Law school admissions is flawed Forum

[09042014]

Some of the engineers I know in law school are incredible writers.

But then again, DF.

All the engineers I know at law schools were getting B's or B+'s in CLR.

well, I wasn't referring to engineer majors in law school, but, yea...

I'm just shocked IAFG knows an engineer at law school who is good at writing.

[LockBox]

Chem/Physics guy here and to me it's apples and oranges comparing engineering with communications. I think DF pointed this out above - it's the competitiveness within engineering/science majors that makes them more difficult than humanities majors. I definitely know early life science classes (chem, bio etc) are weed out courses...curves are brutal (at most schools non HYS) and grades suffer compared to humanities majors.

But in response to the OP, how would law schools report their median gpa's while accounting for engineering majors? I'm guessing it could be done (just report low gpa's, but make it widely known that it's due to the student's ug degree's), but would that diminish a law school's prestige?

[snailio]

cool

story

Bro

seph

[emptyflare]

What is this bullshit that a 175 wouldn't crack the top 30?

[TTTLS]

Blame USNews.

[Ignatius]

Blame USNews.

+1

[Band A Long]

Engineer yourself a robo-lawyer

[jas1503]

^This! FTW

[bingbang1025]

Look, I've pondered this same thing and it's definitely unfair. But I think your perspective is a bit short-sighted. I'm of the belief that in the long term, everything equals out. Check it:

In theory, a hard-science person (assuming they can write) who gets shafted by his low GPA and attends a "T30" should be at the very top of his class, or at least do very well. And then as a practicing attorney, your natural skills should help you rise up the ranks more quickly than the "undeserving" 4.0 comm major.

Obviously what school you go to and your first job out matters, but in the long-run, you shouldn't feel the brunt of this disparity TOO much IMO. That is, if there's any truth to my (and your) assumption that you're smarter than the rest of us lol. which i'm not doubting (it's probably true).

[chem]

One word evens it all out

IPSECURE

[Band A Long]

Look, I've pondered this same thing and it's definitely unfair. But I think your perspective is a bit short-sighted. I'm of the belief that in the long term, everything equals out.

Additionally, someone with a hard science degree / engineering can get a different, successful career unrelated to law. They've proven themselves in that area. Seems fair to me. Dunno why you'd break your back studying O/P chem for 4 years just to go to law school, lol

[bingbang1025]

Look, I've pondered this same thing and it's definitely unfair. But I think your perspective is a bit short-sighted. I'm of the belief that in the long term, everything equals out.

Additionally, someone with a hard science degree / engineering can get a different, successful career unrelated to law. They've proven themselves in that area. Seems fair to me. Dunno why you'd break your back studying O/P chem for 4 years just to go to law school, lol

lolz true.

Patent law?

[Band A Long]

Patent law?

With absolutely no data to back this up, I'd guess that there are many who realize that hard science sucks really hard and think they can make a lot of money in law. Or people somewhat like myself - with a major short of a hard science, (maybe medium science, ha) that had a big interest in the humanities but wanted to explore if they are interested in science as well because they were good at it in HS.

[09042014]

Patent law is for engineering washouts. Who for some reason get paid twice as much as real engineers. It's a pretty retarded system.

[chem]

Patent law is for engineering washouts. Who for some reason get paid twice as much as real engineers. It's a pretty retarded system.

Engineering blows hard. I happily turned down engineering jobs to go to law school. I can confidently say that at least 60 of engineers do not like engineering, at least chemical engineering

[wearefoxsports]

Yale Law School associate dean apparently said, "... At the same time, a 4.0 with a very easy course load, or with courses that don’t really demonstrate a potential to succeed in the kind of work you’ll do in law school (like fine arts, or all science/engineering courses) may not help your application."

http://blogs.law.stanford.edu/admission ... questions/

[09042014]

Patent law is for engineering washouts. Who for some reason get paid twice as much as real engineers. It's a pretty retarded system.

Engineering blows hard. I happily turned down engineering jobs to go to law school. I can confidently say that at least 60 of engineers do not like engineering, at least chemical engineering

Eh, it's pretty widely accepted that law blows a lot worse than engineering.

[09042014]

Yale Law School associate dean apparently said, "... At the same time, a 4.0 with a very easy course load, or with courses that don’t really demonstrate a potential to succeed in the kind of work you’ll do in law school (like fine arts, or all science/engineering courses) may not help your application."

http://blogs.law.stanford.edu/admission ... questions/

Yale and Stanford are exceptions to the general law school admissions rules because they are holistic (and numbers whores, but that's merely necessary, it doesn't get you all the way you need both). I wouldn't base any arguments on what that dean says.

[boredatwork]

"may not help" really solid way of saying nothing.

[bk1]

Let's try to stay on topic in this thread.

[dowu]

[bk1]

Let's try to stay on topic in this thread.

They're doing a good job staying on topic so far...

Cool story bro is generally not considered on topic.

[Tiago Splitter]

"may not help" really solid way of saying nothing.

+1, just like they may look at all of your LSAT scores.

[BearState]

Yale Law School associate dean apparently said, "... At the same time, a 4.0 with a very easy course load, or with courses that don’t really demonstrate a potential to succeed in the kind of work you’ll do in law school (like fine arts, or all science/engineering courses) may not help your application."

http://blogs.law.stanford.edu/admission ... questions/

Dean Deal noticed this and addressed an engineering student's concerns:

I’ve re-read Asha’s comment that you mention and I’m going to interpret her remarks by focusing on her use of the word “all” when talking about science and engineering. I personally believe that science /engineering backgrounds are valuable and most certainly are not viewed here at SLS as a weakness. That said, though, not all science/engineering applicants come to the table with their best foot forward. For example, I don’t like to see an engineering major’s transcript with only (or all – here’s my connection to Asha’s comment) science-type courses. I want to see you branch out of your safe and secure science world and take a walk on the wild side and enter the humanities world, for example. Now, I know the engineering major does not leave a whole lot of room for exploring, but there is room and you should most definitely take advantage of that to round out your academic program of study. Likewise, I like to see the English major take a walk on the wild side as well so this advice does not only apply to the science kids.

[Liquox]

I want you to think about this scenario for a minute.

You have a chemical engineering major who is at the top of his major with a 2.7 GPA. Getting a C+ in a class is hard. He took Calc 5, Physics 3, Econometric's, ect.

You have a Communication major who has a 3.7 GPA. If you don't get a B+ in a class you're mentally retarded. He took Communications 101, Interpersonal Communication.

The communication major scores a 165, the engineering major scores a 175. The communication major gets into Cornell. The engineering major would be lucky to break >30.

Explain to me how this makes sense? I would like to hear some non liberal arts majors too.

at 165, comm major isn't getting into cornell. at 167, maybe. and cornell definitely does make exceptions for hard majors/minors. and yeah, chem engineering is hard, but not that hard. (i'm biochem/finances, and i've taken chem-e classes). the comm major still has to study; these engineers should manage less than a 1.0 difference.

not that i'm one to talk, but why is a chem-e going to law school?