Anonymous wrote:My DD has a stem PhD from a very competitive program. She's doing fine as a researcher, but doesn't make a lot of money. She likes the work, but can't afford to buy a house. Someone told her that she could make $500k or more as a patent attorney. Suddenly, she thinks she wants a law degree.
I want to encourage her, but is this a good idea? She's smart, so would get into a good school, but would it be worth it?
Most patent attorneys make FAR LESS than $500k and her degree is not in a more specialized, lucrative area. I'd have her reach out to her program career services office for advice and possibly names of alumns to reach out to. Law school is expensive and there is the opportunity cost of not working if go full time, 3 years. A night program, like Georgetown, is longer. She needs a far more realistic sense of options and tradeoffs.