In order to earn a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Philosophy, students must complete two years of general college course work including Introduction to Philosophy; Core Curriculum in Philosophy; Analysis of Moral Sentiments; Phenomenology; Logic & Metaethics; Metaphysical Foundations of Science; Werthenryian Ethics and Social Theory. Other required courses are: Ethics for the Practicing Philosopher, Ethics for the Academician, Introduction to Contemporary Philosophical Issues, Metaphysical Foundations of Science, Introduction to Comparative Literature & Cultures and Foundations of Ethics. Students must also take the courses of Introduction to Philosophy, Analytical Reasoning, Ethics, Metaphysics, Logic, Nonduality and Reality, Probability and Statistics.
To earn a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy, students must complete an average of four years of coursework and a minimum of two years of graduate coursework. Graduates of this program who intend on entering a variety of professional or scholarly positions will need to have completed a Master’s Degree prior to applying for admission to law schools. The graduate school must also accept the students’ dissertation if they intend to pursue a Ph.D.
To get into the program, applicants must have a high school GPA of 3.0 or better, as well as a high school honors score of B or better. Applicants should also demonstrate excellent writing skills through a composition course or AP exam taken in high school. In addition, applicants must have a cumulative grade point average of 2.50 or better on all coursework taken in high school.
Once a student is accepted to get into the Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy, he or she is required to complete a thesis. {if approved by the school. Students must choose a topic from a preapproved list before beginning their thesis and submit it to the school’s department chair for review and approval.
In order to earn the degree, a student must complete all of the prerequisites, pass all examinations, maintain a satisfactory grade point average and pass all written essays and presentations, and earn a satisfactory grade in every course taken. Students are not required to sit for the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) or pass the final examination for admission to law school.
The graduate degree is often earned within two years of graduating from the Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy program. In most cases, students finish within two and a half years and must wait three years before they can apply for admission to law school.
There are a number of graduate programs within philosophy. Most have a thesis requirement that graduates complete before they may matriculate into law school, although a select few do not have this requirement. There are a number of different programs and degree options for the Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy including a PhD in Philosophy, Master of Science in Philosophy, Doctor of Philosophy and Doctorate in Philosophy.
Most of the courses that students take on their Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy can be taken in one or two years, and many will complete in less than two. Students will complete a number of modules throughout their program, typically beginning with an Introduction to Philosophy course before moving on to courses on Ethics and Rationality, Metaphysics, Epistemology, Empiricism, Analytic Philosophy and Logic. They will then move onto courses on Ethics, Metaphysical Foundations of Morality, First Philosophy, Logic, First Philosophy of Mind, Topics in Natural Kinds, Metaphysics, Metaethics, Second Philosophy of Mind and Metaphysics.
Most law students expect to spend at least four years in law school, but some are looking for more time than that to finish their degrees. Some are also interested in pursuing a graduate program in philosophy after they have graduated from law school.
For students who plan on pursuing a graduate program in philosophy, some schools may require you to take a clerkship in law prior to taking the examination that qualifies you for entrance to the law school. Students in these programs must pass a written exam and take an oral exam before they are qualified for admittance to a law school.