Tier 1 chances? Forum

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roz77

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Tier 1 chances?

Post by roz77 » Sat Sep 24, 2011 3:02 pm

Hey all, here's my situation. I am currently going into my senior year at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, majoring in EE with a minor in physics. I currently have a 3.35 GPA. I'm going to be applying to a bunch of grad schools pretty soon now, I want to get my Masters in EE. After that however, I'm a little unsure of what I want to do. I could go work with a MS, stay and get my Ph.D., or go to law school. I was wondering about law schools. If I end up with a 3.35 UG GPA in EE from one of the best EE schools in the nation while also doing research for a year and a half, and then stay there for 2 years to get my Masters and have between a 3.7 and 4.0 in grad school (speculation of course), what would my chances be to get into some top tier schools? At this point, just assume I score at least a 170 on my LSAT.

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nealric

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Re: Tier 1 chances?

Post by nealric » Sat Sep 24, 2011 3:12 pm

Come back when you have a real LSAT. Seriously.

Law schools generally don't care if your GPA was 3.35 from MIT or from podunk U in underwater basketweaving. Even though it's respectable for engineering, a 3.35 will not be viewed positively. However, a 170+ will get you into a few top 14 schools despite the GPA. But if you can't swing that LSAT, go to engineering school.

Tier 1 is pretty meaningless for law schools, by the way. Only the top 14-18 are really considered "top" schools for the purposes of recruiting.

roz77

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Re: Tier 1 chances?

Post by roz77 » Sat Sep 24, 2011 3:14 pm

I guess I was wondering how much my GPA in 2 years of grad school would matter.

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Tiago Splitter

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Re: Tier 1 chances?

Post by Tiago Splitter » Sat Sep 24, 2011 3:16 pm

roz77 wrote:I guess I was wondering how much my GPA in 2 years of grad school would matter.
It won't.

CanadianWolf

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Re: Tier 1 chances?

Post by CanadianWolf » Sat Sep 24, 2011 3:16 pm

High graduate school GPAs are expected. Nealric is correct in that everything is irrelevant until you have an actual LSAT score.
Last edited by CanadianWolf on Sat Sep 24, 2011 3:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Bodhi_mind

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Re: Tier 1 chances?

Post by Bodhi_mind » Sat Sep 24, 2011 3:16 pm

Not at all

clintone88

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Re: Tier 1 chances?

Post by clintone88 » Sun Sep 25, 2011 7:54 pm

Purely anecdotal, but I've heard from several current patent attorneys that having a masters and JD is not looked upon favorably unless it's ChemE/Pharm. It sort of looks like you didn't know what you wanted to do and/or couldn't find a job, so you just kept going back for more school until you found something that worked. If you're interested in patent law, it might be better to get a JD first, and then if your firm wants you have a MS (doubtful), they can send you back for one. T1 should be easy with a 3.35 and a decent LSAT. I had a 3.3 in EE/physics and only a 165 and got into a lot schools in the 30's range. Just make sure you go to a school in an area where they are actually producing EE patents. The east coast has a ton of patents, but a lot of them are pharm/bio related. A lot of the bigger tech firms are on the west coast, though obviously there are tons scattered all over. I'm at UW because Seattle has Microsoft, Amazon, Boeing, etc. Not as much as the bay area, but you also don't compete with Berkeley/Stanford (which I obviously didn't get into).

Or just go get a job with your BS. Instead of spending $20k/year, you could be making $60k/year.

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