Posted by Jonathan Adler:
Prelaw Is No Prep for the LSAT:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_08_30-2009_09_05.shtml#1251831448
[1]Paul Caron points to an [2]interesting new study looking at the
average LSAT performance prospective law students' grouped by major.
Using 1994-1995 and 2002-2003 data, Nieswiadomy (1998, 2006) found
that economics majors scored well on the LSAT. These results are
frequently posted on university web sites by Economics and other
departments. This note, which updates the prior studies using
current 2007-2008 data for the 2008-2009 class of students entering
law school, finds that Economics majors still perform at or near
the top of all majors taking the test. Economics majors (LSAT score
of 157.4) are tied for first (with Philosophy) of the 12 largest
disciplines (those with more than 1,900 students entering law
school). Economics is tied for second (with Philosophy/Religion
(157.4)) behind Physics/Math (160.0) in a set of 29 discipline
groupings that are created to yield at least 450 students with
similar majors.
Paul Caron also reproduces a [3]table with the results.
What explains these results? Certainly there could be some amount of
self-selection. For instance, I think it's reasonable to assume that
only a small portion of physics and math majors take the LSAT, and it
is possible that those who take the LSAT have have a greater aptitude
for legal reasoning (insofar as that is what the LSAT tests) than do
physics and math majors generally. But I also think the data suggests
that those disciplines that place a greater emphasis on logic and
syllogistic reasoning are better preparation for the LSAT than those
that do not.
References
1. http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2009/09/physics-math.html
2. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1430654
3. http://taxprof.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c4eab53ef0120a592d8eb970c-350wi
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