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Just curious, but if someone talks about becoming an IP lawyer in a personal statement, or talks to admissions people about being interested in IP, does that make a difference? I heard that schools were more likely to accept students with engineering backgrounds potentially interested in IP/patent because, as I've heard, the employment opportunities aren't as limited, although I could be totally wrong.

any thoughts?

It's not going to help you get admitted.

Engineer here, applying to law for IP...mentioned it in my PS.

The potential boost you may/may not get is no where near predictable as GPA/LSAT combination may indicate, so the question of how much it helps really becomes ambiguous. Although employment prospects are better in IP, adcoms evaluate applicants for their entire incoming class. IP is only one field of law and law schools recruit applicants that want to go into every field. Even though your background may be great for IP, it may not push you over an applicant with better numbers.

Likewise, the potential boost from the great prospects of IP law also depend on the caliber of school you are applying to. T14 schools have great employment statistics compared to lower-ranked schools, so they may be less inclined to admit you even though you are more employable upon graduation since they know their graduates will be employable regardless. This may be different if you're applying to a regional school whose graduates' employment prospects are limited.

Another thing to understand is that when you are an science/engineering major applying to law school, your achievements are literally in a different field than most law applicants. This may be advantageous to a certain extent since you will be "diverse". However, from personal experience, I have also learned that this means that people are less inclined to value my scientific achievements to the same level as I do.

bk187 wrote:It's not going to help you get admitted.

+1