1 Forum

[drjay]

1

[09042014]

I was curious if any of the past or present UNC/Duke students (or anyone who cares to chime in) could comment on potential differences in job marketability between UNC and Duke for non-traditional prospectives. I have a PhD in microbiology and the only 2 schools I can apply for in 2012 are UNC and Duke. I have been told that for science/engineering PhDs, it really doesn't matter in the IP job market which top ranked program you attend so long as it is a top tier school (my understanding is that the differences in ranked names bear much less weight in this scenario...less apples and oranges and more like a comparison of 2 types of apples). If this be the case, I would obviously prefer the drastically less expensive school.

Is there any truth to this, or does amassing the debt load at Duke still provide significant advantages over UNC for PhD scientists entering the IP field? Any thoughts or insight would be appreciated.

The whole "for IP it doesn't matter where you go" shtick is bullshit. Go look on the Loyola Patent Fair thread. Kids from T14 pwnd kids from schools in the T1.

But scholarships and cost should definitely be taken into account. Try your hardest on teh LSAT. Apply, and come back with offers and scholarships.

[drjay]

1

[09042014]

I'd imagine that the average T14 student does much better than the average T1 student at the patent fair...I was just wondering if that also applies to JD/PhD graduates as well. In other words, is there still a strong demand for JD/PhD patent attorneys such that job interviews would be offered by many employers to someone holding both degrees, regardless of whether they're from Duke or UNC? Or, has the great need by employers for JD/PhD been relatively filled by now and thus, they've become more selective (for example, passing on interviewing a UNC JD/PhD for a Duke JD/PhD).

Oh, and thanks for the tip about the Loyola Patent Fair.

The Loyola fair is golden. Some IP firms don't care about law school grades/prestige, but those firms really care about your tech background. I'm not entirely sure how microbiology PhD goes over with them. Those firms tend to pay less.

There are other firms that mostly care about how you did in law school. For those firm UNC sucks.

[vb007]

Honestly, in your field, 90% of patent prosecutors have a PhD (I'm assuming you want to do patent prosecution). It's not so much an advantage as it is a necessity. Bio/pharm is a whole different ballgame than engineering/cs. In addition, the demand in bio/pharm is much less than in engineering/cs due to the relatively small number of bio/pharm patents being filed. Thus, don't expect your PhD to make up for a difference in law school rankings. Your competitors WILL have the same level of education as you. Go for the top school you can get into to maximize your job opportunities.

Also, it seems like you're geographically inflexible. In my experience, the job opportunities in your field are mostly out in California. Maybe you should do some research into whether you're going to be able to stay in North Carolina after graduation if that's important to you.