Engineering Applicants 2010 Forum

[CyLaw]

Comp Sci @ Iowa State checking in. Interested in technology and privacy law. Won't finish my degree until next semester, so it is unlikely I will take the patent bar before Law school, which is too bad.

[jerjon2]

EET checking in (Elect Eng Tech), and for reference, the degree is a little diff than the typical EE degree, but I just passed the FE (EIT) for Georgia without any studying, I also have two years of undergrad research at Georgia Tech (can't wait for the orange bowl) and FWIW I also minored in math. I interned for free at a local boutique firm this past semester and loved it (it was even boring prep and pro) I will be sitting for the patent bar this spring and hopefully clerking with the firm until then. Took the december LSAT, so patiently waiting for the next week to see where I'm good at getting in. 3.71 LSAC UGPA. Hoping hard for Emory, dream would be Berkeley or Stanford. Have a family friend who is partner patent attorney, so hopefully employment wont be too hard to come by. If push comes to shove and I get a poor LSAT score, I may just end up at Georgia State. Anyways, I went to the LSAC forum in Atlanta this year and heard diff things from diff schools about the storied "engineering gpa." Some schools mentioned that it is heavily considered, others said it didnt matter, so it should be interesting. Otherwise good luck to all and I'll be sure to update with cycle plans.. and for those interested:

http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com/zreinhar

It definately helped me, I went to GT and I just got in Chicago ED and my numbers would have suggested otherwise. I wrote a personal statement all about why I want to be a patent attorney rather than an engineer and I think that may have helped but they had to have boosted my engineering GPA.

[OG Loc]

Civil Eng here. Not planing on IP work but I feel that there was an admissions bump due to the engineering degree. I got CLS ED on the first day they sent out offers and NYU RD early with boarderline numbers.

Congrats. You planning to use your backgroud at all? Curious cause I'm a civil engr too and you rarely see civils in law school.

[OG Loc]

EET checking in (Elect Eng Tech), and for reference, the degree is a little diff than the typical EE degree, but I just passed the FE (EIT) for Georgia without any studying, I also have two years of undergrad research at Georgia Tech (can't wait for the orange bowl) and FWIW I also minored in math. I interned for free at a local boutique firm this past semester and loved it (it was even boring prep and pro) I will be sitting for the patent bar this spring and hopefully clerking with the firm until then. Took the december LSAT, so patiently waiting for the next week to see where I'm good at getting in. 3.71 LSAC UGPA. Hoping hard for Emory, dream would be Berkeley or Stanford. Have a family friend who is partner patent attorney, so hopefully employment wont be too hard to come by. If push comes to shove and I get a poor LSAT score, I may just end up at Georgia State. Anyways, I went to the LSAC forum in Atlanta this year and heard diff things from diff schools about the storied "engineering gpa." Some schools mentioned that it is heavily considered, others said it didnt matter, so it should be interesting. Otherwise good luck to all and I'll be sure to update with cycle plans.. and for those interested:

http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com/zreinhar

It definately helped me, I went to GT and I just got in Chicago ED and my numbers would have suggested otherwise. I wrote a personal statement all about why I want to be a patent attorney rather than an engineer and I think that may have helped but they had to have boosted my engineering GPA.

Agree that mentioning any goals in IP is a good move for engineers on applications, even if you're not completely set on it. Schools should see that you're more employable and likely to boost their placement statistics down the line. Congrats on admission to Chi.

[matrix637]

Biomedical engineering here....Do you guys plan on taking the patent bar before law school and if so what prep course are you using? PatBar, PLI or BarBri?

[09042014]

Biomedical engineering here....Do you guys plan on taking the patent bar before law school and if so what prep course are you using? PatBar, PLI or BarBri?

I might try self study. The prep options seems excessively expensive.

[matrix637]

Biomedical engineering here....Do you guys plan on taking the patent bar before law school and if so what prep course are you using? PatBar, PLI or BarBri?

I might try self study. The prep options seems excessively expensive.

I think MPEP is too lengthy/complicated to try and study it by yourself.... but props if you can get through it without spending any money on a prep course. there are some really helpful free outlines avaiable online. you might wannna check them out

[09042014]

Biomedical engineering here....Do you guys plan on taking the patent bar before law school and if so what prep course are you using? PatBar, PLI or BarBri?

I might try self study. The prep options seems excessively expensive.

I think MPEP is too lengthy/complicated to try and study it by yourself.... but props if you can get through it without spending any money on a prep course. there are some really helpful free outlines avaiable online. you might wannna check them out

I haven't started yet so I may end up resorting to the study aids. I've seen the free outlines and that is what I was going to use. The only reason I'm being a cheap ass is because every dollar of savings I spend is one that is going to be borrowed for law school.

[englawyer]

Agree that mentioning any goals in IP is a good move for engineers on applications, even if you're not completely set on it. Schools should see that you're more employable and likely to boost their placement statistics down the line. Congrats on admission to Chi.

along these lines. do legal employers often seek to pigeonhole engineering majors into IP? for example, if you are interested in tax law, is that possible or do firms say engineering major=ip only?

[zreinhar]

Biomedical engineering here....Do you guys plan on taking the patent bar before law school and if so what prep course are you using? PatBar, PLI or BarBri?

I might try self study. The prep options seems excessively expensive.

I think MPEP is too lengthy/complicated to try and study it by yourself.... but props if you can get through it without spending any money on a prep course. there are some really helpful free outlines avaiable online. you might wannna check them out

Something I would have never thought of, but stumbled upon the idea is to look up registered patent agents and attorneys and see if they still have their stuff, odds are it was really expensive and they didn't wanna just give it away.. I'll be using one of the agents' at the firm I'm at, there's also ebay as well...

[BriaTharen]

The biggest tip I've heard is to memorize the table of contents. The test is very doable, it is just the amount of time it takes to find all the answers. If you know where you instantly need to go, then it makes it that much easier.

[ehshornet]

1L here. Passed patent bar in August. I used Patent Education Series (PES). I think it cost around 600-700, but students can pay in installments of three. All you have to do is give them your VISA, and they deduct automatically each month. Prep took about four months over summer while working a full-time job in lab. Don't need to purchase a program, but definitely will help if you need some structure.

BIGGEST TIP FOR 0Ls: I cannot stress this enough. Work hard this summer and try and pass the patent bar. It definitely will help when it comes time to looking for a 1L summer internship.

[OG Loc]

1L here. Passed patent bar in August. I used Patent Education Series (PES). I think it cost around 600-700, but students can pay in installments of three. All you have to do is give them your VISA, and they deduct automatically each month. Prep took about four months over summer while working a full-time job in lab. Don't need to purchase a program, but definitely will help if you need some structure.

BIGGEST TIP FOR 0Ls: I cannot stress this enough. Work hard this summer and try and pass the patent bar. It definitely will help when it comes time to looking for a 1L summer internship.

Have you landed an internship already?

[awesomepossum]

1L here. Passed patent bar in August. I used Patent Education Series (PES). I think it cost around 600-700, but students can pay in installments of three. All you have to do is give them your VISA, and they deduct automatically each month. Prep took about four months over summer while working a full-time job in lab. Don't need to purchase a program, but definitely will help if you need some structure.

BIGGEST TIP FOR 0Ls: I cannot stress this enough. Work hard this summer and try and pass the patent bar. It definitely will help when it comes time to looking for a 1L summer internship.

If you're going to do patent work for the foreseeable future wouldn't you rather do something else on your one chance to do it?

I think the patent bar is a fine thing to go for but I don't think it's critical unless you've got your heart set on patent prosecution... and even so, it's not critical that you take the bar before figuring out what you're doing.

[09042014]

1L here. Passed patent bar in August. I used Patent Education Series (PES). I think it cost around 600-700, but students can pay in installments of three. All you have to do is give them your VISA, and they deduct automatically each month. Prep took about four months over summer while working a full-time job in lab. Don't need to purchase a program, but definitely will help if you need some structure.

BIGGEST TIP FOR 0Ls: I cannot stress this enough. Work hard this summer and try and pass the patent bar. It definitely will help when it comes time to looking for a 1L summer internship.

If you're going to do patent work for the foreseeable future wouldn't you rather do something else on your one chance to do it?

I think the patent bar is a fine thing to go for but I don't think it's critical unless you've got your heart set on patent prosecution... and even so, it's not critical that you take the bar before figuring out what you're doing.

I'm just a 0L so this is coming from ignorance, but wouldn't it be a better idea to test IP to see if we enjoy it, while there is still a chance to move into something else?

[awesomepossum]

at most GP firms you can switch to something else if you don't like it...you can't switch to non-law firm unless you change jobs.

Obviously at boutiques your options are much more limited.

[aerospaceUT10]

Bump.

[Leeroy Jenkins]

The biggest tip I've heard is to memorize the table of contents. The test is very doable, it is just the amount of time it takes to find all the answers. If you know where you instantly need to go, then it makes it that much easier.

It's not so much memorization of the table of contents, its recognizing which chapter in the MPEP you know will contain the answer to the question.

eg...everything regarding proper rejections is in 2100 (patentability). if its an appeal, you go to the appeals chapter. very straight forward, actually

[09042014]

Anyone going to Northwestern?

[MC Southstar]

Anyone going to Northwestern?

You're so cute.

Btw, I bought PLI on Ebay, I thought the price was fairly reasonable, plus you can resell it anyway.

[BioEBear2010]

Bioengineering major joining the party. Definitely considering IP, but interested in trying other fields as well.

[tesoro]

1L here. Passed patent bar in August. I used Patent Education Series (PES). I think it cost around 600-700, but students can pay in installments of three. All you have to do is give them your VISA, and they deduct automatically each month. Prep took about four months over summer while working a full-time job in lab. Don't need to purchase a program, but definitely will help if you need some structure.

BIGGEST TIP FOR 0Ls: I cannot stress this enough. Work hard this summer and try and pass the patent bar. It definitely will help when it comes time to looking for a 1L summer internship.

If you're going to do patent work for the foreseeable future wouldn't you rather do something else on your one chance to do it?

I think the patent bar is a fine thing to go for but I don't think it's critical unless you've got your heart set on patent prosecution... and even so, it's not critical that you take the bar before figuring out what you're doing.

I'm just a 0L so this is coming from ignorance, but wouldn't it be a better idea to test IP to see if we enjoy it, while there is still a chance to move into something else?

No. The test is unintuitive, boring and will give you absolutely no insight as to whether or not you may enjoy patent prosecution. You'll learn whether or not you will enjoy it by taking a patents course. 0L here with extensive patents experience.

[MC Southstar]

I'm only doing it for the marketability aspect, personally.

[stratocophic]

MechE reporting. Any idea what sort of IP presence there is in alternative energy type stuff? My senior design project revolves around it and I figure non-fossil fuel based energy is a pretty safe bet for the future.

[aerospaceUT10]

I'm only doing it for the marketability aspect, personally.

True, and nothing wrong with that for now, seeing how lawyers are a dime a dozen.