<p>I'm trying to decide between engineering grad school (MS or PhD) or Law school. My credentials would be strong enough to be competitive for either option (3.9 major in physics from a highly respected public university). I have the following questions: </p>
<p>1) How does the income of a good lawyer compare to the income of a good engineer? What career is more lucrative?</p>
<p>2) What profession is more respected/prestigious? I've heard nice and insulting things about both professions.</p>
<p>3) What career as the better employment outlook? Law degrees seem to be mass produced now. However, there's thousands of engineers being produced by India/China, so engineering also seems weak.</p>
<p>Why law? Since you are a physics major this would probably be a difficult question to answer in your personal statement. If it is just for ‘prestige’ or money, than I would suggest avoiding law school.</p>
<p>Unless you graduate at the top of your law school class at the very best law school, you won’t be making the lucrative salaries for a biglaw salary. Instead you will be either unemployed or working a job that makes less than an engineering job.</p>
<p>Both of the careers have pros and cons, however, I have never heard any bad things associated with being an engineer.</p>
<p>An engineer would have a much better employment outlook, this field is in great demand at the moment while the legal sector is saturated.</p>
<p>You managed 3/3 on the worst possible reasons to go to law school. That’s weirdly impressive. People who go into law chasing money and preftige end up extremely unhappy. That’s because you spend your 60 hours a week doing law, not on being full of money and prestige. Go and intern at a law office. Figure out if you actually enjoy the practice of law. Then go intern with some engineers. See if you like engineering. If you like one and not the other, there’s your answer. If you like both or neither, come back.</p>
<p>What they mean is that law is a much larger gamble than engineering… and even within engineering you still have a specialty to choose for a MS/PhD. Do you prefer ElecE? Or do you prefer MechE? Or another engineering field? </p>
<p>I know, patent law may not be the most lucrative legal field out there but is it why you want to go to law school in the first place? Or is it another area of legal practice?</p>
First, it’s easier to be a good engineer than it is to be a good lawyer. Far more than half of engineers will get a job working as engineers. Second, you cannot simply assess “lucrative” as an amount of money being earned: there are factors like the opportunity costs, risks, and debt. </p>
<p>I used to be an engineer, and the biggest mistake I made in my life was going to law school (top 20, graduated with honours). </p>
<p>
I think that “prestige” is an asinine thing to care about - you’ll spend 60 hours a week (or more) working, 10 commuting, 10 eating, fifty hours sleeping, and only a few passing seconds giving a rat’s rear end about whether or not random people think your career is “prestigious.” That said, if it really matters to you, do not do either engineering or law: become a magazine editor or something fancy.</p>
<p>
Become a dentist. Or find another profession. Be aware that precious few jobs remain both prestigious and high-paying for long: the market gets flooded with talent, salaries drop, and then no one cares about it anymore.</p>
<p>Hey everyone - I’m just looking for your OPINION, not an irrelevant lecture on the meaning of life and happiness. What profession is more elite, in your opinion? </p>
<p>Obviously me, as I am asking the question. Do you have any actual answer to this question? I mean come on, it’s an opinion question so there isn’t even a wrong answer </p>
<p>Do you really have 3.9? Because with that kind of GPA, maybe it’s better for you to become a doctor. I think becoming a doctor is more prestigious than becoming a lawyer or an engineer.</p>
<p>The same caveats that were issued for law and engineering vs. prestige will be applied to medicine as well. Don’t choose to apply to, and attend, med school, merely because the outcome will lead you to greater prestige than the alternatives…</p>
<p>Law. Law is <em>definitely</em> more prestigious. Go there. Take out 200K+ of nondischargable loans for it as well. It’s worth it for the prestige.</p>
<p>BroStudies: It looks to me that PurpleTitan’s comment is meant to be taken as sarcasm. Don’t take such advice seriously unless you know the background of the person who gave it. My background you can see at the beginning of my pinned thread (assuming, of course, that I’m telling the truth). Remember, on this board, as well as on the Internet in general, people are anonymous.</p>
<p>Sarcasm, sure, you can look at it that way, but if someone is so clueless/immature/insecure after 4 years of college that they’re willing to chase completely different careers because of “prestige”, they deserve it. Frankly, I think the OP wasn’t serious, may not even have that GPA, and was just looking to take a gander of people’s reactions. Maybe to settle a bar bet or something. </p>
<p>Not sure if it’s a bar bet, but Purple’s got a point-check out OP’s threads. No question OP is a prestige hound, willing to launch almost any career if you’re willing to promise him prestige.</p>