Apply with a EE Ph.D degree Forum

[benezhou]

I am currently a EE graduate student at UND, however, I am going to apply for law school after my Ph.D degree(expected 2012). How much does it help if I apply JD with a EE Ph.D degree?

[yellowjacket2012]

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[voice of reason]

UGPA and LSAT will still be the dominant factors. A PhD's a nice soft factor. Just don't expect it to make much difference. It does help you make a case that you are aiming for patent law, if that's a goal you want to articulate in your personal statement.

[benezhou]

I got my B.S in physics from China(GPA was 3.58, 3.8 in first 7 semesters and 1.5 last semester(relax too much...)), MS in physics at Univ. of Notre dame. Currently, I am a fourth-year graduate student with EE major at UND(GPA: 3.82). I have several publications and 1 patent also. LSAT was 172~

what's your UGPA in EE, and what school is it from? If you divulge that, plus the LSAT, I can probably give you some guesses based on my cycle (EE from Ga. Tech., 3.5 UGPA, 171 LSAT)

The post-grad work in EE isn't going to matter in either law school admissions or litigation, or for that matter patent prosecution when you think about what a PhD involves. I did just an MS in EE, also at Ga. Tech., and while I enjoyed it, I'm not sure a PhD would've helped me in either getting into law school or gettin a job.

On the other hand, schools like GW, Franklin Pierce, Chicago-Kent, etc. etc. those are prolly gonna love an EE PhD.

[yellowjacket2012]

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[thwalls]

I'll just take all of this at face value. A Ph.D. is an excellent soft and will be a factor in two situations IMO. 1) You're on the bubble of being accepted or rejected, 2) You're on the bubble of receiving some form of scholarship. Otherwise it's just nice and provides an excellent resource for your personal statement, which is what I used it for.

In terms of future employment an EE would have been fine and a PhD is just icing on the cake when it comes to patent prosecution. Usually a BS EE is all that's required but clients typically like dealing with PhD patent agents/attorneys in my oppinion. Having actually dealt with clients, I feel quite comfortable in making that statement.

[schrizto]

If you got your undergraduate degree from China and you have a 172 that's REALLY good considering English likely wasn't your first language.