Lulzy as F*ck Article on 10 "Lawyers" with Alternative Jobs Forum

[flcath]

I have some friends that went the D.O. route and they can do the exact same things an M.D. can these days. Same residencies and everything...the MDs and DOs together. Those are easier to get into and have just as much job security. Why not do that? Will a 3.2 keep you out of a D.O. Program? Idk how widely those are available where you are?

Oh fo sho. The real problem with D.O. schools is that they aren't that much easier to get into than MD schools. There's around 10 of them, and the best way of thinking of it is that they're the 'worst' 10 med schools in the nation, not that they're some totally different category of thing that's less selective.

Getting into an allopathic program = getting into a T6 law school
Getting into an osteopathic program = getting into Penn

Totally understand this. I was curious because I decided to make the opposite switch, since I realized that I just wasn't interested in law school anymore. However, I had a relatively low gpa when I graduated too. I ended up going the post-bac route, both to bring up my gpa and to finish the pre-reqs (I was an engineering major). Will finally be finishing in a couple weeks after about 2 years of taking classes and building ECs.

Congrats, friend. So you're about to start the AMCAS cycle?

[chem]

F**k.......I can't stand this discussion anymore.

FLCATH, drop out and stop making these shitty threads that devolve into MD vs. DO vs. JD circlejerks.

Seriously, for the love of god. Or maybe ask the mods to make a forum to discuss law school v. medicine. Or maybe a mega law v medicine mega thread you can post in to your hearts content. I'm reading the same boring shit in every thread. Maybe you guys can go tell the Dewey SAs that they should have gone to med school and continue the discussion there.

Bros, chill out. You're reminding me of the little brehs at my school who get IRATE AS FUCK about too many SBA emails "filling up their inboxes" or whatever. There's an easy solution--that even a retard could come to--if that were really the problem. Incidentally, it's not like TLS is a place for vibrant and varied conversation: adding one additional topic to the 5 or 6 that get constantly repeated over and over again wouldn't hurt.

But the truth is that you get offended at the substance of what I'm saying. Maybe you're secretly jealous of doctors, too; maybe you've got no interest in med school, and you just get offended that I shit on law school because you're proud of the profession, or whatever. I dunno.

If it's the latter, then, *please*, feel free to defend law school. If you're persuasive it'll make me feel better about myself (I view myself as a huge failure for ending up in LS), AND you won't "have to" listen to me anymore. But you've gotta defend the real situation, not some idealized version: 215 schools, no barrier to entry, $40K tuition, stagnant demand, unemployment . . .

I was qualified to go to med school. Stood a decent shot at getting into a school as well, but decided to pursue law. This decision was a result of researching both career paths

Starting out with the cons that I am aware of for both

Medicine.

Medicine is a much longer commitment, both in terms of residency and the length of med school. The opportunity cost, therefore, is substantially higher than law school. While it is much more collegial, you still have to be competitive. THe people with the highest grades get the best practices. If you dont get good grades, you are looking at the lower end of the medicine salary spectrum. Once you actually get into medicine, you are looking at managed care. You have quotas of patients to see, a specific amount of time to see them. You also are looking at law suits, so your malpractice insurance is really high. Being on call during residency is also a bitch. Looking at paying back loans, most med students dont pay it back until their late 40s

Law

Oversaturation of the market for one thing. Prestige is much lower than doctors. Biglaw hours are comparable to residency, and you have to put a lot of your life on hold while doing it. The work is arguably, at least the first 3 or 4 years as an associate, much more boring. Job security is minimal unless you have good grades at a top school. Bi modal salary distribution is awful as well. Even when you get a good salary, biglaw attrition is another factor


The pros, as i see them

Medicine

First of all, you are healing people, which is awesome. Doctors also have a lot of prestige. Good job security. Intellectually stimulating work. Can make a good living. In good practice areas, you have really nice hours with a really nice paycheck. I think most people also look good in lab coats.

Law

You can help people with pro bono, which is cool. If you get a biglaw job, you have good exit options in the future (usually). Good salary if you get on the upper part of that salary distribution


Either way, you cant really look at prestige or money when choosing a profession, which law and medicine both are. You go to law school if you want to do lawyer work, being a lawyer. You go to med school if you want to be a doctor, doing doctor stuff. If you look at med school and the top 14 law schools, id argue that they are comparable in terms of difficulty to get into, with the worst t1 equating to the easiest med school to get in.

From a personal perspective, i turned aside from doctoring because of managed care as well as not liking to be around sick people. Patent law is nice because I enjoy learning about new technologies and paperwork is soothing. Also I love to read! Even if it is really dry stuff. I think legal reading is about as dry as reading journal publications. Someone can correct me if Im wrong. Im obviously leaving stuff out, but heres some things to start with.

[TheWeeIceMon]

I have some friends that went the D.O. route and they can do the exact same things an M.D. can these days. Same residencies and everything...the MDs and DOs together. Those are easier to get into and have just as much job security. Why not do that? Will a 3.2 keep you out of a D.O. Program? Idk how widely those are available where you are?

Oh fo sho. The real problem with D.O. schools is that they aren't that much easier to get into than MD schools. There's around 10 of them, and the best way of thinking of it is that they're the 'worst' 10 med schools in the nation, not that they're some totally different category of thing that's less selective.

Getting into an allopathic program = getting into a T6 law school
Getting into an osteopathic program = getting into Penn

Totally understand this. I was curious because I decided to make the opposite switch, since I realized that I just wasn't interested in law school anymore. However, I had a relatively low gpa when I graduated too. I ended up going the post-bac route, both to bring up my gpa and to finish the pre-reqs (I was an engineering major). Will finally be finishing in a couple weeks after about 2 years of taking classes and building ECs.

Congrats, friend. So you're about to start the AMCAS cycle?

Yep, will be starting primary apps on June 1st.

[turkishswat]

Yeah. Great MCAT, but way too low on the GPA side (3.2) to get into a US program. Law school doesn't reject people, and it seemed interesting (I still think it is), so I came here.

I think I thought at the time I wouldn't succeed at a post-bacc; I'd never been a big studier. A lot of that was just being around FSU though--place is fun as fuck; it's hard to concentrate.

I wouldn't say great MCAT. I thought I saw you say 33 at another time. I'd say good MCAT, but not even close to high enough to outweigh that 3.2, assuming relatively normal extracurriculars and no other extenuating circumstances (for US allopathic).

With some grade replacement, DO is an absolute lock, man.

[flcath]

Yeah. Great MCAT, but way too low on the GPA side (3.2) to get into a US program. Law school doesn't reject people, and it seemed interesting (I still think it is), so I came here.

I think I thought at the time I wouldn't succeed at a post-bacc; I'd never been a big studier. A lot of that was just being around FSU though--place is fun as fuck; it's hard to concentrate.

I wouldn't say great MCAT. I thought I saw you say 33 at another time. I'd say good MCAT, but not even close to high enough to outweigh that 3.2, assuming relatively normal extracurriculars and other extenuating circumstances (for US allopathic).

With some grade replacement, DO is an absolute lock, man.

Yeah, sorry, it's whatever you consider a 33S to be. Great, good, whatever. It's definitely not enough to outweigh a 3.2 (really a 3.0 in BPSM), but then again, neither would a 36 (definitely a great score). Med school's just not like that.

And yeah, the fact that it isn't totally out of reach (as it is for 99% of law school poli sci shitheads) just makes it harder.

[turkishswat]

Yeah. Great MCAT, but way too low on the GPA side (3.2) to get into a US program. Law school doesn't reject people, and it seemed interesting (I still think it is), so I came here.

I think I thought at the time I wouldn't succeed at a post-bacc; I'd never been a big studier. A lot of that was just being around FSU though--place is fun as fuck; it's hard to concentrate.

I wouldn't say great MCAT. I thought I saw you say 33 at another time. I'd say good MCAT, but not even close to high enough to outweigh that 3.2, assuming relatively normal extracurriculars and other extenuating circumstances (for US allopathic).

With some grade replacement, DO is an absolute lock, man.

Yeah, sorry, it's whatever you consider a 33S to be. Great, good, whatever. It's definitely not enough to outweigh a 3.2 (really a 3.0 in BPSM), but then again, neither would a 36 (definitely a great score). Med school's just not like that.

And yeah, the fact that it isn't totally out of reach (as it is for 99% of law school poli sci shitheads) just makes it harder.

Yikes 3.0 BCPM is really the nail in the coffin for US allopathic. But if you go back to a local CC or something and just take all of your Cs and low Bs again you can probably bring that bitch to a 3.3-3.4. That with a 33S, is a mother fucking lock for DO. Apply to US allopathic if you can't handle not knowing later in life, but apply smartly (it can get very expensive). Apply to pretty much only your state school and private schools that are unranked (actually described as "Rank not Published" on US news, "Unranked" is confusingly schools that chose not to participate).
Good luck man. I would probably say avoid el caribe. It is already a very morbid situation down there and WILL be getting worse as more US (allopathic and DO) schools are accredited and IMGs get even more squeezed out of residencies.

Edit: Holy shit. I cannot believe I forgot this: the reason I got my ass kicked this cycle. APPLY EARLY. Like primary on June 1st, and secondaries before mid-July.
Jesus. I'm stupid.

[flcath]

Yeah. Great MCAT, but way too low on the GPA side (3.2) to get into a US program. Law school doesn't reject people, and it seemed interesting (I still think it is), so I came here.

I think I thought at the time I wouldn't succeed at a post-bacc; I'd never been a big studier. A lot of that was just being around FSU though--place is fun as fuck; it's hard to concentrate.

I wouldn't say great MCAT. I thought I saw you say 33 at another time. I'd say good MCAT, but not even close to high enough to outweigh that 3.2, assuming relatively normal extracurriculars and other extenuating circumstances (for US allopathic).

With some grade replacement, DO is an absolute lock, man.

Yeah, sorry, it's whatever you consider a 33S to be. Great, good, whatever. It's definitely not enough to outweigh a 3.2 (really a 3.0 in BPSM), but then again, neither would a 36 (definitely a great score). Med school's just not like that.

And yeah, the fact that it isn't totally out of reach (as it is for 99% of law school poli sci shitheads) just makes it harder.

Yikes 3.0 BCPM is really the nail in the coffin for US allopathic. But if you go back to a local CC or something and just take all of your Cs and low Bs again you can probably bring that bitch to a 3.3-3.4. That with a 33S, is a mother fucking lock for DO. Apply to US allopathic if you can't handle not knowing later in life, but apply smartly (it can get very expensive). Apply to pretty much only your state school and private schools that are unranked (actually described as "Rank not Published" on US news, "Unranked" is confusingly schools that chose not to participate).
Good luck man. I would probably say avoid el caribe. It is already a very morbid situation down there and WILL be getting worse as more US (allopathic and DO) schools are accredited and IMGs get even more squeezed out of residencies.

Edit: Holy shit. I cannot believe I forgot this: the reason I got my ass kicked this cycle. APPLY EARLY. Like primary on June 1st, and secondaries before mid-July.
Jesus. I'm stupid.

Tyty.

I've got one other big thing going for me: I can make a case for FL residency. UF, FSU, UM, USF, UCF, FIU, Nova (DO) . . . a bunch of them are brand new, and (as you know) out-of-state admissions are all but impossible . . . it's probably the single best state in the county to be a resident of.

[TheWeeIceMon]

^^ Florida and Texas are probably the best states to be from for people applying to medical school. Cal is easily the worst, from what I've heard. Unfortunately, I'm from a state with only 1 state-school

Also, for what it's worth, I bet you could get into a DO school with a 3.2/33.

[flcath]

^^ Florida and Texas are probably the best states to be from for people applying to medical school. Cal is easily the worst, from what I've heard. Unfortunately, I'm from a state with only 1 state-school

Also, for what it's worth, I bet you could get into a DO school with a 3.2/33.

Okay, ppl keep saying that, but I don't think it's true.

What I might do is retake the MCAT (mine's expired) this summer and apply to DO school next summer. If I could get in that quickly it'd be sick.

The reason I doubt I'll ever do DO is (a) I, personally, don't think I'm good enough for it right now, and (b) after a post-bacc, I'll likely qualify for MD. If (a) is false, though . . .

Either way, if I have to spend a few years in biglaw first it won't kill me.

[turkishswat]

^^ Florida and Texas are probably the best states to be from for people applying to medical school. Cal is easily the worst, from what I've heard. Unfortunately, I'm from a state with only 1 state-school

Also, for what it's worth, I bet you could get into a DO school with a 3.2/33.

Okay, ppl keep saying that, but I don't think it's true.

What I might do is retake the MCAT (mine's expired) this summer and apply to DO school next summer. If I could get in that quickly it'd be sick.

The reason I doubt I'll ever do DO is (a) I, personally, don't think I'm good enough for it right now, and (b) after a post-bacc, I'll likely qualify for MD. If (a) is false, though . . .

Either way, if I have to spend a few years in biglaw first it won't kill me.

Dude lol, 90% of people doing DO are people that fucked up their UGPA and retook classes to change that or suck at standardized test and are rocking 28, 27, 29 on their 3 MCAT scores. Do DOs make fine doctors? Absolutely, I work with many. I think that using GPA and MCAT are average to slightly above average parameters for judging someone on their abilities to be a competent physician. The thing is some little shit fuck who tried super hard to get A's in undergrad while having no friends/vagina and studied for the MCAT for 1.5 years while living on his/her parent's dime gets into 11 allopathic MD schools, will not necessarily be a better doctor. I hate how the system is against people who did not care about GPA for medical school until they are 21-22 (still a young and maturing age in my opinion). DOs are the slightly better version of a "second chance" than el caribe. You learn the same stuff, take the same Step 1, and practice the same medicine (disregarding OMM, but that is a load of shit for the most part). They definitely are discriminated for residencies, but it is a very viable safe option to becoming a physician. Average MCAT for DO is like 28, man. You are fine.

[thexfactor]

The article makes it seem like those people "quit" their jobs because they were unsatisfied. However, I don't know if that was the case. They were laid off or forced to "resign."

[turkishswat]

The article makes it seem like those people "quit" their jobs because they were unsatisfied. However, I don't know if that was the case. They were laid off or forced to "resign."

No offense to flcath, but we already kind of established that article was pretty weak and the reason for posting was flcath's desire to never be a lawyer.

[TheWeeIceMon]

^^ Florida and Texas are probably the best states to be from for people applying to medical school. Cal is easily the worst, from what I've heard. Unfortunately, I'm from a state with only 1 state-school

Also, for what it's worth, I bet you could get into a DO school with a 3.2/33.

Okay, ppl keep saying that, but I don't think it's true.

What I might do is retake the MCAT (mine's expired) this summer and apply to DO school next summer. If I could get in that quickly it'd be sick.

The reason I doubt I'll ever do DO is (a) I, personally, don't think I'm good enough for it right now, and (b) after a post-bacc, I'll likely qualify for MD. If (a) is false, though . . .

Either way, if I have to spend a few years in biglaw first it won't kill me.

Dude lol, 90% of people doing DO are people that fucked up their UGPA and retook classes to change that or suck at standardized test and are rocking 28, 27, 29 on their 3 MCAT scores. Do DOs make fine doctors? Absolutely, I work with many. I think that using GPA and MCAT are average to slightly above average parameters for judging someone on their abilities to be a competent physician. The thing is some little shit fuck who tried super hard to get A's in undergrad while having no friends/vagina and studied for the MCAT for 1.5 years while living on his/her parent's dime gets into 11 allopathic MD schools, will not necessarily be a better doctor. I hate how the system is against people who did not care about GPA for medical school until they are 21-22 (still a young and maturing age in my opinion). DOs are the slightly better version of a "second chance" than el caribe. You learn the same stuff, take the same Step 1, and practice the same medicine (disregarding OMM, but that is a load of shit for the most part). They definitely are discriminated for residencies, but it is a very viable safe option to becoming a physician. Average MCAT for DO is like 28, man. You are fine.

+1. I didn't even consider medicine until my last semester of college, and I've definitely paid the price for it. As far as average MCAT scores go, last I heard the DO matriculant average was a little over 26. You could also give an SMP a shot, if you're confident you could dominate. Some of them have very high linkage to MD schools.

btw, you should re-name this thread "Convince flcath to go to medical school"

[turkishswat]

^^ Florida and Texas are probably the best states to be from for people applying to medical school. Cal is easily the worst, from what I've heard. Unfortunately, I'm from a state with only 1 state-school

Also, for what it's worth, I bet you could get into a DO school with a 3.2/33.

Okay, ppl keep saying that, but I don't think it's true.

What I might do is retake the MCAT (mine's expired) this summer and apply to DO school next summer. If I could get in that quickly it'd be sick.

The reason I doubt I'll ever do DO is (a) I, personally, don't think I'm good enough for it right now, and (b) after a post-bacc, I'll likely qualify for MD. If (a) is false, though . . .

Either way, if I have to spend a few years in biglaw first it won't kill me.

Dude lol, 90% of people doing DO are people that fucked up their UGPA and retook classes to change that or suck at standardized test and are rocking 28, 27, 29 on their 3 MCAT scores. Do DOs make fine doctors? Absolutely, I work with many. I think that using GPA and MCAT are average to slightly above average parameters for judging someone on their abilities to be a competent physician. The thing is some little shit fuck who tried super hard to get A's in undergrad while having no friends/vagina and studied for the MCAT for 1.5 years while living on his/her parent's dime gets into 11 allopathic MD schools, will not necessarily be a better doctor. I hate how the system is against people who did not care about GPA for medical school until they are 21-22 (still a young and maturing age in my opinion). DOs are the slightly better version of a "second chance" than el caribe. You learn the same stuff, take the same Step 1, and practice the same medicine (disregarding OMM, but that is a load of shit for the most part). They definitely are discriminated for residencies, but it is a very viable safe option to becoming a physician. Average MCAT for DO is like 28, man. You are fine.

+1. I didn't even consider medicine until my last semester of college, and I've definitely paid the price for it. As far as average MCAT scores go, last I heard the DO matriculant average was a little over 26. You could also give an SMP a shot, if you're confident you could dominate. Some of them have very high linkage to MD schools.

btw, you should re-name this thread "Convince flcath to go to medical school"

That ship has sailed.

[flcath]

^^ Florida and Texas are probably the best states to be from for people applying to medical school. Cal is easily the worst, from what I've heard. Unfortunately, I'm from a state with only 1 state-school

Also, for what it's worth, I bet you could get into a DO school with a 3.2/33.

Okay, ppl keep saying that, but I don't think it's true.

What I might do is retake the MCAT (mine's expired) this summer and apply to DO school next summer. If I could get in that quickly it'd be sick.

The reason I doubt I'll ever do DO is (a) I, personally, don't think I'm good enough for it right now, and (b) after a post-bacc, I'll likely qualify for MD. If (a) is false, though . . .

Either way, if I have to spend a few years in biglaw first it won't kill me.

Dude lol, 90% of people doing DO are people that fucked up their UGPA and retook classes to change that or suck at standardized test and are rocking 28, 27, 29 on their 3 MCAT scores. Do DOs make fine doctors? Absolutely, I work with many. I think that using GPA and MCAT are average to slightly above average parameters for judging someone on their abilities to be a competent physician. The thing is some little shit fuck who tried super hard to get A's in undergrad while having no friends/vagina and studied for the MCAT for 1.5 years while living on his/her parent's dime gets into 11 allopathic MD schools, will not necessarily be a better doctor. I hate how the system is against people who did not care about GPA for medical school until they are 21-22 (still a young and maturing age in my opinion). DOs are the slightly better version of a "second chance" than el caribe. You learn the same stuff, take the same Step 1, and practice the same medicine (disregarding OMM, but that is a load of shit for the most part). They definitely are discriminated for residencies, but it is a very viable safe option to becoming a physician. Average MCAT for DO is like 28, man. You are fine.

+1. I didn't even consider medicine until my last semester of college, and I've definitely paid the price for it. As far as average MCAT scores go, last I heard the DO matriculant average was a little over 26. You could also give an SMP a shot, if you're confident you could dominate. Some of them have very high linkage to MD schools.

btw, you should re-name this thread "Convince flcath to go to medical school"

From my 1L year.

[turkishswat]

From my 1L year.

Wow, haha. First piece of advice you got is terrible:

(1) MCAT of 34 won't get you into Harvard, but it will get you into plenty of allopathic medicine programs - even with a 3.2.

Patently false.

Edit: I'm sorry this is too funny:

You'd get into plenty (I mean PLENTY) of med schools (MD or DO) with your current credentials. As a matter of fact, with money in some places. Anybody on here who says otherwise does not know what s/he is talking about.

Shaking my head like no other. It sucks that people gave you shitty advice but at least it was falsely pushing you in the direction it seems you now ultimately want to go?

[flcath]

From my 1L year.

Wow, haha. First piece of advice you got is terrible:

(1) MCAT of 34 won't get you into Harvard, but it will get you into plenty of allopathic medicine programs - even with a 3.2.

Patently false.

Yeah, to be fair, if you're used to the LS paradigm of LSAT as king, I could see where you'd view a 33/3.2 as a shoo-in.

[turkishswat]

From my 1L year.

Wow, haha. First piece of advice you got is terrible:

(1) MCAT of 34 won't get you into Harvard, but it will get you into plenty of allopathic medicine programs - even with a 3.2.

Patently false.

Yeah, to be fair, if you're used to the LS paradigm of LSAT as king, I could see where you'd view a 33/3.2 as a shoo-in.

Largely because there are 1,624 law schools.

[941law]

Bro - and I mean this in the best way possible - stop bitching and go to med school. From what I can tell, you have the qualifications, and law/law school obviously isn't what you had hoped, so cut the cord and become a doctor. Bringing up medicine/med school in every other thread only serves to incite the same tired discussion; don't become the MTal of med school.

he really is awful.

[flcath]

Bro - and I mean this in the best way possible - stop bitching and go to med school. From what I can tell, you have the qualifications, and law/law school obviously isn't what you had hoped, so cut the cord and become a doctor. Bringing up medicine/med school in every other thread only serves to incite the same tired discussion; don't become the MTal of med school.

he really is awful.

I don't know who you are.