No pre-law major? No problem! Tufts students heading to law school often mix disciplines, studying everything from English to economics. Along with the support of one-on-one advising and legal internships, Jumbos have the unique ability to build a legal foundation that is as diverse as it is rigorous.
This academic freedom has become a defining feature of Tufts’ pre-law journey. For Carly Iacullo, a senior advisor in the Tufts Pre-Law Society who plans to pursue healthcare and matrimonial law, it meant combining psychology with political science.
“I found it interesting knowing more about how we react to different stimuli and how this affects the decisions we make in our everyday lives,” she said. “I feel like this is an important area to study and learn more about since being a lawyer, in any area, requires daily interaction with clients and other people who know about your case or who are experts in a certain field.”
The same spirit of interdisciplinary exploration drives senior Connor DeBoda, president of the Tufts Pre-Law Society. DeBoda is double majoring in quantitative economics and clinical psychology, with an interest in indigent defense. He’s exploring joint Juris Doctor and Master of Social Work programs as a way to blend legal advocacy with social impact and envisions returning to academia one day to pursue a doctorate in psychology. By pursuing majors he’s passionate about, DeBoda has found a way to see the law through a wider lens.
“[Quantitative economics] gives me the technical skills for policy and institutional changes,” DeBoda said. “Clinical psychology gives me skills to do interpersonal and community-level changes.”
Together, these two disciplines allow him to address the upstream structural factors that shape justice outcomes, while also preparing him to engage directly with clients and communities. For those interested in pursuing law school but uncertain of what to major in, DeBoda encourages exploring personal passions.
“Study what you enjoy, truly,” DeBoda wrote in a statement to the Daily. “Being able to talk passionately about what you study will take you a longer way than you think in the admissions process. People major in all sorts of different disciplines and go on to law school. If anything, doing something a little different will make you stand out a little. Any discipline can be applied to the law, that is what is so incredible and captivating about it. So take undergrad to study something you love. From my experience, you will not regret it.”
While the academic freedom of the pre-law track is praised by many, some students still wish for structure in their degree, something that the Tufts Pre-Law Society seeks to provide.
“[Pre-law is] not like [pre-med] where there are specific courses you have to take, it is more of a declared intention to attend law school,” DeBoda wrote. “There is not a lot of direction for undergraduates. … This is what the [Tufts Pre-Law Society] is trying to address. We want to provide direction, demystify the admissions process, and build a community.”
For those looking for a front-row seat to the world of law, the Tufts Pre-Law Society is where the action starts. This club is a launchpad, bringing the legal field to campus with pre-professional panels, LSAT prep sessions, peer mentorship and a network of support that helps students stride confidently towards law school.
The impact is best seen through the students themselves, as Iacullo found both guidance and community through the society.
“I was very grateful to be part of [an] organization that made learning about this process so much easier and less intimidating,” Iacullo said. “I actually met through the society another student who scored very well on his LSAT and led some of our LSAT study sessions. … I keep in touch with him still, and he actually recommended his LSAT tutor to me.”
For students like Iacullo, the Tufts Pre-Law Society transforms law school aspirations into a clear, supported path forward.
“I get to work with my peers to help make the pre-law society the best it can be in order to give Tufts students on the pre-law track the same opportunities and experiences that I had when I joined,” she said.
From there, the opportunities for students to immerse themselves in the legal world only grow. Tufts Mock Trial and the Tufts Undergraduate Law Review gives students the chance to sharpen their skills in real-world settings: arguing cases, analyzing precedent and publishing research that mirrors the work of law school students.
For many Jumbos, exposure to the legal world happens through internships during the school year and the summer. Senior Anne Li, for instance, spent the summer working remotely as a Virtual Court Service Center intern with the Massachusetts Trial Court, where she encountered cases ranging from family law to housing law.
“These intakes increased my awareness of the many day-to-day legal issues that low-income litigants face without much help,” Li wrote in a message to the Daily.
Despite the lack of funding directly from the internship itself, Tufts was able to support Li through supplementary funding.
“The internship was unpaid, which is typical of many public interest/government internships for undergraduates. The Career Center grant made it possible for me to pursue this role as they gave me a stipend of $4500 for the summer,” she wrote.
For Li, the internship not only sharpened her skill set but also confirmed her motivation to pursue law.
“Learning about all the different case types … definitely strengthened my research, writing, and analytical skills,” Li wrote. “I believe [these skills will] be helpful in law school.”
What stands out at Tufts is not the absence of a pre-law major, but the abundance of possibilities that students create for themselves. Those who feel called to the law find countless ways to nurture that passion. Whether it is a psychology seminar that deepens their understanding of human behavior or a Tufts Pre-Law Society connection that leads to a mentor and an LSAT tutor, students discover that there is no single ‘right’ path.
Instead, there is a community of Jumbos whose shared aspiration for the law drives them to lift each other up and carve out their own journeys. It’s this spirit — resourceful, collaborative and committed — that defines what it means to prepare for law school at Tufts.
“It is a process anyone can get through as long as you stay diligent and connected with resources that can help you succeed,” Iacullo said.
