Specializations are optional. It is something you should consider doing if it would be personally meaningful for you. You can have a fulfilling successful career in an area of law even if you did not specialize in that topic. In most cases, you can take courses that are part of a specialization WITHOUT doing the specialization. You can enroll in a specialization early and later decide not complete it. Or you can take courses without officially declaring the specialization, and decide closer to graduation that you want to declare the specialization if you’re on track towards fulfilling all of the requirements.
For certain specializations, declaring your specialization early gives you the benefit of receiving pre-enrollment in some of the prerequisite courses. Entertainment, Business, Philosophy and Critical Race Studies are the only specializations that receive priority enrollment. Your specialization will also be noted on your transcript and in the commencement program when you graduate. Specializations can be nice topics to chat about during a job interview if you want to show how passionate you are about an area of law. For more information about specializations, click HERE.
