Medical Student here looking to jump ship... Forum

[DoctorNo]

Does anyone think that not completing my MD will be looked upon poorly by AdComs?

[prezidentv8]

FWIW I met an alum of my school who quit a prestigious medical job (head of a surgery dept. I think) to go to law school because he missed thinking. He said he loves being a lawyer because it's a different intellectual challenge every day. So you might not be nuts.

This is worth a lot to me, thanks!

Also, law students have a habit of worshiping people who have anything to do with a medical school. So, at least for three years, you get to be King of the.....somethings!

[ctxmike]

Where do you go to medical school? I know Baylor Medical School has a joint JD/MD program with the University of Houston Law Center. Ask if your school has any similar programs.

My advice: Do the above, if you can. If not, then take the LSAT. Apply. If you get into a T10, preferably a T6 and you're absolutely certain you want to, then do it, considering how money isn't an option.

[MysticalWheel]

People basically go to law school if:

1) They have useless UG degrees, or
2) Couldn't get into a reasonable Med School or Business School.

Way to disrespect the legal profession and insult everyone practicing or soon to be practicing it. To boot, the reasons you've cited likely do not encompass the motivations for a significant portion of the legally inclined. Take yours truly, for example: I'm going to LS because I want to practice and contribute to the most fundamentally necessary profession in any human society. Without the law, conventional medicine and agriculture would be stifled by anarchic friction and disorder.

Honestly, how dare you denigrate the profession on a forum dedicated to it? And everyone else that jumped on the law-bashing, medicine-praising band wagon, you're a significant part of the reason why a sizeable part of the American public considers attorneys as immoral, vile gold-diggers. If you don't have any dedication to the legal discipline, at least have the god damn respect not to spit on it, especially if it's going to be your bread and butter in years to come.

MW

[JazzOne]

People basically go to law school if:

1) They have useless UG degrees, or
2) Couldn't get into a reasonable Med School or Business School.

Way to disrespect the legal profession and insult everyone practicing or soon to be practicing it. To boot, the reasons you've cited likely do not encompass the motivations for a significant portion of the legally inclined. Take yours truly, for example: I'm going to LS because I want to practice and contribute to the most fundamentally necessary profession in any human society. Without the law, conventional medicine and agriculture would be stifled by anarchic friction and disorder. Honestly, how dare you denigrate the profession on a forum dedicated to it? And everyone else that jumped on the law-bashing, medicine-praising band wagon, you're a significant part of the reason why a sizeable part of the American public considers attorneys as immoral, vile gold-diggers. If you don't have any dedication to the legal discipline, at least have the god damn respect not to spit on it, especially if it's going to be your bread and butter in years to come.

MW

Hahahahahah

[IAFG]

Does anyone think that not completing my MD will be looked upon poorly by AdComs?

yes. but more importantly, employers will. finish your degree, turn that negative into a super super marketable positive.

[DoubleChecks]

FWIW I met an alum of my school who quit a prestigious medical job (head of a surgery dept. I think) to go to law school because he missed thinking. He said he loves being a lawyer because it's a different intellectual challenge every day. So you might not be nuts.

Boom

lol, i dont know if everyone here is slamming OP, saying he shouldnt EVER leave med school for lawl school. and speaking of the realities of law school doesnt mean you're bashing it either. it really depends on the context, and it is all relative.

my misgivings, if i were the OP, would be that 1) he has no LSAT and no idea WHICH law school he'd get into -- regardless of his current situation of being a med student, i would NOT recommend law school to MOST ppl who would not get the job they want by going to the school they'd get into...i mean, if you have all the money in the world or REALLY want to be a lawyer, come hell or high water, then you'll be in the small minority who maybe should go regardless of the debt/time...2) he doesnt even know if he'd like law! lol he has not done anything law related besides glancing at his gf's 1L work and thinking he'd enjoy it...while there is a good chance he'd love law, this just adds weight to him maybe thinking through his options even more before making such a life-changing decision

haha dont get me wrong, i love law school so far (to the extent that it will get me a law degree and let me practice law), but i dont know if OP should take a leap of faith just yet

ps - having a MD/JD is pretty badass...and im sure as far as softs go, having a MD already is a noticeable bump

[MysticalWheel]

People basically go to law school if:

1) They have useless UG degrees, or
2) Couldn't get into a reasonable Med School or Business School.

Way to disrespect the legal profession and insult everyone practicing or soon to be practicing it. To boot, the reasons you've cited likely do not encompass the motivations for a significant portion of the legally inclined. Take yours truly, for example: I'm going to LS because I want to practice and contribute to the most fundamentally necessary profession in any human society. Without the law, conventional medicine and agriculture would be stifled by anarchic friction and disorder. Honestly, how dare you denigrate the profession on a forum dedicated to it? And everyone else that jumped on the law-bashing, medicine-praising band wagon, you're a significant part of the reason why a sizeable part of the American public considers attorneys as immoral, vile gold-diggers. If you don't have any dedication to the legal discipline, at least have the god damn respect not to spit on it, especially if it's going to be your bread and butter in years to come.

MW

Hahahahahah

Meh...I've said my piece. Law> Medicine to society in the long run.

MW

[IAFG]

Way to disrespect the legal profession and insult everyone practicing or soon to be practicing it. To boot, the reasons you've cited likely do not encompass the motivations for a significant portion of the legally inclined. Take yours truly, for example: I'm going to LS because I want to practice and contribute to the most fundamentally necessary profession in any human society. Without the law, conventional medicine and agriculture would be stifled by anarchic friction and disorder.

Honestly, how dare you denigrate the profession on a forum dedicated to it? And everyone else that jumped on the law-bashing, medicine-praising band wagon, you're a significant part of the reason why a sizeable part of the American public considers attorneys as immoral, vile gold-diggers. If you don't have any dedication to the legal discipline, at least have the god damn respect not to spit on it, especially if it's going to be your bread and butter in years to come.

MW

enjoy bottom 1/3

[whymeohgodno]

People basically go to law school if:

1) They have useless UG degrees, or
2) Couldn't get into a reasonable Med School or Business School.

Way to disrespect the legal profession and insult everyone practicing or soon to be practicing it. To boot, the reasons you've cited likely do not encompass the motivations for a significant portion of the legally inclined. Take yours truly, for example: I'm going to LS because I want to practice and contribute to the most fundamentally necessary profession in any human society. Without the law, conventional medicine and agriculture would be stifled by anarchic friction and disorder. Honestly, how dare you denigrate the profession on a forum dedicated to it? And everyone else that jumped on the law-bashing, medicine-praising band wagon, you're a significant part of the reason why a sizeable part of the American public considers attorneys as immoral, vile gold-diggers. If you don't have any dedication to the legal discipline, at least have the god damn respect not to spit on it, especially if it's going to be your bread and butter in years to come.

MW

Hahahahahah

Meh...I've said my piece. Law> Medicine to society in the long run.

MW

Law may > medicine but lawyers do not > doctors.

[MysticalWheel]

Way to disrespect the legal profession and insult everyone practicing or soon to be practicing it. To boot, the reasons you've cited likely do not encompass the motivations for a significant portion of the legally inclined. Take yours truly, for example: I'm going to LS because I want to practice and contribute to the most fundamentally necessary profession in any human society. Without the law, conventional medicine and agriculture would be stifled by anarchic friction and disorder.

Honestly, how dare you denigrate the profession on a forum dedicated to it? And everyone else that jumped on the law-bashing, medicine-praising band wagon, you're a significant part of the reason why a sizeable part of the American public considers attorneys as immoral, vile gold-diggers. If you don't have any dedication to the legal discipline, at least have the god damn respect not to spit on it, especially if it's going to be your bread and butter in years to come.

MW

enjoy bottom 1/3

Shhh...grown-ups are talking.

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 4#p3611876

MW

[MysticalWheel]

Law may > medicine but lawyers do not > doctors.

I'll probably agree to that, but it's in part because of the peripheral garbage that orbits the core of law.

MW

[DoctorNo]

Law may > medicine but lawyers do not > doctors.

I'll probably agree to that, but it's in part because of the peripheral garbage that orbits the core of law.

MW

Doctors are not any better than lawyers. Ask anyone at my school, one of the biggest in the country, why they're here. 75% or more of them are here for the money for sure. They just get a good rep because they help fix what ails ya. It's the miracle worker mystique.

[IAFG]

enjoy bottom 1/3

Shhh...grown-ups are talking.

nothing fuels a shitty LS exam quite like strongly-held philosophical convictions.

[MysticalWheel]

nothing fuels a shitty LS exam quite like strongly-held philosophical convictions.

The fact that I've applied to only the top 6 schools indicates that my "strongly-held philosophical convictions" have not posed much of a problem for me academically thus far. Spare me your aversions to deep thinking; your statements are asinine generalizations that scream of an imbalanced persona.

MW

[DoctorNo]

Does anyone think that not completing my MD will be looked upon poorly by AdComs?

yes. but more importantly, employers will. finish your degree, turn that negative into a super super marketable positive.

I don't think it would make much sense, unless I was in a science or medical-related field of law. I truly have little interest in that. I would, however, wind up with a shit-ton of debt to add to a shit-ton more debt.

[MysticalWheel]

Law may > medicine but lawyers do not > doctors.

I'll probably agree to that, but it's in part because of the peripheral garbage that orbits the core of law.

MW

Doctors are not any better than lawyers. Ask anyone at my school, one of the biggest in the country, why they're here. 75% or more of them are here for the money for sure. They just get a good rep because they help fix what ails ya. It's the miracle worker mystique.

I didn't mean doctors are "better" than lawyers, just that they are seen as "better" by much of the general public. Sorry about the lack of clarity.

MW

[DoctorNo]

Law may > medicine but lawyers do not > doctors.

I'll probably agree to that, but it's in part because of the peripheral garbage that orbits the core of law.

MW

Doctors are not any better than lawyers. Ask anyone at my school, one of the biggest in the country, why they're here. 75% or more of them are here for the money for sure. They just get a good rep because they help fix what ails ya. It's the miracle worker mystique.

I didn't mean doctors are "better" than lawyers, just that they are seen as "better." Sorry about that.

MW

I would certainly be inclined to agree with you. It's also because the good contributions of lawyers are largely overlooked whereas the contributions of doctors are largely glorified.

[IAFG]

Does anyone think that not completing my MD will be looked upon poorly by AdComs?

yes. but more importantly, employers will. finish your degree, turn that negative into a super super marketable positive.

I don't think it would make much sense, unless I was in a science or medical-related field of law. I truly have little interest in that. I would, however, wind up with a shit-ton of debt to add to a shit-ton more debt.

with your undergrad degree and ITE its probably already too late to avoid employers having an interest in your background, and if you try to distance yourself from it, it will probably fuck you.

[drdolittle]

OP, go ahead and contact practicing attorneys who've made a similar career change to make sure this isn't a "grass is greener" mentality kicking in. Try looking for attorneys dealing with medical device patents to start (even if you're not interested in that yourself), and you'll definitely find MD/JDs to email, maybe even lawyers who've gone to your med school. This career switch is not quite as rare as it might seem and it could make a lot of sense if you absolutely can't imagine yourself continuing in medicine.

[MysticalWheel]

I would certainly be inclined to agree with you. It's also because the good contributions of lawyers are largely overlooked whereas the contributions of doctors are largely glorified.

That's seems reasonable to me.

In regard to your original question, my advice would be to complete med school and then, if you still wish and have the time/money, get your JD.

MW

[er doctor]

FWIW I met an alum of my school who quit a prestigious medical job (head of a surgery dept. I think) to go to law school because he missed thinking. He said he loves being a lawyer because it's a different intellectual challenge every day. So you might not be nuts.

Boom

lol, i dont know if everyone here is slamming OP, saying he shouldnt EVER leave med school for lawl school. and speaking of the realities of law school doesnt mean you're bashing it either. it really depends on the context, and it is all relative.

my misgivings, if i were the OP, would be that 1) he has no LSAT and no idea WHICH law school he'd get into -- regardless of his current situation of being a med student, i would NOT recommend law school to MOST ppl who would not get the job they want by going to the school they'd get into...i mean, if you have all the money in the world or REALLY want to be a lawyer, come hell or high water, then you'll be in the small minority who maybe should go regardless of the debt/time...2) he doesnt even know if he'd like law! lol he has not done anything law related besides glancing at his gf's 1L work and thinking he'd enjoy it...while there is a good chance he'd love law, this just adds weight to him maybe thinking through his options even more before making such a life-changing decision

haha dont get me wrong, i love law school so far (to the extent that it will get me a law degree and let me practice law), but i dont know if OP should take a leap of faith just yet

ps - having a MD/JD is pretty badass...and im sure as far as softs go, having a MD already is a noticeable bump

If that's the case, how come I haven't received a JR1 yet?

[MysticalWheel]

ps - having a MD/JD is pretty badass...and im sure as far as softs go, having a MD already is a noticeable bump

If that's the case, how come I haven't received a JR1 yet?

Because it's not necessarily a bump at all.

MW

[ahduth]

If that's the case, how come I haven't received a JR1 yet?

Numbers?

[DoubleChecks]

ps - having a MD/JD is pretty badass...and im sure as far as softs go, having a MD already is a noticeable bump

If that's the case, how come I haven't received a JR1 yet?

Because it's not necessarily a bump at all.

MW

um, i think for class diversity, it'd be a bump. HLS loves having unique applicants (any law school would)...MDs are pretty rare in law schools. it'd be a bump. i dont mean a bump that would get a 3.8/169 up or anything lol...but much more noticeable than pretty much all the other stuff on resumes (and heck, id assume more than TFA, Peace Corps, etc. since it is a longer commitment and also a screening of sorts).

and MW, please stop.