For all you lawyers and law students out there applying to medical school this summer

[vtucci]

Hello all.

I thought I would shout out to all the lawyers and law students out there applying to medical school this summer for the class starting in Fall 2005.

I was reading in one of the various med school prep books that there are approximately 150 lawyers out of 16,000 in every class so I thought it would be great if we got to know each other.

So tell us about yourself and where you hope to apply. Maybe we will run into one another along the way.

As for me, undergrad at Yale (3.5 in History/political science), Law (3.4) at UF, Post-bac at City College of NY, Post-bac GPA 3.82 (hopefully won;t suffer with Organic 1 and Physics 2 this semester), MCAT this summer, EMT, clincal research, publications, a lot of misc. volunteer work.

I would love to go to (in no particular order) Yale, Harvard, Mayo, Duke, Penn, Columbia, Cornell, Uva, UChicago, UMich, Stanford, Hopkins and many other schools.

I will be applying to about 28-30 schools this summer.

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[linus]

you would love to go to yale, harvard, duke, penn, columbia? really...i find that hard to believe.

 

[BerkeleyPremed]

you would love to go to yale, harvard, duke, penn, columbia? really...i find that hard to believe.

I'm not a law student or aspiring lawyer, but I'm probably going straight into an MPP (master's of public policy) or MA (political science) program after I complete undergrad. I'm surprised that med schools don't look more favorably on people with career/educational experiences OUTSIDE of the biological sciences/medical field. One would think that medical school admissions committees would appreciate applicants with a DIVERSIFIED set of talents and with professional/academic experience in fields outside of the biological sciences. However, I get the feeling (from SDN) that people who apply to med school with degrees/career experience outside of medicine really do not see any added advantage in their application.

EDIT: I would also like to attend either harvard, penn, columbia, yale, or hopkins...the problem is...none of the aforementioned schools would ever admit me.

 

[Bones2008]

I will be applying to about 28-30 schools this summer.

IMHO this is far too many schools to be applying to given your stats. Why not narrow it down to about 15 and save yourself thousands of dollars and a whole lot of time?

 

[10minutes]

IMHO this is far too many schools to be applying to given your stats. Why not narrow it down to about 15 and save yourself thousands of dollars and a whole lot of time?

But he already has 12 top 25 ranked schools(usnews) listed in his post. So he will be better off adding around 10 more to that.

 

[BerkeleyPremed]

But he already has 12 top 25 ranked schools(usnews) listed in his post. So he will be better off adding around 10 more to that.

I'm pretty sure it's a she...not a he.

 

[LoneCoyote]

I'm not a law student or aspiring lawyer, but I'm probably going straight into an MPP (master's of public policy) or MA (political science) program after I complete undergrad. I'm surprised that med schools don't look more favorably on people with career/educational experiences OUTSIDE of the biological sciences/medical field. One would think that medical school admissions committees would appreciate applicants with a DIVERSIFIED set of talents and with professional/academic experience in fields outside of the biological sciences. However, I get the feeling (from SDN) that people who apply to med school with degrees/career experience outside of medicine really do not see any added advantage in their application.

.

Going to law school was my original plan out of undergrad the first time and my resume, major, and activities reflected that. I did post-bac then applied. I found that having the legal and political work was definitely appreciated at all the schools I applied to. I am in a policy job now on my lag year and felt that people were really interested in hearing about it and how I saw it fitting into medical career later on. I think in my case my "diversified" background only helped me, and compensated for a mediocre MCAT score. As long as you can explain how it fits into your future plans, it will help. If it just seems random, or something you did to kill time, then I think it might not help.

 

[freaker]

Yeah, seeing how many lawyers jump ship and test other waters, I'd be suprised if I don't meet another who at least made the jump towards law school.

I did my undergrad at Emory (3.75), majoring in English and art history. An extra year of undergrad at my state school (4.0) which gave me a minor equivalency in French. Then went to UVA Law for a semester (left this December). I have no idea what my grades were in law school, and I've decided to never look. I left all doubts and worries of what might have been behind when I decided to return to the medical path. No looking back.

I completed my pre-reqs in undergrad and decided not to enter medical school for a number of reasons. I guess I had a lot more to explore in life. I unfortunately don't have any research experience. I've volunteered at hospitals in the past, though not recently (starting about 10-15 hours per week now). A little tutoring for disadvantaged kids growing up in gang territory with a church. What else? I've worked in California and London after growing up in the southeast. Swam in college.

As for where I'd like to go, after seeing the hierarchy of law school prestige in full-effect (for those not familiar, top 6, top 9, and top 14 actually have significance), where you go to medical school seems so incredibly insignificant. Additionally, seeing friends up to their necks in debt after graduating from law school and being forced to slaving away in Big Law (at least they got a Big Law job, I guess), well, I'm trying to get into my state school or another state school where I can become a resident after a year. I think a lot of people underestimate debt.

I'll apply to some private schools. Probably Emory, Tulane, Wake, and maybe Miami. I'll probably apply to about 10-12 schools.

 

[vtucci]

I decided to apply to 28-30 schools because I do not have my MCAT score and will not have it before I have to file my applications. My list is also quite large to do the number of top programs on it. I understand that medical school rankings are not as important as law school rankings but most of the top schools have programs that I believe I would enjoy. Medical school seems to be such a crap shoot that you never can tell where you will get in so I am casting a very wide net and hoping for the best.

Good luck everyone!

 

[japhy]

in response to berekleypremed, it appears that medical schools are beginning to value diversity in past educational experiences. in the last ten years the numbers of applicants with masters, phd's, jd, and other degrees have increased dramatically. completing another professional or masters degree can certainly be beneficial. however, it is up to the applicant to sell her self. by that i mean, it is up to her to explain why she went to law school, how medicine plays into her overall plan, etc.

something like an mpp seems like an ideal degree to pursue before going into medical school. i would love to get a mpp, but i think i will be done with school once i finish law school, and return and finish my last two years of medical school.

freaker, while you certainly have the grades and background to get you into medical school, you will be forced to answer questions about this one semester in law school. medical schools will question your commitment seeing as how you started a professional degree and did not finish. personally, i think you have a great background, well suited for medicine, but you definitely need to have a strong and convincing reason for this shift in careers. i am taking this information from the past dean of admissions at my medical school.

as far as anyone else coming to medical school from law school, enjoy it. med school is a blast compared to law school. i can't wait to get back