects from different disciplines for the sake of some specific approved educational or career goal. The student-designed curriculum option is intended to serve students with special academic needs while maintaining a level of coherence and integrity in the course of study.
A student pursuing this degree must complete the University’s Liberal Studies Requirements (or their equivalent through the Whitney Young School of Honors and Liberal Studies). By the end of the first semester of his or her junior year, the student should petition for permission to follow a student-designed curriculum. The student needs a cumulative GPA of 3.0 to be eligible to petition for the degree. The general University requirement for a minimum of 120 semester credit hours for the Bachelor of Arts degree must be met. This petition will define and justify an interdisciplinary course of study. The petition must show specifically how the proposed course of study meets the student’s academic goals, how those goals cannot be met by any traditional major at KSU, and how the proposed course of studies constitutes a coherently related set of courses that is the equivalent of a major. In addition, the petition must list the courses that make up the student-designed major; in effect, this would become the curriculum ladder for that major. The student will submit this petition to his or her mentor or advisor, who will collaborate with the student in refining the proposal. The mentor or advisor will send the petition and his or her recommendation to the director of the Whitney Young School, who will transmit the petition and his or her recommendation to the dean of the dean of the College. The dean will transmit the petition and his or her recommendation to the Vice President for Academic Affairs. The proposal will not be an approved course of study until it has the written approval of the Vice President for Academic Affairs.
The student will submit this petition to his or her mentor or advisor, who will collaborate with the student in refining the proposal. The mentor or advisor will send the petition and his or her recommendation to the director of the Whitney Young School, who will transmit the petition and his or her recommendation to the dean of the dean of the College. The dean will transmit the petition and his or her recommendation to the Vice President for Academic Affairs. The proposal will not be an approved course of study until it has the written approval of the Vice President for Academic Affairs.
The General Studies Option of the Bachelor of Liberal Studies degree provides an alternative four-year program for students who seek to return to KSU in order to complete and undergraduate education without the academic specialization involved in traditional major programs. This degree program allows reasonable latitude to satisfy individual interests and needs, including those of non-traditional students, while still adhering to the rigorous university standards for baccalaureate degrees. It operates in the spirit of the liberal studies mission of the University. In lieu of the major/minor required by traditional degree programs, the student must complete of these broad areas of concentration: arts, humanities, social and behavioral science, natural science, business, education, technology, health or professional studies.
Since this is a completer degree, the student must have 90 semester credit hours and must have enrolled in no classes at KSU for two semesters prior to the semester in which the student enrolls in this program. The student declaring this major should go to the director of the Whitney Young School to be assigned an advisor who will work with the student to define the area of concentration and the appropriate advised electives.
Minimum Academic Requirements:
41 semester-credit hours of the General Education Core
12 semester-credit hours in the Integrative Studies
42 semester-credit hours of concentration
15 semester-credit hours of advised electives
10 semester-credit hours of free electives
120 total college-level undergraduate semester hours (of which 42 semester-credit hours must be in upper-level [300–400] courses)
Grade-point average of at least 2.0 overall.
Grade of “C” or better in all courses except free electives (which require grade of “D” or better)
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