<p>Which one would be a better degree to have? I'm on the fence with MechE and Physics for undergrad.</p>
<p>For patent law, a technical degree is best. Mech E would be more applicable.</p>
<p>Either degree would be useful in patent law. However, since you are on the fence, I am assuming that you are either still in high school or at most have completed your freshman year in college. My advice to you is that you will be spending three to four years with your major subject, so you should choose one that you like enough to spend that time with, and can do well enough in, grade-wise, so that you will have good qualifications for law school (if in the end you decide to go into IP law).</p>
<p>That's what I'm worried about.</p>
<p>Physics is my best subject. Right now I'm almost done my first year of University (I could go into MechE or Physics VERY easily). I need to take two summer classes to be completely caught up in either of them. I think that I can get a higher GPA in Physics, but I think that an engineering degree would be more useful for IP law and investment banking, which is what I would like to do.</p>
<p>Just take whatever. Obviously you only want the money and don't care about whether you like what you do. Take the more practical degree; you'll quit law once you see how much investment bankers make.</p>
<p>Physics will give you a broad spectrum of technologies if you want to do IP law - it is a good way to go.</p>
<p>I definitely care about whether I like what I do, although money is also motivation. I love physics, and that's why I want to take it. However, I don't want to get into the work force and be thinking "damn, I wish I would've just toughed it out and stuck with engineering."</p>
<p>I'd recommend doing the MechE major. If you don't end up going to law school, you can always fall back on Mech Engineering jobs...getting a Physics degree will make the job hunting process possibly more painful. I imagine that doing well in Physics will help a lot towards a MechE degree; you could probably double major (although I imagine your GPA would suffer), or better yet, major in MechE and do a minor in Physics.</p>
<p>I'm pretty set on law school, but yeah, that's what I was thinking. It's good to have the insurance of a degree like that. I just don't know if I can hold a GPA high enough in it to get into the school that I want. I would also like to be able to take options, but you don't get any options in engineering :(</p>
<p>Deep inside I know that MechE is what's best for me to take, but I just don't want to, haha.</p>
<p>Russel7
I was an electrical engineer for 8 yrs and worked with many people who were mechanical engineers. I am now a patent agent looking to go to law school myself. I work for my husband who is a patent lawyer and was also an EE for an number of years. My husband was a partner in a big law firm in NY, he has worked as an in-house patent council, and he now has his own patent law practice. Both him and I think physics is the way to go. Engineers work very hard for very little money. If you major in ME and go to law school you limit your area of expertise. Physics covers a broad spectrum. If you don't go to law school you physics degree can be used in many areas.</p>
<p>That's very good to hear. Thanks.</p>
<p>Do you know of any people that majored in Physics, that went on to become patent lawyers? Were they successful? Are you saying that Physics is the way to go because I like it, or because it really is the better choice?</p>
<p>You said that your husband worked for a business firm. I am also interested in business. I'm actually planning on doing a joint LLB/MBA (in the USA it would be JD/MBA) program, since I would like to get into business maybe. I heard that it was very good to have an engineering degee if you want to get into business, but what about physics?</p>
<p>Thanks again.</p>
<p>Engineering is a good degree for getting into anything - especially business. The problem solving is the key factor. </p>
<p>Also I know people that had physics degrees that worked in engineering firms. There wasn't much difference. They were a little more theory based and worked on things like optics and computer programs.</p>
<p>I think you should do physics if that is what you like and I also think it is a better choice for you since you don't seem interested in being an engineer - I'm assuming this because you want to make money.</p>
<p>I don't want to be an engineer... at all. You were correct in your assumption :P</p>
<p>But like you said, engineering is good if you want to get into business, and pretty much anything. I just don't know if a physics degree will put me into that category. I DO want to make money, and although I don't want to be an engineer, I feel like a MechE degree would help me achieve that. Decisions, decisions...</p>
<p>If you're doing something you enjoy you will likely get higher grades and that may be more of a deciding factor than any major.</p>
<p>Russell, my H is General Counsel of a large corporation. His undergrad degree was in Engineering Physics. He practiced with a large firm before being lured away to his current position. The truth is that you will find lawyers in every area of the law who have degrees in every possible undergrad major. You don't necessarily have to have an engineering degree to do Patent law. </p>
<p>The other thing you should keep in mind that it is very common today for law school applicants to have worked extensively prior to even applying to law school. So, that may influence your undergrad decision because it's likely that you'll be working for a few years before going to law school.</p>
<p>Russell: I have been an IP attorney for many years. Either degree is fine for straight patent work. The specific type of work you would be doing would depend on where you were employed. Corporations tend to look for in-house attorneys with backgrounds in the technologies used or expected to be used in the company. Those with physics degrees are likely to work, for example, in companies whose technologies involve optics, lasers, magnetics, conductive and semiconductive properties, and certain areas of nanotechnology, for example. Mechanical engineers could be working in companies that design and build machinery of all types, automobiles and other mechanical products, robots, and, more recently, prosthetic devices, for example. And these are only some examples.</p>
<p>If you were in a law firm, with either degree you would be working on a much wider range of technologies, depending on the needs of the clients - probably everything but chemistry or biotech.</p>
<p>For immediate employment after college an M.E. degree would be more useful than one in physics. For investment banking, from what I hear, either would be suitable - you won't be using your technical knowledge but your training in analyzing and solving problems.</p>
<p>Decisions, decisions, but this decision isn't one that irrevocably sets up the rest of your life or that can't be rectified or adjusted later.</p>
<p>All right, thanks guys (and girls). You were lots of help.</p>
<p>Another question. I just took a sample LSAT, just to see if Law is even right for me. I scored a 166, which to the best of my knowledge is pretty decent (the average acceptance into most law schools up here is like 159-163, with U of Toronto being the exception at an average acception of 166). How high do you think I could raise this if I prepared for it, and took the test in my third or fourth year? (i'm currently finishing up my first year) I took that test out of the blue this afternoon.</p>
<p>I'm taking an LSAT prep class right now and the instructor told us that people raise their score an average of 7 pts after taking the prep class.</p>
<p>Russell, I didn't realize when I replied to you earlier that you were in Canada. So am I. If you'd like a little more of my husband's experience, feel free to PM me. The situation is a little different here than it is in the U.S. in terms of when people go to law school. More often than not, it's soon after graduation here, whereas in the U.S., applicants tend to work for several years first.</p>
<p>i have a question.Why do engineers and people with technical backgrounds go to law school to become become patent attorneys when they can just take an exam and become a patent AGENT?</p>