What is the law track for undergraduates at the University of Chicago and how does it work?

At the University of Chicago, the undergraduate “law track” is not a major or a prelaw curriculum you have to formally enter. It usually refers to the Law, Letters, and Society major, along with pre-law advising and law-related opportunities across the College. In practice, students use it to study legal ideas from multiple angles while preparing for law school or other policy, government, or public-interest paths.

The clearest structured option is the Law, Letters, and Society major. It is an interdisciplinary major that combines courses in law, political science, philosophy, history, sociology, and related fields, and it requires a BA thesis. That means you are not being trained as a lawyer as an undergraduate, but you are building strong reading, writing, argument, and research skills around legal institutions and legal theory.

UChicago also has a pre-law advising system for undergraduates. Students interested in law school can work with advisors on course planning, internship ideas, recommendation letters, LSAT timing, and application strategy. There is no single required set of classes for “pre-law,” so a student could major in Law, Letters, and Society, Political Science, History, Economics, or something completely different while still being on a law-school path.

A student would typically use the track by taking law-related classes, joining relevant student organizations, pursuing internships or research, and meeting periodically with pre-law advisors. Some undergrads also engage with lectures, workshops, and events connected to the Law School or legal topics on campus. The point is less vocational training and more intellectual preparation for legal reasoning and the kinds of analytical work law school demands.

So if you are seeing “law track,” think of it as a guided undergraduate route into legal studies rather than a separate professional program.