Expert: Todd Johnson - 3/25/2008

Question
Ok so i am getting my college accepted letter in the mail and i have got in to wpi Suffolk's and umass Boston
Suffolk is offering me 11,000 a year and wpi is offering me 32,000 a year and so i think that i should go to wpi (Worcester Polytechnic Institute) to go study engineering and then go on to law school and be a patent lawyer i told my dad this but he does not think that you can be successful as a patent lawyer and that i should just study legal studies and then go to law school but if i have the degree in engineering it does not stop me form being able to go to law school and give me a completive edge as lawyer so why should i not go i it is a very good school have have shown my dad the list of the best colleges and where wpi ranks and where Suffolk rank wpi is much higher and that they have prelaw which mean i can still prepare for law school and take political science and law as a minor at wpi instead of going to suffloks that is a better law school but no good at engineering and his main problem with wpi i is that he thinks it is a technical school which it is not what can i do?

   




i am still waiting on other school but i do not want to turn this down if it is my biggest offer cause my dad does not no about he school which is a very goo school cause that would be stupid i am the smarts in my family the only one that will get scholarship i can not afford to have my father throw this out the window cause he does not like th name of the school is there any way you think i can convince him or should wait to see what other place i get in

Answer
Joanie,

The first issue is which school best meets your academic needs and then worry about finances. You are right that generally WPI is the strongest of the 3 schools you mention. If you are planning on going into a field like engineering then generally this would be a good choice.

If your plan is to get an engineering degree and then go to law school with the goal of working as a patent lawyer then again I would look more strongly at WPI. As far as being successful as a patent lawyer, I can tell you as a lawyer myself, that patent lawyers are some of the highest paid and most recruited lawyers out in the market place.

If WPI is giving you that much more money, combined with the quality of the education, I would agree that this would appear to be your best choice. However, if you did not want to be an angineer that WPI would not be as high on my list since it does focus on the more science oriented fields.

I don't know all of your circumstances so can't give you final advice on what to do. Generally I would say wait until all of the offers of admissions and financial aid are in and then decide which is the best choice for you. At this point, it certainly sounds like WPI is that choice.

Good luck in making the decision on which college to attend.