Finals Thread (Not Made By Chev)

[Euro K]

Well im glad you saw where i was coming from as well. i know people that got Family, Youth, Community Science degrees with an intention of going to law school. I see the path of people taking certain undergrad degrees knowing it will help them in grad/ law/ med school. I just didnt see where you were going with it all the things you listed. the degree i got was so specialized, there is really no benefit in gettings a MS or PhD in it unless you want to do research.

I never took any PHI classes because im not really interested in it, but if it "sharpens" the mind in a way that the students go on to better things because of it, great. thats what college is for.

[haley p]

You learn how to write too, most people fracking suck at writing.

[Jetfan]

ive noticed that as well chev. i dont like that the new filter doesnt allow the f word, but it allows goddamn? thats much more offensive to most people

[iwontrest]

The gre quantitative is not true. Philosophy is the best overall but just not that high on quant.
http://webb.nmu.edu/Departments/Phil...nded_Major.pdf


I don't want to come accross as though I think studying Philisophy is useless by any means. It's actually among several topic i wish i could learned more about as an undergraduate and iff that's what you love, fracking study it. However, comparing test scores by major unearths interpretive issues with causation vs. correlation.

You can't take a fact like "philosophy majors score the best on the gre exams" and conclude that studying philosophy causes people to test better on the gre's. There is simply a correlation between the two variables. To assume that this is causal simply ignore the plethora of other variables, most important of which is the simple fact that certain types of people pick certain majors for specific reasons. No one would choose to major in math if they aren't good at math in the same way that no one would choose to major in philosophy if they aren't good at writing and reason.

What i'm getting at is, like any standardized test, people are predisposed to performing a certain way and their choice of major simply reflects that predisposition and does not necesarily cause it. If gre's were given to college freshman and arranged by future major, the scores would be lower but the rankings by major would be very similar.

Both math and philosophy majors will learn or practice skills during their undergrad that will help them on the test but that doesn't erase the fact that their choice of major is indicative of a clear predisposition to doing well on certain sections vs others.




tl;dr The type of person who chooses to major in philosophy probably would've done very well on the writing gre's anyway no matter what he did throughout undergrad.


edit- I just realized that the table i posted is arranged by intended graduate major. Perhaps the data would look a little different if arranged by undergrad major because there are a handful of people who go to grad programs for something different but probably not by much. For all intensive purposes, that doesn't affect everything else i said.

[khmershinobi]

just got home like a half hour ago. slaughtered that organic chem test, i think i got an A in that class. anyway, done and done.

also regardless how intellectual a philosophy major in regarRAB to test scores and such, of what use does that become in terms of getting a job? I mean, anyone can apply to law school and my dad said he'd rather take someone who went through law with a chem degree or bio degree or engineering. I don't know why anybody with one of those degrees would go to law school, but law firms like critical thinkers... which i guess philosophy majors might be. whatever, i'm done for the semester.

[xX!irene!Xx]

Not that I'm bashing philosophy, because before switching to a double major i was taking a lot of philosophy classes towarRAB a possible minor....but have you ever taken the LSAT? One particular major will not help you score well on the LSAT...I'm sorry. As I said earlier, I'm empirical economics and Spanish, with a focal minor in political science (not a full minor). Empirical economics is one of the most logically demanding fielRAB out there....much moreso than philosophy. I personally think statistics like that are durab. I know a girl who goes to Marymount for philosophy who took a class, studied her ass off, and still got a 151. She's also very intelligent.

Bottom line is...the only thing that's going to help you with the LSAT is tireless studying (100 hours at least). The type of logic on the LSAT is far removed from the type you learn in classrooms. Spend the money and take a class. I couldn't afford it, but I didn't take it seriously at all. I wish that I would've, because although I did comparatively well, I was aiming for like a 170. Also, if you're really set on law school, make sure you take some polisci classes. They're boring as frack and completely worthless, but schools like that. The LSAT is a learnable test...but you've got to put in the time. Put in twice as much time with analytical reasoning than you do with logical reasoning or reading comprehension as well.

[brilliant_brunette]

Nuhh, why the frack are exams EVER scheduled for 7 pm. Worst time to do an exam.

[Razamvmt/mya]

Took it and got a 167 after having my friend who teaches LSAT prep melt my brain. He's in his third year at UCLA law and oddly enough has a masters in philosophy, so he is definitely the reason behind my score. mother fracker got a 174 when he took his. I'm more than happy with my score because I don't plan on going to Harvard/NYU/Colurabia. I wasn't even shooting for any particular score and I'm more than happy with what I got.

[Natasha&Jose]

how is empirical economics different than normal? I understand the meaning of the word empirical but i was wondering if there's more to it than that.

[pedrossi]

MJS - awesome man. That's a great score and will get you pretty much anywhere besides those types of schools you mentioned. It'll maybe even get you there with the right gpa. My only point was that the LSAT is very distant from class work. It's funny you mentioned that, because I have a friend in a similar situation. He took the test and got a 176. He ended up teaching for Princeton Review. Now, he's at Yale and absolutely hates it. Pretty serious culture shock after living in the south for his entire life.

Duff - at LSU, empirical economics is economics with a focus on forecasting and econometrics. It's very calculus intensive on top of the already theoretically intensive curriculum.