PreLaw Engineering Major?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Hi! </p>

<p>Alright so let me start by saying I do not want to be an Engineer. While I do love science- its not my favorite cup of tea so to speak. Ultimately I want to go into patent law- a perfect juxtaposition between my love of science and my passion for law.</p>

<p>Right now I am trying to hammer out what I want my major(s) and minor(s) to be and I would love some help! After all, if I can get this worked out before my orientation in midsummer I think it would save me some time in the long run. </p>

<p>I've been accepted into my college's Chemical Engineering program which I consider to be a good solid basis for my future job. After all, you have to understand the scope of what you are patenting. However, when you look at the ABA's recommendations for a prelaw undergraduate studies program I do find that just a Chemical Engineering degree falls short.</p>

<p>No offense to anyone, but engineers are not known as the best speakers nor writers. (But then again I was raised by a communications/ press relations dual major and an English/ Chemistry dual major so I, like all, am biased.) With many prelaw students picking majors such as international relations, politics, history, and English which require more writing based classes I feel I could appear as deficient in this area. </p>

<p>In order to correct this I have a rough plan. My school does not offer a speech communications major (its school of journalism focuses more on mass communications and PR) although it does offer a speech communications minor. </p>

<p>On a more personal note, I really want to learn Chinese. I've always loved Asian cultures and with China surge in political and economic power I think we Americans are going to find ourselves increasingly forced to deal with China in business- whether we want to or not. My school does offer a Chinese Minor (basically half of the credits come from upper division Chinese language classes with the other half being either Chinese culture or Chinese business electives). </p>

<p>So right now I am thinking of doing a ChemE major with Chinese and Communications minors. However I am looking for feedback and suggestions. </p>

<p>In case anyone is wondering I am considering doing this in 11 semesters with summer work. The reason for this is that if you follow my school's 4 year ChemE track your semester hours will look like this: 17, 18, 18, 18, 18, 15, 17, 15. And that's without adding a single elective and using your foreign language as your liberal arts requirements. Also since I want to go to a top tier law school I need to have killer extracurricular. You know club leadership, community involvement, volunteering, and a part time job. </p>

<p>I think I can do this in 11 semesters because I have AP credits and a ton of dual credit. I am hesitant to extend it to 12 semesters somewhat because of funding- however after completing an 18 hour semester last year while holding a part time job I do understand how rundown that can make you physically and have come to the conclusion that death due to stress overload might deter my career plans just a bit. In the end I am one of those perpetually insomniacs workaholics who think that adding an extra year of college wouldn't be the worse thing in the world- not like I ever plan on retiring! I mean why spend 8 years working to get a law education and then quit after 40 years? </p>

<p>Thanks for reading this behemoth by the way!</p>

2

<p>Unless you absolutely must major in engineering to do patent law, I would avoid it. Most people need to work 10 times harder to get a high gpa in engineering than in other undergraduate majors. As far as I know, GPA and LSAT and extra curricular activity are more important than the actual major itself. Unless patent law is the exception, you <em>might</em> want to reconsider. But of course, always verify at your college to make sure. </p>

<p>As a side note, the idea that engineers are lousy speakers/writers is a myth. I believe that many people (not necessarily you) subscribe to this myth because they feel intimidated by those people who can do engineering and feel they need to “take them down a notch” and say that they’re poor communicators. It’s a form of self-validation often done by liberal arts majors to justify their own major. I’ve never seen it proven. The brightest, most articulate and most well-rounded people I’ve met happen to be engineering majors or engineers. The degree doesn’t define the person.</p>

3

<p>WHY DON’T YOU JUST GO TO ONE OF THOSE COLLEGES that literally LET YOU DESIGN YOUR OWN MAJOR.</p>

<p>in those kinds of programs you and your adviser design your own curriculum and select the classes you take.
since there is no such thing as a “PreLaw Engineering” degree per se, you could literally created one, and adding a minor in Law or Mass Communication (since you are so concerned about speech communication skills and sort of thing) would also be a nice Idea.</p>

<p>Though You would obviously wouldn’t be an accredited Engineer if you don’t you through this pass, BUT ON THE BRIGHT SIDE you don;t really need to for what you want to do.</p>

<p>I thing, though I’m not really sure about it, LSU has one of those “design-your-Own-Major” kind of Program</p>

4

<p>engineering isn’t what ur looking for…but perhaps u could take a physics class or something. If you want to go into law u could focus on getting the 4.0 gpa, lots of curricus, studying for LSAT’s, partying while u still can, taking classes that require u to read a lot, etc…</p>

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<p>I will have two masters degree, both engineering. Thought of ONE DAY (perhaps after 10+ yrs of work experience) going into law, patent or contract if I could get a law degree while working full-time. I suggest getting an engineer degree, work for awhile first before going into law. Going into law right after getting an engineering degreee, I dont really see how an undergraduate degree in engineering alone would really give you a perspective of what engineering really is without work experience. By the way, there is this article that have been posted: </p>

<p>[Law</a> Graduates Face a Tough Job Market - WSJ.com](<a href=“Law Graduates Face a Tough Job Market - WSJ”>Law Graduates Face a Tough Job Market - WSJ)</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

6

<p>I forget where I got the statistic, but there are currently more law students in school than practicing lawyers worldwide. Law school has became the place where people who don’t know what they want to do go. </p>

<p>tred carefully.</p>

7

<p>Alright so maybe this is just be me a little too bellicose however: </p>

<p>Winbacker- It is irrelevant if it is a myth or not, the point is that is a stereotype which is held by the masses. That is one of the things I love about our world- if enough people believe something it becomes truth. (Although of course it can have some nasty backlash.) At the same token, you made several assumption. For example that engineers are intelligent and that people are intimidated by them. </p>

<p>I think it makes perfect sense that a person whose major’s focus was on personal communication would be better at speaking and writing than a person’s who major focused on atomic structure- person A simply has put more effort into it. </p>

<p>At the rest of you people. </p>

<p>Yes- I understand engineering is hard. What a surprise. Would you also like to tell me college is hard and that it would just be easier to work at a fast food place for the rest of my life as well? Because it would be “easier”? </p>

<p>And no Booted, law school is not the place where people go if they don’t know what they want to do. For one, not everyone can just walk in. You need a degree and a good GPA. 3.75 is considered “okay” for the average law school. </p>

<p>Yes, there is an increase in lawyers as the production industry in America declines. There are also more doctors and engineers ever than before. We are switching to a service based industry. However, admittance to law school is still cut throat.</p>

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<p>ZoScTo, I still think that your best bet is to get into a “design-your-Own-Major” Program where you can combined both law and Engineering and only take classes that are relevant to what you want to do and then minor in Law.</p>

<p>OR you could just go to Law school and Minor in Chemical Engineering (though I would actually subtest mechanical for a person like you, since it is a more broad subject and let you do more stuff)</p>

9

<p>Law school is no longer prestigious. You are fooling yourself, if you believe you will strike it rich by just having a JD. </p>

<p>Also it is not at all hard to get into law school. One could completely bomb undergrad, do well on the Lsat and gain acceptance. </p>

<p>If you want to be a lawyer, be one. Im not saying you cant become one. But it is incredibly competitive. The days where one just got through law school and came out with a good job are gone. Way to many new JD’s are unemployed for it to be considered a safe path/</p>

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<p>What I meant on my comment above, by the way, is get a four-year degree (engineer or whatever) and work. Work full-time and complete a law degree part-time. Since you may not know whether or not you will even have a job after you graduate with a degree in law. I believe you would not regret it, if you did it this way which is much safer. </p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

11

<p>engineering is a great pre-law major assuming you can hack it academically. the job market for engineering->law grads is still pretty strong, especially relative to liberal arts -> law grads. the only downside of your plan is that you will have to work harder in undergrad than many other majors, but if you just deal with it and do it, you will be rewarded.</p>

12

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<p>this is very wrong. all you need is a good LSAT and gpa</p>

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<p>Unless you’re a legacy learner, minor in Chinese language won’t do you any good. You can neither speak, nor write. If you want to impress your Chinese business partners, or to understand something about them, a Chinese studies minor would be much better.</p>

14

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<p>Granted, they are assumptions and they definitely do not apply in all cases. I just hear this stereotype so often that I had to say something in defense of engineers = ). I didn’t mean to be pompous about engineers or put down anyone. </p>

<p>Chinese isn’t a bad idea. But to use it you’ll probably have to become completely fluent or otherwise forget it completely. And if you know you don’t want to become an engineer it would probably be better to steer clear of an engineering major and pick something you can really commit to. Especially if you can confirm if your undergrad major does not matter for patent law.</p>

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<p>My son started college with a similar plan. He was going to major in mechE and German, and then go to law school for IP. He got 4.0 gpa, but didn’t end up going to law school. He didn’t get the German major either. Rather, he is now in a dual degree MS Engr + MBA program. I’ll tell you why.</p>

<p>Engineering had such a extensive set schedule of classes that it was difficult to finish the German major. It worked through the 300 level German classes, but more of the upper level classes were offered only once per term, or once per year, and it seemed that there were always conflicts with engineering classes that were also offered only in one section. He was fluent anyway, which is all any business would care about, so he let the degree go. He also would have had to take some “distribution” credits to get the additional BA in German, which he had no time for without going an additional year.</p>

<p>After freshman year, he got a great engineering internship and found that he really liked engineering more than he thought he would. He worked there all throughout college and found that he would like to be an engineering project manager at this time. So, because of his work experience, his grades and his great GMAT, he got into this dual degree program right out of undergrad. Of course, he could alway go to law school later if he wants to.</p>

<p>I understand that law school applications rely heavily on gpa and LSAT scores. Only do engineering if you think you can get A’s. Good luck! And remember, although it is contrary to the engineer’s nature, you do NOT have to plan everything out right now.</p>

16

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<p>very true, at least for law school. if you think you will be a 3.0 engineer, it is much better to go for liberal arts to get a higher gpa, assuming you absolutely want to be a lawyer.</p>