I’ve decided to major in EE and I’m considering going to law school in the future. Although I’ve had an enjoyable internship at a law firm in the past, I’m still not yet sure what I want to do with my life (I’m a college freshman atm). I’m planning on working for an engineering company upon graduation and then deciding if I still want to pursue a career as an attorney. Now to my question: will math, physics and rigorous technical classes help prepare me for the LSAT? Are the analytical and problem solving skills from an engineering major applicable to the LSAT? To the practice of law? I was also wondering what other classes I could take to give me a solid foundation for the LSAT. I heard informal logic from the phil department is a good one to take. Will law schools give my gpa a boost in my application? I’ve heard that a 3.5 in poli sci>3.4 in EE…
Thanks!
Law schools care about GPA and not major. That means yes, a 3.5 poli sci is better than a 3.4 EE. Do not, however, try to take college classes to prepare for the LSAT. Informal logic can be useful as it introduces some concepts, but plenty of people never take it and do just fine on the LSAT. There are plenty of prep courses out there that will teach you everything you need to know.
I will definitely study extremely hard for the LSAT with specific materials. However, wouldn’t some courses give me an edge? Do I need more humanities classes to be fully prepared for LS (I’m thinkin about a phil minor)? It’s too bad that a comm gpa and EE gpa is weighed the same -.-
EE would be a very challenging major (at least for me) and would prepare you for anything. There are surveys available online that show average LSAT scores by major, and I believe that EE majors do well on the LSAT. (That doesn’t necessarily mean that the courses in an EE major help with preparation; it could just mean that EE majors are smart, as LSAT scores are generally correlated with IQ).
Major in what you want, and if you find that your major is preparing you for the LSAT, then you could always audit a few classes in other fields (or take them for credit). I audited a philosophy/reasoning class before taking the LSAT, and I don’t think that it helped me, though.
Just be sure to get very good grades. Law schools will probably give you somewhat of a GPA “boost” due to an EE major, but you’ll still need to have very strong grades.
Having an engineering undergrad degree also make patent law an option. (Although there are some exceptions, a science or engineering degree is required to be a patent lawyer, in addition to a law degree.) I’ve heard that EE is one of the better backgrounds for patent lawyers.
@sacchi: EE is one of the best majors in terms of IP hiring. CS majors were just as favored, but I don’t know how much Alice has shaken up that market. Certainly IP Lit over software patents has seen a significant decline. My guess is that so has prosecution, though that is just a guess. EE is still going strong though.
@AngryCookie: A class in intro logic will not give you an edge. I was a philosophy major and took logic courses, but friends who did not did just as well as I did. The LSAT tests a fairly discrete set of skills and the move up the learning curve offered by a background in logic ends up being trivial. More importantly, minoring in a humanity may give you access to some easier classes, to offset the likely much harder EE ones.
Yes, I’m interested in patent lit although admittedly I don’t know too much about it. Would EE still be hot in 7+ years? I’m probably gunna do a phil or women studies minor.
Does an 800 SAT CR score (and 710 math) indicate I have the potential to get a high LSAT score? I studied around 20 hours/week for a few months before I took it so my SAT score weren’t only natural aptitude.
I don’t expect the demand for EE in patent work to change much over the next decade. Electrical gadgets aren’t going anywhere. As for LSAT, everyone has the “potential” of a high score. When you get a real one in four years, you should come back here and we can discuss it.
@AngryCookie, clearly you’re smart and are studious, so you should do fine on the LSAT.
This is a formula that has been floating around on the Internet for years. It predicted my score pretty well, within 2 points (although I never studied for the SAT and studied 6 weeks for the LSAT). So I’d say it’s a decent predictor if you studied less/not at all for the SAT and studied more for the LSAT. I think the SAT is generally an easier test and that people tend to peak at a certain point on the LSAT. The LSAT is probably more of an IQ test and less knowledge based than the SAT.
LSAT = (SAT Math + SAT Verbal)/20.7 + 100.7