<p>My question has to do with where one obtains their undergrad degree (assuming you take that root and decide on majoring in science/engineering rather than the other options). </p>
<p>Does the school where you get your undergrad degree from have a great amount of weight when looking for a job? I assume that employers definitely take what school you went to for your undergrad into consideration, but do they care more about which Law school you went to? </p>
<p>My scenario is that I want to major in engineering from an affordable school and save my money for law school, but opting for a less expensive school would probably mean I would be going to a less renowned engineering school. The schools I'm looking at are not terrible engineering schools, just not at the top.</p>
<p>One other question is I've noticed that electrical engineering is one of the more sought after degrees for a Patent Attorney. Do you feel that it would be smarter to choice electrical engineering over other engineering majors with the intention of going into Patent Law?</p>
<p>Enployers of patent attorneys are interested in which school you obtained your unergraduate and/or graduate degrees, as well as how well you did. On the other hand nost engineering schools provide a good engineering education, so your grades will be at least as important as the specific school.</p>
<p>As for your other question, it has been answered in my pinned post at the top of this board.</p>
<p>My wife is a patent agent, in house for a firm that does mechanical/medical IP, so I asked her.
She believes that where you get your law degree probably matters more than where you did your undergrad. But she is less sure that one type of engineering has an advantage. Patent attorneys generally end up specializing in one area, and your engineering degree should support that specialty. Her firm writes biomedical patents, so they would likely not hire EE-based IP people.</p>
<p>To quote myself (shamelessly) responding to a question about a candidate for a position whose law school and engineering grades did not match (a so-called “lopsided candidate”):</p>
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<p>And: Electrical engineering probably offers more opportunities for patent attorneys than most other engineering fields due to the large number of companies in the electronics business. However, there are opportunities for patent attorneys in all engineering fields. For example, it had been thought that patent law opportunities for mechanical engineers were disappearing. That was before the advent of developments in medical devices. </p>
<p>My opinion therefore, is that in deciding what major to take in college, you do not use the possibility of becoming a patent attorney as a criteria. You should major in a subject that really really interests you and in which you could do well. Othewise you are setting yourself up for an uncomfortable four years. And, by the way, you might in the end decide not to become a patent attorney but to become an engineer or something else entirely.</p>