Law versus Engineering

<p>I am currently in the eleventh grade at high school, and I am having trouble making up my mind about going into law or engineering. Currently my plan is to get an engineering degree and use that to get into law school. However, this plan raises two concerns:</p>

<p>First, from what I've heard, engineering tends to be among the most difficult majors, and it is likely that my GPA will be significantly lower than if I went into liberal arts (if I choose a liberal arts major it will be philosophy). My question is, will a top tier law school recognize my lower GPA is a result of a more difficult major and fully compensate for that in their admissions process, or am I better off deciding for sure whether I want to be a lawyer and if so simply going into philosophy?</p>

<p>Second, suppose I did get into a top tier law school despite a likely lower GPA as a result of choosing engineering. Would a plethora of specialized engineering education be as useful to me as a lawyer as philosophy obviously would (probably not, but I would be happy if I at least retained it), or would I simply forget everything I learned after years of never applying it?</p>

<p>The question boils down to: should I make my decision for sure before going to university? Or are my concerns invalid, therefore making it wise to carry through with my original plan, thus giving me a choice by the time I get to law school (I am aiming for a top tier law school)?</p>

<p>Engineering students are among the elite group of students who score really damn high on the LSAT. I think EVERYONE knows engineering is foxing hard lol. Do your best. I heard that engineering lawyers are among the sharpest in their field and are the only type of lawyers that can do patent law (should you choose to do this)</p>

<p>Check out the law forum. But from what I've heard, Law school admissions are mostly LSAT>GPA>ECs>LOR. They don't care if what your undergraduate major is. But you are too young to be planning your career. My 8th grader is still not sure what she wants to do yet. So I suggest you spend more time to find out what you really enjoy doing first. You have few years till you hit college.</p>

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I heard that engineering lawyers are among the sharpest in their field and are the only type of lawyers that can do patent law (should you choose to do this)

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<p>Nah, you can major in a science and also become a patent lawyer.</p>

<p>why is patent law so difficult?</p>

<p>My brother is an attorney, and he's trying to convince my d who's going to be an engineer to follow that up with a law degree. He says they're searching for an attorney to hire right now who has a background in computer engineering, and he sees that quite often. She's freezing him out, however. LOL Can't stand the idea of law. Meanwhile, my s is an economics major who's planning to attend law school. Poor uncle ... can't convince him to get an engineering degree first. <g></g></p>

<p>zebes</p>

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why is patent law so difficult?

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<p>Patent law is not really difficult per se. Rather, there are rules regarding who can actually become a patent lawyer (that is, who can actually argue cases before the USPTO), and those rules generally require that you have an engineering or science degree, or else have worked as an engineer (which is difficult to do without an engineering or science degree).</p>

<p>Read the 2nd sticky thread in this law forum about patent law.</p>

<p>I recommend you read this thread</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/law-school/567918-question-about-patent-law-friend.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/law-school/567918-question-about-patent-law-friend.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>