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I'm currently an engineering student that wants to go to law school for IP Law. Do school's generally give engineering students a boost in their gpa's vs other majors? I am a senior with a 3.5 in Electrical Engineering from a non-ivy league school and will be taking the LSAT for the first time in October 2011 for the following Fall 's admissions. Thanks

knicks11 wrote:I'm currently an engineering student that wants to go to law school for IP Law. Do school's generally give engineering students a boost in their gpa's vs other majors? I am a senior with a 3.5 in Electrical Engineering from a non-ivy league school and will be taking the LSAT for the first time in October 2011 for the following Fall 's admissions. Thanks

Just curious, why would you think engineering students would get some sort of advantage in gpa analysis?

But to answer, while your major may come down to being a tie-breaker in some cases, it is typically only the number they look at. Engineering 3.5 = Poetry 3.5. Sorry.

(Disclaimer: Unless you start talking about t10 or t14, then you might get something. But I still doubt it.)

The reason I thought this is because I heard conflicting responses from people saying that engineering students generally get boosted up because it's much harder to get a 3.5/4.0 in engineering than in majors such as poetry and art. A 3.5 engineering gpa in my school is probably top 20% while say a person majoring in art with a 3.5 might be in the median of their class.

fundamentallybroken wrote:

knicks11 wrote:I'm currently an engineering student that wants to go to law school for IP Law. Do school's generally give engineering students a boost in their gpa's vs other majors? I am a senior with a 3.5 in Electrical Engineering from a non-ivy league school and will be taking the LSAT for the first time in October 2011 for the following Fall 's admissions. Thanks

Just curious, why would you think engineering students would get some sort of advantage in gpa analysis?

Not the OP, but I think a lot of engineers assume so before doing further research because engineering tends to grade on a different curve. At my school, for instance, courses in my major were curved to a B-/C+ - roughly a 2.5. Schools like Georgia Tech are even rougher. I asked my professor (also the undergraduate academic director of my department) to elaborate on this in my letters of recommendation, and he was completely astonished that he needed to at all. "How could they not take that into account?"

To the OP: the best way to offset a lower GPA is with a higher LSAT (i.e. become a splitter).

knicks11 wrote:I'm currently an engineering student that wants to go to law school for IP Law. Do school's generally give engineering students a boost in their gpa's vs other majors? I am a senior with a 3.5 in Electrical Engineering from a non-ivy league school and will be taking the LSAT for the first time in October 2011 for the following Fall 's admissions. Thanks

So far as one can tell from law school numbers data, there does seem to be a slight bump for engineering students with slightly lower GPA's then what the school would ordinarily accept. I think a high LSAT + a 3.5 engineering GPA is FAR better than the same LSAT with a 3.75 generic liberal arts UG and the little green pyramids on LSN seem to agree. Didn't some guy with a 2.7 engineering GPA get into Northwestern a while back?

dabears1 wrote:

knicks11 wrote:I'm currently an engineering student that wants to go to law school for IP Law. Do school's generally give engineering students a boost in their gpa's vs other majors? I am a senior with a 3.5 in Electrical Engineering from a non-ivy league school and will be taking the LSAT for the first time in October 2011 for the following Fall 's admissions. Thanks

So far as one can tell from law school numbers data, there does seem to be a slight bump for engineering students with slightly lower GPA's then what the school would ordinarily accept. I think a high LSAT + a 3.5 engineering GPA is FAR better than the same LSAT with a 3.75 generic liberal arts UG and the little green pyramids on LSN seem to agree. Didn't some guy with a 2.7 engineering GPA get into Northwestern a while back?

NU is notorious for taking low GPA splitters with quality work experience.

A 3.5 engineering GPA will pretty much never trump a 3.75 generic liberal arts degree, although a crappy application with that 3.75 may land a WL or R. I think it might be closer when you have maybe a 3.5 vs. a 3.6, competing for a school where both numbers are below the median.

Someone once told me on this forum that schools are looking for an excuse to take your high LSAT, but the low GPA makes you a liability. Show them a reason why you're not, and it will help your application. That being said, I think this advice generally applies to REALLY low GPAs (and 3.5 still isn't one of them)

knicks11 wrote:I'm currently an engineering student that wants to go to law school for IP Law. Do school's generally give engineering students a boost in their gpa's vs other majors? I am a senior with a 3.5 in Electrical Engineering from a non-ivy league school and will be taking the LSAT for the first time in October 2011 for the following Fall 's admissions. Thanks

I've heard that we get a very slight boost. I wouldn't rely on it at all.

I don't know how high you're aiming, but you're shut out of HYS with that GPA, but if you can pull a 170+, you should be golden at the rest of the T14.

Didn't some guy with a 2.7 engineering GPA get into Northwestern a while back?

Even if he did, this hardly proves anything.

d34dluk3 wrote:

knicks11 wrote:I'm currently an engineering student that wants to go to law school for IP Law. Do school's generally give engineering students a boost in their gpa's vs other majors? I am a senior with a 3.5 in Electrical Engineering from a non-ivy league school and will be taking the LSAT for the first time in October 2011 for the following Fall 's admissions. Thanks

I've heard that we get a very slight boost. I wouldn't rely on it at all.

I don't know how high you're aiming, but you're shut out of HYS with that GPA, but if you can pull a 170+, you should be golden at some of the T14.

OP needs more than a 170+ for CCN.

And Boalt is probably not happening either way.

I am currently looking at NYU, Columbia, Fordham, and Yeshiva(Cardozo). I still have to take the LSAT, which will decide where I will go.

Mce252 wrote:

Didn't some guy with a 2.7 engineering GPA get into Northwestern a while back?

Even if he did, this hardly proves anything.

2009-2010 - "Lazy Splitter" had a 2.8/176 and got into NU. Engineering UG.

I know it doesn't prove anything... but I do think schools give at least a slight nod to engineering students w/lowish GPAs vs. others who got a 3.5 in basket weaving.

czelede wrote:OP needs more than a 170+ for CCN.

And Boalt is probably not happening either way.

Yeah, I know. I figured a 3.5 in EE can probably pull a 175, but I didn't want to say that lest the wrath of the liberal arts majors descend on me.

d34dluk3 wrote:

czelede wrote:OP needs more than a 170+ for CCN.

And Boalt is probably not happening either way.

Yeah, I know. I figured a 3.5 in EE can probably pull a 175, but I didn't want to say that lest the wrath of the liberal arts majors descend on me.

How dare you... prepare for an angry mob of philosophers to crash upon your inbox. For, as Plato once said, "a good decision is based on knowledge, and not on numbers."

Thanks for clearing it up

I know someone who got into a T20 law school with their median LSAT and a much, much lower GPA than the median (and lower than 25th percentile, too). His softs weren't bad, but nothing game changing.

That said, I really think his science major mattered.
They might not take you over a 3.75 liberal arts major, but who is to say they won't take both of you.
In my opinion, though, a 3.5 in engineering >> 3.75 in a humanities major. Admissions officers may or may not agree.

FWIW, I say this as a science major who has had to study my butt off to make B+ - A in my sciences classes, but screwed around in my non science classes and never got below an A in any one of them.

Best of luck!

You may not get a huge boost from engineering major but you will get a slight boost. Also since you're going into IP your job prospects will be infinitely better than 90% of law students. Nice!

hjag wrote:That said, I really think his science major mattered.
They might not take you over a 3.75 liberal arts major, but who is to say they won't take both of you.
In my opinion, though, a 3.5 in engineering >> 3.75 in a humanities major. Admissions officers may or may not agree.

FWIW, I say this as a science major who has had to study my butt off to make B+ - A in my sciences classes, but screwed around in my non science classes and never got below an A in any one of them.

Best of luck!

I completely agree. 3.5 in engineering >> 3.75 in liberal arts. In fact I would go as far as to say that in many cases 3.5 B.S. > 3.75 B.A.
I am a chemistry major and I also studied my butt off to get a 3.6 in my major courses, but breezed through with a 3.9 in non major courses. I think this is a common trend with most science degrees and I'm sure they know that. I can't speak to what admissions will do, but I think they are aware that not all majors are equal. However, numbers are really important to them, if only because it supports their rankings and such. Where you should expect to see a bump is from a diversity standpoint. Law schools don't necessarly want a bunch of Political Science majors filling their classes.

FiveSermon wrote:You may not get a huge boost from engineering major but you will get a slight boost. Also since you're going into IP your job prospects will be infinitely better than 90% of law students. Nice!

100% agree here. I know of some IP offices that hire engineers without a law degree, you will be very marketable.

FiveSermon wrote:You may not get a huge boost from engineering major but you will get a slight boost. Also since you're going into IP your job prospects will be infinitely better than 90% of law students. Nice!

You get a slight boost others with the same GPA but in a LA major. That's all. There are 3.9-4.0 students with engineering and other science GPAs, just in case anyone didn't realize.

Im an engineer and I am pretty sure that I got a boost. By comparing my numbers to people on Law School Numbers, I have been accepted to schools and offered money that others with similar numbers were waitlisted or rejected.

Also, I have received handwritten letters from the schools encouraging me to attend and take part in their IP programs.

I'm an engineering major at a school where I'm (ever so slightly) below both medians. I was accepted straight off the bat in the first wave of acceptances. Non-URM and your average softs.

Apply early, but don't expect miracles. If you're hovering just under a few medians it might edge you in.