something missed

Biting Tongue posted an out-of-the office email from the Indian co-worker of BT's partner, E.

For the most part, I prefer law school to engineering school, but this letter reminds me of one area in which engineering school is far superior: the cultural and social mix. I miss the variety. Law school is largely mono-cultural; most students are American, and if they aren't, they're extensively U.S.-educated. Furthermore, they're generally from the same socio-economic background.

In engineering school, by contrast, I went to school with students of many different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The only diversity that engineering lacked was gender diversity; I'm still not entirely used to being one of many women in a class instead of the only one. But other than gender, engineering students were by far a more varied and eclectic bunch.

Part of this is probably that the study of law itself is a very country-specific practice. The language of law varies from country to country, but the language of mathematics is universal. Furthermore, law requires far more facility with English than engineering does. A struggling English speaker can be an excellent engineer and learn English as he goes along. It would be almost impossible for a lawyer to take the same path.

I loved working and studying with people from all over the world. I think that's something I'm going to miss in law.