Pre-Law at Barnard

Hi, I’m Brooke - your resident Ruth-Bader-Ginsburg-obsessed LSAT survivor and pre-law Barnard senior. Being a “pre-law” student is different at every school. In fact, Barnard doesn’t even have an official pre-law track or major, so students can feel free to explore the full range of their academic interests while tailoring their Barnard experience to being as pre-law oriented as they would like. In this blog post, I’m going to break down a variety of opportunities and resources for Barnard students who aspire to attend law school, based heavily on my personal experience.

Academics

As I said before, there’s no designated set of courses that students need to take in order to attend law school, and there’s no “pre-law” designation, major, or minor at Barnard. For example, I am double majoring in economics and psychology, and some of the more common majors for pre-law Barnard students include political science, history, American studies, and human rights. 

Despite not having a pre-law major or official pre-law track, there are a plethora of ways in which students can tailor their academic pursuits to fit their legal interests. For example, during my sophomore year, I conducted independent research in Barnard’s psychology department with a professor whose specialty was the intersection of psychology and the law.  Likewise, in one of my favorite electives, Human Rights and Public Health, I chose to write my final research paper on mental illness in the American criminal justice system. There also are several classes that are very popular among Barnard’s future lawyers, such as Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Environmental Law, The Politics of Crime and Policing, and The Constitution in Historical Perspective. 

One final note on academics is that you can not only study abroad as a pre-law student, but you can also participate in programs that have law-related classes. I studied abroad in Denmark during my junior year, and since I am interested in prison reform, I took a class on Scandinavian criminology and got to visit a Danish open prison!

Beyond Barnard Resources

One of the best aspects of being a pre-law student at Barnard is that there are resources for us that extend outside of the classroom. Beyond Barnard - Barnard students’ one-stop-shop for career development, campus employment, fellowship advising, and pre-professional guidance - is a fantastic resource for students planning to attend law school.

Not only is Beyond Barnard home to our Pre-Law Dean, Nikki Youngblood-Giles, but it also hosts law-related events throughout the school year. There is a widespread community of Barnard alumnae who have been successful in the legal field, and through Beyond Barnard I’ve had the opportunity to connect with an incredible number of Barnard-graduate lawyers through ongoing mentorship programs, panels, and mentor-in-residence meetings.

There are a few special fellowship and internship opportunities offered by Beyond Barnard that are very popular among pre-law students. The Arthur Liman Yale Summer Fellowship is an excellent opportunity for Barnard students to work in public interest law, and the Guggenheim Internship program allows Barnard students to work in criminal justice non-profit organizations. This past year, I was a Guggenheim Fellow and got to spend my summer interning at the Vera Institute of Justice working on their solitary confinement project! 

One final, very important note: Beyond Barnard also provides funding for unpaid internship opportunities. This is amazing for us pre-law students because unpaid internships, unfortunately, tend to be common in the legal field.

Campus Life

There is a huge pre-law community that spans both Barnard and Columbia’s campuses - if you don’t believe me, we literally have four official pre-law organizations: the Athena Pre-Law Society, the Columbia Pre-Law Society, the Columbia University Women of Color Pre-Law Society, and Columbia University Women in Law and Politics. 

These student organizations are a great way to connect with other pre-law students, and when I was a pre-law newcomer, it was a really useful way for me to find a community of people with a shared interest. Since there are so many pre-law student organizations, there are countless on-campus opportunities for pre-law students to take advantage of. Many of these student groups offer mentorship programs that match undergraduates with current students at Columbia Law School, sponsor LSAT prep sessions with official testing companies, and host application workshops with admissions officers from some of the top law schools in the country. I even received a free ticket to see What the Constitution Means to Me on Broadway through my affiliation with a pre-law organization on campus!

I’ve also had the chance to hear from incredible speakers on our campus, including Susan Herman ‘68, President of the ACLU, and Ramona Romero ‘85, current General Counsel at Princeton University and former General Counsel for the USDA under the Obama Administration. Similarly, I’ve taken advantage of opportunities at Columbia Law School by attending guest speaker events at the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law and by visiting classes!

Throughout my four years at Barnard, I have really benefited from the incredible array of pre-law resources inside and outside of the classroom, as well as throughout our campus and the broader Barnard alumnae network. I have loved being a part of the pre-law community during my time at Barnard, and I can’t wait to pay it forward when I’m a lawyer in the future!

-Brooke Levy

Brooke is a senior double majoring in Economics and Psychology and is from Yardley, PA. In addition to being a BSAR, Brooke has been very involved with the Athena Pre-Law Society and the Athena Center for Leadership Studies and has conducted independent research in the economics and psychology departments. Brooke plans on attending law school in a few years and is very excited to be working at a law firm in NYC after she graduates this spring.