<p>Hi, I'm an undergrad about to start my sophomore year at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, majoring in Electrical Engineering. I'm still trying to piece together my plans for post-graduation. I had originally thought about joining the engineering workforce after graduating, but the past year at school has made me change my thoughts a bit. I'm not quite sure if I would want to become a professional engineer and go through the lab-work and intellectual crunching for a living. However, I did enjoy my classes and the learning material, and fared reasonably well in them. I'm pretty sure I still want to finish out my undergrad with an engineering degree.</p>
<p>I know a common path for engineers is law school --> patent law, which I've been considering. I like that it allows for one to stay in touch with science and technology while not necessarily going through the scientific rigors that a scientist or engineer would face. Also, it seems this route would be more secure job-wise, especially with regards to outsourcing. I realize that one of the major required skills for this area would be writing - I don't too much enjoy reading/writing for literature (analyses on the Odyssey, etc.) but I'm alright in technical/objective writing. These are some of the reasons I've been considering going into this field.</p>
<p>So my question is, would this path of engineering to patent law be a good fit, and are there other major skills/points I am not considering? Is anyone else considering the same path?</p>
<p>i'm actually thinking about doing the something. its interesting, i'm attending purdue for electrical engineering about to be a sophmore, lookking into patent law. i've been interested in i.p/patent law since high school and i'm been wondering much the same thing. i actually did enjoy literature analysis, and writing in general and was pretty good at it. but you seem to have covered a lot of the reasons why i do not really wish to become a professional engineer/scientist and why i want to become involved in patent law. couldn't have said it better myself.</p>
<p>Make sure to not lose your reading/writing skills as most engineers do. Also make sure to keep up your grades as well as really honing your interview skills. Those are all essential in getting into law school.</p>
<p>EE with law is a very good combination. Unlike in Canada where I live, I believe that IP field is very good because of course of many big multinationals are based in the United States. Canada lacks in corporate research because many industrial corporations are US subs and use the established (and excellent!) US based research centres, which of course are generators of IP products. </p>
<p>The keys to becoming a good patent lawyer are:
1) Getting a good degree from a good school (both UI-UC and Purdue are good schools);
2) Finishing with a good GPA (as Terp1004 has mentioned, this is really important);
3) Write a good LSAT;
4) Get into a good law school;
5) Again, your grades in law and your law school (rank) will determine whether you can aspire to IP law as a career. Getting in with a good firm that does IP is the right start. This will allow you to get an in-house job with big company at a later date if this is what you want.</p>
<p>I also to to UIUC as a sophomore but in ChemE. I've always been very good at writing but am not sure a chem lab or plant is the best place for me but I like the idea of staying on top of technological advances. I am also very analytical and was thinking of law school anyways due ot my cousin (some rich guy in Chicago haha). </p>
<p>We have a Patent Law Society on campus and I think it would be highly beneficial for you to at least go to some meetings. I just joined for the last couple of meetings and they had the Dean of Engineering in to answer questions and I found him very helpful and interesting. I learned a lot that day. He was very honest and willing to answer questions so if you want to contact him I'm sure I have the info lying somewhere. PM me if you want to know more about the group. I plan on staying with it.</p>
<p>Quick sidenote on engineering & law: Here they emphasize GPA and that's all good an well if you want to go to Stanford but even slightly above a 3.0 will get you nice scholarships to lesser ranked law schools like DePaul. (This isn't attractive to me tho b/c I want to get an MS/JD combo but it is something to keep in mind.) Especially if you're really worried b/c of the people on this site, don't get discouraged. Your engineering degree is more attractive to law schools than you might be made to think here (I am not saying GPA isn't important at all tho b/c Toronto guy has a good, if general, strategy).</p>
<p>its so comforting to encounter so many people who are in a similar situation as i am...........i think im only enrolled in the engineering program as a means to enhance my problem solving and analytical thinking skils(as these qualities are vital for virtaually any kind of profession).......but i highly doubt that working as a "professional engineer" is something that im passionate about.......</p>
<p>i should do some research on this patent law thing........ive only been entertaining the idea of pursuing an MBA this past month......</p>
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the past year at school has made me change my thoughts a bit. I'm not quite sure if I would want to become a professional engineer and go through the lab-work and intellectual crunching for a living. However, I did enjoy my classes and the learning material, and fared reasonably well in them. I'm pretty sure I still want to finish out my undergrad with an engineering degree.
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I'm curious what engineering classes you've taken so far. What did you think of ECE 110? Did you enjoy learning about circuits but didn't like the design part of the project as much? I guess I'm curious why you did well in the classes and enjoyed the material but can't see yourself doing it for a living.</p>
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I don't too much enjoy reading/writing for literature (analyses on the Odyssey, etc.) but I'm alright in technical/objective writing. These are some of the reasons I've been considering going into this field.
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That's perfect. You'll be required to read and write lots of technical writing, and not literature.</p>
<p>I do not believe an engineering degree is more attractive to law schools. If you ask law schools, like med schools, they are about academic achievement. They will advise you to take a subject in which you can get the best grades. Other than that, they do not care what your undergrad is in. Of course, the ranking of the school matters. Clearly, a BA from Harvard rather than an average state school will be given more weight but the discipline does not matter. Bottom line; if you want to go law (or med) simply get the best grades you can - whatever the discipline.</p>
<p>Law schools don't care about engineering degrees any more than other programs, but patent law firms do. BS/MS EE and PhD Biology/Biomedical Engineering are among the most sought after degrees for that.</p>
<p>I completely agree. For patent law, high tech (EE/CS/Phys) or Biotech (Life Science/BME) are very desirable for patent law firms. im_blue is completely correct.</p>