Who is the smartest?

6831018124_f526e4d32a_mDoes it even make sense to generalize about students who major in a discipline, using statistics such as test scores and GPAs? Probably not, as each student’s success depends on her own abilities and hard work, strategic choices and realistic advice. Plus, programs at each university have their own character, and those who major in that program often have a significant self-selection bias.

But, when the numbers work in our favor, we are happy to highlight them anyway. Taking law school applicants in 2013 and charting the median LSAT score and GPA according to major, a professor discovered that Classics, Philosophy and Religion were among the highest scorers combining the LSAT and GPA (see the article and chart). General Biology, Law, Accounting, and Social Work (among others) did not fare nearly as well as the Humanities majors, with lower median scores on both the LSAT and GPA. Majoring in these humanities departments does not give you a free ticket to Law School, but they can certainly help you work towards getting there.

 

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