Several students with an undergraduate science or engineering
degree are finding they can apply their expertise to areas that are
traditionally non-scientific.
Instead of attending a science-based graduate school, such as
pharmacy school, some students are attending law and business
schools to either apply their scientific knowledge in a new way or
explore a different field of study, many education officials
say.
For instance, computer science students at the UCLA School of
Law can study intellectual property law.
Specifically, patent prosecution under patent law involves
scientific knowledge.
“In order to practice patent prosecution, meaning working
with inventors and companies to get patents issued, somebody needs
to have a science background,” said Beth Moeller, director of
career services at the School of Law.
To be able to practice patent prosecution, one must pass the
patent bar exam, which requires science credentials, Moeller
added.
Science knowledge can aid in practicing patent prosecution
because understanding the invention, depicting it in schematics and
presenting the information to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
demands a background in science.
“If the invention is semiconductors, it’s much
easier for somebody who has an engineering degree and who is
familiar with the way semiconductors work to … understand what
the invention is that they’re trying to get the patent issued
for,” Moeller said.
At the same time, engineers may also apply to the fully employed
Master of Business Administration program at the UCLA Anderson
School of Management after about five to seven years of work
experience.
“Once engineers have been in the engineering field for a
number of years, in order to move up into higher management, they
need a broader base of skills,” said Cindy Vogt, senior
student affairs manager of the fully employed MBA program at the
Anderson School.
The program provides the engineers with either financing or
marketing knowledge to explore those areas of their career.
“Engineers that also hold an MBA degree are more
competitive within their field,” Vogt said.
“They’re trying to get a broader idea of how the
whole financial aspect might be impacting the engineering side of
things,” she said.
Some students with science degrees are drawn to non-science
graduate schools because they have an advantage over others in
certain aspects of their respective fields due to their knowledge
of science.
For example, students with science degrees have an advantage
over others in getting hired at intellectual property firms, since
many firms require such a degree, Moeller said.
“Many of our students and graduates are drawn to
(intellectual property) because it is dynamic, deals with
cutting-edge technology and is a field that is always
evolving,” Moeller said.
Andrea Sossin-Bergman, assistant dean of admissions at the UCLA
School of Law, said there was an increase in applications by
engineers from 2002 to 2003.