Welcome to the Legal Studies Program at UMass! We are the oldest undergraduate law and society major in the country and the only one offered at a public university in New England. Students majoring in Legal Studies are exposed to a wide array of courses that focus on the interrelationship between law, politics, and society in American, foreign, and international contexts. Our faculty are some of the best teachers and researchers in the nation and are experts on areas like human trafficking, judicial decision making, immigration, legal policymaking, alternative dispute resolution, the right to privacy, transitional justice, and many others.
We’ve built this webpage to serve as a dynamic hub for semester updates, event information, and useful advising links. The colorful buttons above offer quick links to the Political Science department website where a wealth of detailed information about the Legal Studies program is housed. Other buttons can connect you to academic, experiential, and career supports. If you have time, it’s worth exploring all of pages of this SBS Pathways website as your interests develop and change. We hope it will play an active role in your student success.
In this course, students will critically examine the concepts of happiness, success, and thriving and apply those concepts in a career planning context. Utilizing a strengths-based …
By Karen Miller
Karen MillerLecturer & Associate Director for Professional Education
Phew – you made it! Heck of a job, everyone – it’s been a semester like no other. On this reading day, we encourage you to breathe and take a moment to appreciate what you have accomplished so far, and …
By Carol Sharick
Carol SharickDirector of Career and Professional Development for Undergraduates, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Do you want to gain practical experience to become more job-ready or better prepared for law school? The new Law and Policy Justice Program (LPJ) is for students who are interested in law, government and social …
By Carol Sharick
Carol SharickDirector of Career and Professional Development for Undergraduates, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
SBS RISE is designed to create community, and provide specialized academic programs and opportunities for underrepresented students within SBS (those …
UREP is designed to partner advanced undergraduate political science and legal studies majors with faculty for hands-on, one-on-one research experiences.
OURS helps students find and access undergraduate research and scholarly opportunities on and off campus, throughout the year. We serve …
Explore Outcomes
The SBS Office of Career & Professional Development annually surveys graduating seniors in order to provide a snapshot of their post-graduation plans. The survey begins just prior to graduation, and continues until six months after graduation. Our data collection process is guided by the industry standard put forth by the National Association of Colleges & Employers, and includes information collected by the SBS Office of Career & Professional Development, the Office of Institutional Research at UMass Amherst, and by various academic departments, as well as from information that is made publicly available by students. The SBS undergraduate outcomes knowledge rate for 2022 was 70%, though knowledge rate varies among departments.
The SBS Office of Career & Professional Development annually surveys graduating seniors in order to provide a snapshot of their post-graduation plans. The survey begins just prior to graduation, and continues until six months after graduation. Our data collection process is guided by the industry standard put forth by the National Association of Colleges & Employers, and includes information collected by the SBS Office of Career & Professional Development, the Office of Institutional Research at UMass Amherst, and by various academic departments, as well as from information that is made publicly available by students. The SBS undergraduate outcomes knowledge rate for 2024 was 51.3%, though knowledge rate varies among departments.
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First Destination
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Top Employers
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Starting Salary
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Job Titles
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Employment Locations
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Top Universities
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Degree Types
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Fields of Study
First Destination
SBS graduates pursue a range of plans after graduation, including employment, continuing education, and volunteering/service, among others. This graph depicts what recent SBS graduates tell us they are doing within six months after graduation.
Top Employers
Students in the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences at UMass Amherst build the skills employers seek, such as critical and analytical thinking, creative problem solving, communication, cultural awareness, and more. This makes our students highly attractive candidates for a wide variety of roles with an even wider range of employers and industries. The list of employers featured here is based on information reported by students or employers to SBS, or employment data that is made publicly available by students. The list is formulated based on the most-commonly reported hiring employers. Generally, the first ten on the list have hired multiple students, and after that, employers who have hired at least one SBS grad are listed in alphabetical order. Survey data indicated that a minimum of 250+ distinct employers hired UMass students in 2024.
Starting Salary
Starting salary data is self-reported by the new graduates and is not a required field on the survey, so this data is incomplete with regard to salary ranges. Keep in mind that salaries for volunteer/service roles are, by their nature, low, and skew the averages lower. There are also students making significantly more than the average. Both cost of living (based on geographic location), and chosen industry have a significant impact on starting salaries. These data do not include information on benefits such as health insurance, tuition reimbursement, bonuses, and other important factors in a student's employment decision making process.
Job Titles
These are the most common starting job titles our new graduates reported. This can be a very useful tool as current students are searching for jobs.
Employment Locations
A majority of students in the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences, as with the University as a whole, are residents of Massachusetts. While the majority of our graduates choose to stay in Massachusetts for their first post-graduate jobs, many others accept positions all across the country, and around the world. Common first destination locations outside of Massachusetts are Washington, D.C., New York City, California, and the other New England states.
United States
World
Top Universities
The list below provides a look at the most-commonly reported graduate schools in which SBS graduates are enrolled. While many SBS graduates choose to stay at UMass Amherst for their graduate education, many others attend universities across the country and around the world.
Degree Types
Our graduates report seeking masters degrees, as well as Juris Doctors (JD) from law school, and occasionally someone will report being enrolled in a PhD degree program.
Fields of Study
The variety of fields of study selected by SBS graduates is a good indication of their diverse interests, and their desire to both expand and deepen their understanding of their area of interest.
We don’t have enough student data to show you these results.
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