LAW STUDENT applying to med school. Please HELP!

[123MedStudent]

I am I currently in my second year of law school and I will graduate next year, at the age of 24. I am in the top 5% of my class. However, I do not want to practice law, because I genuinely hate reading/writing and I derive no satisfaction from the work. (I was young/dumb when I applied and entered law school).

I was a biology major in undergrad, and graduated with a 3.95 gpa. If I take my MCAT right after law school (study for like 4-5 months) and do really well (515+) (I am a good test taker, and I understand science), what are my chances of getting accepted into a medical school without any clinical experience? Also, what are my chances of receiving a merit based scholarship if I do get accepted? Any advice would help, I am currently enduring a lot of stress since I am considering this career change while still in law school.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Tenk]

Probably somewhere around 0% without any clinical experience. Btw, probably 75%+ of my job is reading and writing notes. Grass is always greener.

 

[KnightDoc]

I am I currently in my second year of law school and I will graduate next year, at the age of 24. I am in the top 5% of my class. However, I do not want to practice law, because I genuinely hate reading/writing and I derive no satisfaction from the work. (I was young/dumb when I applied and entered law school).

I was a biology major in undergrad, and graduated with a 3.95 gpa. If I take my MCAT right after law school (study for like 4-5 months) and do really well (515+) (I am a good test taker, and I understand science), what are my chances of getting accepted into a medical school without any clinical experience? Also, what are my chances of receiving a merit based scholarship if I do get accepted? Any advice would help, I am currently enduring a lot of stress since I am considering this career change while still in law school.

None. Admission to med school is a million times more competitive than law school. Spend a few hours reading through these threads, and do some Googling about med school admissions to see what is expected and what you will be up against.

You are going to need a few years to complete the ECs competitive applicants complete before applying, in order to gain experience and to demonstrate the requisite commitment. In fact, given that you were already "young/dumb" once with law school, there is a chance you might need more hours than an ordinary candidate to show you are not making the same mistake again.

It's the price of going from a profession with a perpetual glut to one with a perpetual shortage. Much better job security on the back end, but much tougher path to admission.

 

[123MedStudent]

Probably somewhere around 0% without any clinical experience. Btw, probably 75%+ of my job is reading and writing notes. Grass is always greener.

What exactly is your job?

 

[Tenk]

What exactly is your job?

EM physician.

 

[123MedStudent]

None. Admission to med school is a million times more competitive than law school. Spend a few hours reading through these threads, and do some Googling about med school admissions to see what is expected and what you will be up against.

You are going to need a few years to complete the ECs competitive applicants complete before applying, in order to gain experience and to demonstrate the requisite commitment. In fact, given that you were already "young/dumb" once with law school, there is a chance you might need more hours than an ordinary candidate to show you are not making the same mistake again.

It's the price of going from a profession with a perpetual glut to one with a perpetual shortage. Much better job security on the back end, but much tougher path to admission.

Is a year and a half of shadowing or scribing for 1 day a week enough? Plus being vice president of an eplisepy organization in undergrad and some community service?

 

[123MedStudent]

EM physician.

Curious, if you can, what kind of writing do you do? I am surprised it is 75% of your job.

 

[candbgirl]

Is a year and a half of shadowing or scribing for 1 day a week enough? Plus being vice president of an eplisepy organization in undergrad and some community service?

Here’s the general basic expected experiences.
1) around 50 hours of physician shadowing; a good amount should be with a primary care doc;
2) at least 200 hours of clinical experiences, can be paid or volunteer as long as you have face to face contact with patients; you have to decide if you want to spend the next 35+ years dealing with the sick, injured and dying and be able to convey those thoughts.
3) at least 200 hours of nonclinical volunteering to the unserved/underserved in the community; medicine is a service profession and ADCOMS want to see your altruism.

You are also going to have to prove to ADCOMS that medicine is where you belong. You will have to show how you came to this point, what happened to being a lawyer and prove you aren’t just running away from a bad situation. They will want to be sure that, if accepted, you will not jump ship again.
And FYI, there are very few merit based scholarships.

 

[Moko]

what are my chances of getting accepted into a medical school without any clinical experience?

Without having any clinical experience, how will you convince admissions committees (and more importantly, yourself!) that you want to take care of patients? We have med students drop out from time to time to pursue other careers when they realize that medicine is not for them. We do these students a disservice by accepting them, hence the scrutiny during the application process.

I am currently enduring a lot of stress since I am considering this career change while still in law school.

Before changing careers, it's important to ensure that you're doing it for the right reasons. Is there any facet of law that may appeal to you under the right circumstances? Are you pursuing medicine as a means to escape practicing law while still having a respected career? How are you certain that you won't be similarly unhappy in medicine? Are you aware of and okay with the sacrifices that medicine demands? You need to gain clarity about what is and isn't working for you in law to avoid making another mistake while 'young and dumb'.

Is a year and a half of shadowing or scribing for 1 day a week enough? Plus being vice president of an eplisepy organization in undergrad and some community service?

You won't get into medical school by doing the bare minimums. I recommend starting with some shadowing (when it's allowed again) to gain a realistic idea of what medicine entails (and yes, it involves a lot of notes). If after honest and thorough self-reflection you remain convinced that medicine is right for you, then pursue the clinical and non-clinical experiences needed for a competitive application. It's not just the total hours that matter, but also over what time period.

Curious, if you can, what kind of writing do you do? I am surprised it is 75% of your job.

Physicians write to communicate with other physicians, whether they be consultants, referring physicians, or outpatient providers, etc. Our documentation is also there to satisfy billing and compliance, in addition to CYA. Cynically, most of what I write is for the latter.

 

[gyngyn]

I am surprised it is 75% of your job.

Maybe more.

 

[Goro]

I am I currently in my second year of law school and I will graduate next year, at the age of 24. I am in the top 5% of my class. However, I do not want to practice law, because I genuinely hate reading/writing and I derive no satisfaction from the work. (I was young/dumb when I applied and entered law school).

I was a biology major in undergrad, and graduated with a 3.95 gpa. If I take my MCAT right after law school (study for like 4-5 months) and do really well (515+) (I am a good test taker, and I understand science), what are my chances of getting accepted into a medical school without any clinical experience? Also, what are my chances of receiving a merit based scholarship if I do get accepted? Any advice would help, I am currently enduring a lot of stress since I am considering this career change while still in law school.

I'd reject you before entering the interview room for having no clinical experience.

You need to finish law school because I'd worry about you bailing on med school like you did with law.

Did you not even know what you were getting into with Law? What did you think law school was going to be???

And please, don't even think about scholarships when you don't even have an MCAT score! I can't sugar coat this, tone down the hubris.

 

[Goro]

Is a year and a half of shadowing or scribing for 1 day a week enough? Plus being vice president of an eplisepy organization in undergrad and some community service?

For the clinical exposure, yes. How much is "some community service" and what did it entail. Personally, I like to see people get off campus and out of thier comfort zones.

 

[Tenk]

Curious, if you can, what kind of writing do you do? I am surprised it is 75% of your job.

I chart and I chart and I chart and I chart.

Chart, chart, chart?

Chart, chart, chart!

 

[stopbiting]

I am I currently in my second year of law school and I will graduate next year, at the age of 24. I am in the top 5% of my class. However, I do not want to practice law, because I genuinely hate reading/writing and I derive no satisfaction from the work. (I was young/dumb when I applied and entered law school).

I would also suggest finding a way to connect your experiences with why you would make a unique and valuable medical school candidate. There are many ways in which MD+ J.D.'s may help patients, community hospitals, etc with their experience. Consider providing free legal consultation for an underserved population that you feel strongly connected to. Having a narrative (read: a drive to practice medicine) is very important for being a successful applicant. Think about why you are interested in medicine.

From your post, it seems you are just starting to learn about this process. Those who have already commented on this post are correct, even if they are a bit forward with their advice for you.

Keep your head down and keep collecting information about this field and your potential place in it. It will likely take you more than a single year to reach a place where you will be looked at by medical schools. Get experiences that will inform you as to whether or not this profession is right for you, such as shadowing and clinical volunteering/employment. Very few people chose medicine as a backup because they are unhappy with their current profession. Even fewer succeed. You must truly want this to have a shot at matriculating at a US MD/DO school, much less have a fulfilling career.

Good luck

EDIT:

You're getting ahead of yourself with the merit scholarship talk. Focus your energy on making sure you don't rush into yet another degree program that will disappoint you. Even at the most competitive (and well funded) institutions, less than 20% receive significant merit aid. Almost none of that is given to students with nothing more than high stats. Merit aid is used to recruit strong candidates, and there are more than enough 3.95/515+ students with otherwise mediocre apps (which are still much stronger than your current application) to fill an entire class several times over. The superstars get money, irrespective of their stats.

 

[Goro]

OP, read this:
Med School Rx: Getting In, Getting Through, and Getting On with Doctoring Original Edition by Walter Hartwig
ISBN-13: 978-1607140627

ISBN-10: 1607140624

 

[biobukowski]

I chart and I chart and I chart and I chart.

Chart, chart, chart?

Chart, chart, chart!

OP doesn’t know that even the “EM jocks” with their “scribes” are up to their eyeballs in charts.

First 2 years of med school are the intensity of law school. The next 2 years and at least 3 more as a resident are like the 5 years of being an associate at a law firm, minus the decent salary.

 

[Med Ed]

0/10.

 

[Select All That Apply]

@123MedStudent Law school sucks, especially 2L. However, the practicing attorneys who I've talked to in the past have stated that the courses they took in law school had no bearing on how they practiced. Mind you a lot of their work was either very general practice: tenant-landlord contracts & liquor license practice with the others being litigators who have practiced for at least a decade in NYC. I'm sure specialty, location, and years of practice will give you different degrees of feedback. But the feedback that I have received from the lawyers working in an active legal practice is that law school was basically a trial that needed to be completed before they could find fulfillment in their actual practice.

It's going to be a rat race after you graduate whether you work in a big law practice or for a small private practice firm especially with furloughs and layoffs happening with COVID. It always was a rat race since 2005 due to oversaturation of the law school market by law schools who were fabricating the 9 month out post-graduation employment surveys in order to deceive undergraduates to apply so they could collect on federal funding. I can understand why you feel terrible if you don't have a direct connection to the field who can ensure your employment after you graduate because this market has been terrible to this field as it has always been a kill it, you eat it type of business. This does beg me to ask:

- Why medicine, outside of not law?
- Did you have a bad 1L summer internship?
- Do you have actual legal experience outside of internships/externships?
- Have you considered other fields that would have less opportunity cost for you to pursue?
- Have you considering an internship/externship opportunity with a health care body like the CDC which has PHLP (Public Health Law Program) opportunities for people who might be interested in pursuing law and health?

 

[gnimoyw]

As a lawyer 10 years into practice who is considering changing course and applying to medical school, you've received a lot of good advice above. Wait until you get out and practice before you decide on this path - even if you move forward, you'll at least be able to tell a better "why" story and have competency about what you're moving away from.

 

[bceagle411]

Honestly I think you should wait a bit, but you can certainly look up MD/JD docs out there and try to get in touch to discuss how they ended up in medicine.

 

[DNAJB6]

I am I currently in my second year of law school and I will graduate next year, at the age of 24. I am in the top 5% of my class. However, I do not want to practice law, because I genuinely hate reading/writing and I derive no satisfaction from the work. (I was young/dumb when I applied and entered law school).

I was a biology major in undergrad, and graduated with a 3.95 gpa. If I take my MCAT right after law school (study for like 4-5 months) and do really well (515+) (I am a good test taker, and I understand science), what are my chances of getting accepted into a medical school without any clinical experience? Also, what are my chances of receiving a merit based scholarship if I do get accepted? Any advice would help, I am currently enduring a lot of stress since I am considering this career change while still in law school.

There are several red flags. Zero clinical experience is pretty much a universal rejection for all candidates. Changing careers because of stress is also a red flag. If you can't hack law school, you are going to be miserable in medical school and residency. As it stands, you will come off as a degree collector or someone naive who doesn't know what he (or she) is getting into. If you wasted a spot in law school because you didn't adequately think your career options out, why would admission committees not think that you will flake out of medical school? There are career changers from law to medicine, but successful individuals are able to show compelling reasons why they want to switch into medicine. For you, your answer comes off as you wanting a high paying job or that you cannot handle stress. Both of these perceptions will hurt you. If you present in your application like you do here, you will probably have zero acceptances.

 

[DNAJB6]

P.S. Law school does get better. The old saying is in 1L they scare you to death, 2L they work you to death, and in 3L they bore you to death. If you can survive 2L, things will improve as long as you're not gunning for a top clerkship or big law. If that's where you're headed, then be prepared to be worked to death.

Physicians are worked to death during residency (3-5 years) + fellowship (1-3 years if applicable) not to mention 4 years of medical school. Medical school residency was/is so intense that duty hour limits were developed and are now 80 hrs/week in residency. If you cannot handle a year of law school, can you handle 80 hrs. a week for several years?

 

[stickgirl390]

If you really do enjoy working in healthcare and taking care of patients, and aren’t just in it for the title, you should also consider the PA route. Though, you’ll still need a lot of clinical experience.