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I am a 0L starting law school in the fall. I have a BS in mechanical engineering and after this summer I will be one class short of a MS in mechanical engineering. I am thinking about trying to negotiate a joint degree program (PHD mechanical engineering/JD) at the school I plan to intend in the fall. My question is this...

Is the added money/time/stress worth it in the long run. In other words will a PHD in mechanical engineering get me that much further than a masters in patent law.

I know there are similar threads out there but I haven't found one about mechanical engineering.

bump

one last bump and I will let it die...

ENGINEERD wrote:one last bump and I will let it die...

Take this with a grain....but no I dont think it will help. If EE or something then yes. Otherwise PhD in ME won't help.

Have you tried contacting someone at the school you will be attending -- a professor that deals with patent law maybe? That's the route I'd probably go.

PhD Engineering is overkill for patent law; an MS is good enough. A PhD is only worth it for a biology-related field.

I don't know anything about patent law, but a PhD is primarily a research degree. Getting one for any reason other than to pursue a research career is likely to have little payoff.

voice of reason wrote:I don't know anything about patent law, but a PhD is primarily a research degree. Getting one for any reason other than to pursue a research career is likely to have little payoff.

I agree. Many PhD programs don't even have coursework requirements past the master level, so you are expected to conduct research and teach for the last few years. I don't think that will provide any practical knowledge that can be applied outside of your research area. The goal of a MS to get you more exposure to the subject, so MS would help. PhD probably not, unless you are going to be working a specific area that you did extensive research on. That's would probably help a counsel position not patent lit.

voice of reason wrote:I don't know anything about patent law, but a PhD is primarily a research degree. Getting one for any reason other than to pursue a research career is likely to have little payoff.

+1
Unless you plan on teaching, or just really love engineering, there's kind of no point to going after it.

In Engineering, a BS is sufficient to obtain a good job at a good IP boutique. You won't really see many, or perhaps any, benefits from PhD in Engineering, if working in patent law is your goal.

Go onto some IP law firms' sites, and look at the credentials that their engineers have. They will nearly all be bachelors degrees rather than more advanced degrees.

As someone else said, a PhD is needed in some of the easier sciences, like biology, but isn't useful for you.

remotelyfeasible wrote:In Engineering, a BS is sufficient to obtain a good job at a good IP boutique. You won't really see many, or perhaps any, benefits from PhD in Engineering, if working in patent law is your goal.

Go onto some IP law firms' sites, and look at the credentials that their engineers have. They will nearly all be bachelors degrees rather than more advanced degrees.

As someone else said, a PhD is needed in some of the easier sciences, like biology, but isn't useful for you.

I am planning on getting a MS in computer science because I know BS in CS doesn't cover enough of the subject. Taking the MS expose you to a broader range of topics with more depth, has to be useful when you practice. PhD I don't see the point.

r6_philly wrote:

remotelyfeasible wrote:In Engineering, a BS is sufficient to obtain a good job at a good IP boutique. You won't really see many, or perhaps any, benefits from PhD in Engineering, if working in patent law is your goal.

Go onto some IP law firms' sites, and look at the credentials that their engineers have. They will nearly all be bachelors degrees rather than more advanced degrees.

As someone else said, a PhD is needed in some of the easier sciences, like biology, but isn't useful for you.

I am planning on getting a MS in computer science because I know BS in CS doesn't cover enough of the subject. Taking the MS expose you to a broader range of topics with more depth, has to be useful when you practice. PhD I don't see the point.

Most computer science MS programs i have seen focus almost completely on Computational Theory and algorithms and not much on the more practical engineering side of software, so I would disagree that an MS would have much more impact than a BS in CS. (Of course there are some professional style CS programs, but those are normally MEng programs.)

CyLaw wrote: Most computer science MS programs i have seen focus almost completely on Computational Theory and algorithms and not much on the more practical engineering side of software, so I would disagree that an MS would have much more impact than a BS in CS. (Of course there are some professional style CS programs, but those are normally MEng programs.)

Look at Stanford's MSCS program. You can choose specializations. Only the requirements are computational focused (as should any CS program). They even have a MS/JD joint degree, which is very appealling by the way.

http://cs.stanford.edu/degrees/mscs/

r6_philly wrote:

CyLaw wrote: Most computer science MS programs i have seen focus almost completely on Computational Theory and algorithms and not much on the more practical engineering side of software, so I would disagree that an MS would have much more impact than a BS in CS. (Of course there are some professional style CS programs, but those are normally MEng programs.)

Look at Stanford's MSCS program. You can choose specializations. Only the requirements are computational focused (as should any CS program). They even have a MS/JD joint degree, which is very appealling by the way.

http://cs.stanford.edu/degrees/mscs/

I wish i could get into Stanford for either MS or JD.

CyLaw wrote: I wish i could get into Stanford for either MS or JD.

Well I guess I shouldn't talk like I can get it lol

I do know the MS is easier to get in than the PhD or the JD. I don't think I have any chance for a PhD admission, so I will try the JD first. MS is nice but I will probably just get it locally before going to LS. But I cited Stanford because my local programs are similarly designed. 4-5 courses in algorythms and theories and the rest are electives in anything CS.

Great responses, thank you! I agree with you all that a MS should be sufficient.