Attorneys Who Have Gone to Medical School: Admissions Questions

[HopefulApplicant667]

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Hello all,

Nonprofit attorney who works with underserved populations here. I will be applying to postbac programs soon. I was wondering if any attorneys who have made the switch would be willing to talk about their admissions process? I have read a few threads here so far, but they are generally prospective and discuss whether one should make the jump. All of the threads are only about attorneys at law firms, who are substantially different than my practice.

I have shadowed, thought about it for a year, and feel set on applying to medical school to become a practicing physician. I am interested in the specific application process for a nontrad like myself - my grades are fine and I will work as hard as I can on my postbac classes and MCAT prep. But I'm stumped as to what else I can be doing to prepare for the application process - should I focus on shadowing or clinical volunteering? How many hours should I aim for? Is there anything specific that I should avoid?

Thank you so much!

 

[LizzyM]

I'm not an attorney and I haven't even played on one TV (although many people have). I have reviewed applications for med admissions from attorneys and interviewed them for admission.

You are going to need what every applicant needs:

• evidence that you can do well (3.8 GPA or higher) in the pre-req courses, most of which are in the natural sciences (post-bac classes, check)
• evidence that you can do well (515 or better) in a high stakes admissions exam (MCAT, check)
• evidence that you know what medicine is all about (a minimum of 50 hours of shadowing in a few different specialties/settings and some employment or volunteer work in a health care setting, ideally in a patient-facing position, you should have at least 4 hours/wk for however long it takes you to do the post-bac).
• evidence that you have a servant's heart and want to help people (you seem to have this covered with your current employment)
• evidence of intellectual curiosity usually demonstrated by engagement in research-- more important if you are hoping to be admitted to a top research institution, less essential if you are aiming for a school aimed at training primary care docs.

Your current employment is the elephant in the room. If you are already helping people in the community who are in desperate need of your help, why pivot from law to medicine? That will be the big question that admissions committee members will ask themselves when they read your application.

 

[HopefulApplicant667]

Thank you, I greatly appreciate your help!

 

[thefirerisen]

I'm not an attorney and I haven't even played on one TV (although many people have). I have reviewed applications for med admissions from attorneys and interviewed them for admission.

You are going to need what every applicant needs:

• evidence that you can do well (3.8 GPA or higher) in the pre-req courses, most of which are in the natural sciences (post-bac classes, check)
• evidence that you can do well (515 or better) in a high stakes admissions exam (MCAT, check)
• evidence that you know what medicine is all about (a minimum of 50 hours of shadowing in a few different specialties/settings and some employment or volunteer work in a health care setting, ideally in a patient-facing position, you should have at least 4 hours/wk for however long it takes you to do the post-bac).
• evidence that you have a servant's heart and want to help people (you seem to have this covered with your current employment)
• evidence of intellectual curiosity usually demonstrated by engagement in research-- more important if you are hoping to be admitted to a top research institution, less essential if you are aiming for a school aimed at training primary care docs.

Your current employment is the elephant in the room. If you are already helping people in the community who are in desperate need of your help, why pivot from law to medicine? That will be the big question that admissions committee members will ask themselves when they read your application.

I'll add that you can also use your current career to tie into what you want to do in the future. Being an attorney gives you a very unique insight into our society and justice system, and a combo of MD/JD can be powerful. There are medical students that do both med school and law school jointly to get that combination to end up in the legal world for policy writing and advocacy.