The Forum

No one can contest that times aren’t tough. Valparaiso, like all universities, finds itself competing for student-talent in the undergraduate, graduate, and law arenas. Often, its efforts go rewarded, and some very bright minds chose this university as their home for the  next few years. Valparaiso Law, in particular, has been gallantly trying to improve its ranking on a progressively lower budget.

However valiant the Law School’s efforts have thus far been, there always room on the table to consider more. This idea is one I’ve kicked around with a few friends. We all would like to see the implementation of a Dual Degree Program aimed at a hard science. Personally, I would consider enrolling in it; even if it only awarded a Bachelor’s degree, rather than the traditional Masters tied with programs of that nature.

I find myself talking to my classmates and consistently sharing the same problem: none of us ever had the true value of a hard science degree—like engineering or physics—explained to us until it was far too late. Personally, this realization hit me two weeks before I received both my diplomas from my undergraduate university in Chicago.

When I graduated high school in 2004, the economy looked promising. For years, my teachers had reinforced the notion that all you needed to succeed was a college degree: it really didn’t matter which. A stock market crash and a bubble burst soon showed me the real world rarely syncs with a 20-something’s ideas on job qualifications. Now, I can try to shift blame and argue that not getting a Bachelor’s in engineering isn’t somehow my fault, but in the end, denial is a river in Africa.

But, to this extent, I believe that if Valparaiso offered a program that would let me—and a large number of my peers—hit the “Do-Over” button, it could attract a much larger applicant pool because of the unique service being provided by the institution. Patent law, which requires a degree in sciences such as biology, chemistry, physics, or engineering, has proven to be one of the few areas insulated from the current recession. Even as the demand for new associates has faded elsewhere, firms have desperately continued their attempts to secure new talent in the patent field. Estimates for starting salaries for patent associates in large cities is in the low six figures. There’s likely going to be a sizeable signing bonus attached to any new patent lawyer’s starting contract, too. Additionally, because the demand stretches across the country, a student looking to practice patent law could likely choose to settle in any region in America and still not have a difficult time finding a job.

I know that implementing a new program such as this will take time, planning, and probably some persuasive arguing by Valparaiso Law’s administration with the undergraduate school, but I believe that the payoffs would be huge. Ideally, the program would award a hard science Masters to the students enrolled. Sadly, this would likely require a preexisting science degree, and students like me would be stuck in the same position we already find ourselves in.

One of the beauties of being able to take the Patent Bar, though, is that it only requires a B.A. Here, each law students already holds a Bachelors—the problem is the majority come from undergraduate degrees that aren’t Valparaiso. If the law school were to secure an exemption for core classes, apply credit reciprocity for classes like Intellectual Property and Contracts, and perhaps tack on an extra semester onto our time as law students, many of us would likely be able to fast-track an engineering or physics degree in conjunction with our J.D.
Although the stress from law classes is quite immense,  law school helps students set schedules and learn to prepare for class in efficient ways. Despite the fact that I can only speak for myself, I believe my personal study habits have improved tremendously from when I was an undergraduate to when I finished my first year here at Valparaiso Law. I also feel like the training and study techniques I acquired during my first year would really help me excel in an engineering class, despite the fact that it would also be very new territory for me. But heck, so was the law a year ago.
Maybe it’s just wishful thinking to want a new dual degree program here. In a highly-selective economy, though, Valparaiso should aim to offer their students a way into a very profitable niche. If worse comes to worse, and student finds him or herself cringing at the idea of practicing the law, he or she could always decide not to utilize the J.D. and opt to use the Engineering Degree instead. Starting salary for a mechanical engineer is around $55,000. Not a bad chunk of change, all things considered.

David Johnson is a 2L and can be reached at forum@valpo.edu

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 at 8:39 am and is filed under 1-Ready for Editing, 2-Ready for Final Edit.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.