Humanities Majors and the Law School Admission Test (LSAT)
- From 1996 to 2009, the humanities share of LSAT examinees hovered around 20% of all test takers, according to data provided by the Law School Admission Council (Indicator III-13a).
- From 1996 to 2009, humanities majors performed somewhat better on the LSAT than behavioral and social science graduates, and their average score was within one point of engineering, math, and natural science majors (Indicator III-13b).
Source: Data provided by Law School Admission Council at the request of the Humanities Indicators.
Performance on professional school entrance examinations can serve as a measure of the extent to which individuals with undergraduate majors in the humanities are prepared for professional employment. While humanities students who take a professional school examination might not actually pursue a career in the tested field, the substantial fees and preparation involved in taking the test suggest the career options humanities students are seriously exploring. Moreover, test results of this kind can provide some measure of the applicability of the humanistic knowledge and skills gained in college to the entrance requirements for various professional occupations.
* The LSAT is scored on a scale ranging from 120 to 180.
Source: Data provided by Law School Admission Council at the request of the Humanities Indicators.
Performance on professional school entrance examinations can serve as a measure of the extent to which individuals with undergraduate majors in the humanities are prepared for professional employment. While humanities students who take a professional school examination might not actually pursue a career in the tested field, the substantial fees and preparation involved in taking the test suggest the career options humanities students are seriously exploring. Moreover, test results of this kind can provide some measure of the applicability of the humanistic knowledge and skills gained in college to the entrance requirements for various professional occupations.
