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Hello,
I am a physics major (so I will satisfy Category A in terns of sitting for the patent bar). I am thinking about getting a computer science minor. (My school is not ABET accredited for Computer Science). This minor is NOT in Information Technology. This minor will be costly. (I can either not get a minor and raise my UGPA to get in a better law school or work super hard and get this minor). Would a patent boutique care that I have this extra certification, or do law firms only really care that I am a patent attorney who majored in a technical science? I know an extra minor can't hurt, but I'm trying to see if it is worth it.
Thanks in Advance.

What's your plans after ugrad? Go straight to law school? Work as a tech spec and get them to pay for night school? Need to know to give a meaningful answer whether GPA or technical credentials are more important.

patentdreams wrote:Hello,
I am a physics major (so I will satisfy Category A in terns of sitting for the patent bar). I am thinking about getting a computer science minor. (My school is not ABET accredited for Computer Science). This minor is NOT in Information Technology. This minor will be costly. (I can either not get a minor and raise my UGPA to get in a better law school or work super hard and get this minor). Would a patent boutique care that I have this extra certification, or do law firms only really care that I am a patent attorney who majored in a technical science? I know an extra minor can't hurt, but I'm trying to see if it is worth it.
Thanks in Advance.

Firms won't care too much about your minor, given your physics major. (A CS minor might give you a slight edge if you were, say, an English major, but that isn't the case here.) Don't do it - instead maximize your uGPA.

I assume you want to do patent litigation? You'll have a great shot given your physics background. For patent prosecution, it depends on the focus of your physics major. If you can characterize it as closer to engineering, then you may have a shot. If your focus has been more in biophysics, or even physical chemistry, then firms will want a Ph.D. to hire you as a prosecutor.

redtalun wrote:What's your plans after ugrad? Go straight to law school? Work as a tech spec and get them to pay for night school? Need to know to give a meaningful answer whether GPA or technical credentials are more important.

I plan to go straight to law school. So, that probably means that GPA is more important?

QContinuum wrote:

patentdreams wrote:Hello,
I am a physics major (so I will satisfy Category A in terns of sitting for the patent bar). I am thinking about getting a computer science minor. (My school is not ABET accredited for Computer Science). This minor is NOT in Information Technology. This minor will be costly. (I can either not get a minor and raise my UGPA to get in a better law school or work super hard and get this minor). Would a patent boutique care that I have this extra certification, or do law firms only really care that I am a patent attorney who majored in a technical science? I know an extra minor can't hurt, but I'm trying to see if it is worth it.
Thanks in Advance.

Firms won't care too much about your minor, given your physics major. (A CS minor might give you a slight edge if you were, say, an English major, but that isn't the case here.) Don't do it - instead maximize your uGPA.

I assume you want to do patent litigation? You'll have a great shot given your physics background. For patent prosecution, it depends on the focus of your physics major. If you can characterize it as closer to engineering, then you may have a shot. If your focus has been more in biophysics, or even physical chemistry, then firms will want a Ph.D. to hire you as a prosecutor.

I would want to try both litigation and prosecution, but based on my temperament, I'd probably prefer meeting with inventors and describing their inventions with "regularish" hours, as opposed to the high stakes court room. I've taken a good deal of engineering classes, but it's still a regular physics major.

patentdreams wrote:I would want to try both litigation and prosecution, but based on my temperament, I'd probably prefer meeting with inventors and describing their inventions with "regularish" hours, as opposed to the high stakes court room. I've taken a good deal of engineering classes, but it's still a regular physics major.

For litigation, law school will matter.

For prosecution, you'll ideally want a few years of engineering-ish WE to make you a more attractive candidate. (For life sciences, firms want a Ph.D.; for engineering, firms want a Bachelor's plus relevant WE. You'll want to make yourself a good candidate for the latter.) Assuming you get the WE, law school (and law school grades) will be far less important.

Given that you're leaning toward prosecution, and given that I assume your GPA isn't stellar (I could be wrong, but I'm assuming this based on the tone of your OP), I'd heavily advise getting those few (at least 1.5-2) years of engineering-ish WE first. That'll make you a stronger candidate for law school, and a far stronger candidate for patent firms.