george wrote:And THAT is why I studied physics and not law.
You guys amaze me.
Interesting, George. That raises a point which I have also found to be interesting, if trivial in the context of this thread. The top graduates of my law school class, and those for several years before mine had their undergraduate degrees in the sciences, engineering and mathematics. Without exception. Granted, that was many long years ago.
It follows, of course, that those with liberal (with a small "l") arts degrees did relatively, if not substantially, less well.
At that time, the same relationship was noted when comparing the results of the Law School Aptitude Test (LSAT) with prior undergraduate degrees. Indeed, the valedictorian of my law school class, an engineer with a substantial physics and mathematics background, achieved so high a mark on his LSAT (essentially perfect) that the Admissions Council declared the test to be unreliable in his case, suggesting that the results not be used in assessing the quality of the applicant. I would, to the contrary, suggest that his results on the LSAT proved to be quite valid.
The Law School Admissions Council, which designed, administers and grades the LSAT, gives as it purpose, "the LSAT is designed to assess reading comprehension, logical, and verbal reasoning proficiencies." My question: are those attributes any different from those needed by a proficient student of physics?
My answer: "not at all." In my opinion success at both professions -- the sciences, including physics, depend on a capability for deductive reasoning -- the ease of use of the most basic syllogisms.
IMHO your observation (which I recognize, of course, is facetious, and do not at all criticize) displays the very common misunderstanding on the part of the public about the study and practice of law. Too many aspirants to the legal profession carefully tailor their undergraduate education in the direction of the liberal arts and avoid the study of the sciences. As might be expected, they enter the legal profession with their feet off the ground, never having had to solve a difficult problem -- and the problems one encounters in the practice of law can sometimes be quite difficult.
I suppose that I am suggesting, George, that you were a prime candidate for law school.
Jim