Am I in a bad spot? Forum

[gerghk]

So far I've been...

Accepted at:
- NYU
- Penn
- Northwestern
- Duke

Rejected at:
- Berkeley

Waitlisted (YP?) at:
- Virginia
- Georgetown

Still waiting to hear back from the rest of the top 14.

Undergrad: UMich computer engineering 3.92 GPA, 171 LSAT one take
3 years work experience at AMD (Intel's competitor) and set to graduate from MS in EE at Stanford this June.

I ideally want to do patent law back here in the bay area, but the rejection from Berkeley is making me very nervous now... My top choice was always Stanford, but I still haven't heard back yet, so I'm rapidly losing hope.

Will I be losing out a lot on future job opportunities in the bay area if I don't attend Stanford or Berkeley? Right now I'm torn between NYU and Northwestern (my s/o is in med school in milwaukee). Otherwise only HYS, Columbia and Chicago will change my decision.

Any advice or comments would be much appreciated!

-Greg

[09042014]

Ha MS in EE, with work experience at AMD? If you want to do patent law you are set. I'd take scholarship money at a lower T13 if you got any.

[gerghk]

So you think Northwestern with money (unlikeley) would still be a pretty good bet, while at the same time putting me closer to my gf?

I'm just feeling anxious and uncertain about everything, now that my decision to switch to law is about to be binding... I was enjoying a fairly successful technical career already, but I really felt like r&d efforts were somewhat handicapped by antitrust issues (think Intel/Microsoft) and an inefficient patent system. I really hope to do more than just patent prosecution; patent litigation or serving as patent counsel at a major tech company would be ideal. All in all, I just want to be somewhat "upgrading" myself through this switch, I don't want to go from a 90th percentile engineer to an 80th percentile lawyer, if you get what I mean.

[09042014]

So you think Northwestern with money (unlikeley) would still be a pretty good bet, while at the same time putting me closer to my gf?

I'm just feeling anxious and uncertain about everything, now that my decision to switch to law is about to be binding... I was enjoying a fairly successful technical career already, but I really felt like r&d efforts were somewhat handicapped by antitrust issues (think Intel/Microsoft) and an inefficient patent system. I really hope to do more than just patent prosecution; patent litigation or serving as patent counsel at a major tech company would be ideal. All in all, I just want to be somewhat "upgrading" myself through this switch, I don't want to go from a 90th percentile engineer to an 80th percentile lawyer, if you get what I mean.

If you get money at Northwestern I'd take it. I'm paying sticker at NU for patent litigation(BSEE, but without much work history), but I want to stay in Chicago after law school. NU is great for Chicago, but its not better than NYU for California.

If you are paying sticker, I'd go to NYU. It's a league above Northwestern.

Whether its worth it to be nearer to your SO, that is a personal matter. I certainly wouldn't go to Penn or duke, unless they give you a boat load of money.

I think you've got a good shot at Stanford. 3.92 at UMich CE is fucking ridiculous. How can Berkeley deny you?

Though if I had the work experience you did, I'd stay in engineering.