Hey all...Just curious, anybody here have a difficult time deciding on medical school vs. law school? I could really use someone to talk to about this very issue - as I am stressed as a can be about it.
Med School vs. Anything Else
- Thread starter miami2017
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Med school and law school seem very different to me.
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google loyola2l
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You mean you can't decide between being a physician or a lawyer right? The school is just an avenue to get theyre.
Yeah I think they are vastly different as well. Supposedly they are both centered around service to the people. But that is about as far as I can see similarities. I think they are both respectable professions just different. You can obviously find a bunch of reasons why being a physician is great, but check out medschoolhell.com if you want a different view point on med school. Good Luck.
Yeah I think they are vastly different as well. Supposedly they are both centered around service to the people. But that is about as far as I can see similarities. I think they are both respectable professions just different. You can obviously find a bunch of reasons why being a physician is great, but check out medschoolhell.com if you want a different view point on med school. Good Luck.
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I thought about it. My father is an attorney, and it is very interesting. Medicine just seemed more interesting on a day-to-day basis to me.
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these are two very different avenues of training leading to very distinct careers. what do you want to do with your life?
the fact that you are STRESSED about this leads me to believe that there are external forces pressuring you into one of these careers (parents? peers?). again, what do YOU want to do with your life?
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Often times the people deciding between Law School and Medical School are the people who have already crossed "Astronaut" and "Racecar Driver" off their list.
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A minority of lawyers sue doctors. The vast majority of lawyers are involved in commercial or corporate work. Medical malpractice is actually but a very small slice of the litigation field, which itself is a minority of the profession. You hear about it more because it tends to make the news more, but it's simply a vocal minority. Similarly, a majority of doctors outside of the surgical fields don't "save" or "cure" patients, they simply help patients with ongoing lifelong problems (hypertension, diabetes, etc). You will have very good days as a physician but they are going to be dwarfed by the routine, not saving anybody, kind of days. In both fields you are going to be "helping people" with problems they are unable to solve on their own. Both can be lucrative and enjoyable to the right people and horrible careers for the wrong people.
Having come from law to medicine I have to say that there isn't enough similarity with the jobs that it should be hard to pick one. Sounds a bit like you want to be a professional first, and the actual job second, which is a dangerous way to choose a career (and as a prior poster suggested, usually comes from someone pressured by family to become something "prestigious" rather than do what they enjoy). The best course of action is to find a way to shadow each and see what they actually do. Get a job working as a law clerk/paralegal at a law firm, and spend some time volunteering at the local ED. You might find that neither of these fields involve what you think they do.
If at the end you truly can't decide, then do law -- it is much easier to do other things or switch out of that field than from medicine. The debt load is lower, the number of years is shorter, and there is less training involved before you can actually find a job and pay off your debt. Many people make the jump from law to medicine. The reverse route is far less populated for the simple reason that after 4 years of med school and 3-7 years of residency, nobody has the stomach for more school/training.
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Hi miami2017,
What concerns me is your title "Med. School vs. Anything Else." That seems to me a clear indication that you haven't properly thought through the decision to become a doctor. Spend some time volunteering in hospitals and make sure that you want to be in a health profession for the rest of your life. I had a similar decision to face regarding applying to medical school vs. applying to graduate school. I knew that I wanted to be a medical software engineer because I had written several programs for different research laboratories. However, I never had the chance to see the clinical benefits of such programs until I volunteered in a hospital. It is a fantastic feeling when you see a patient benefiting from your efforts. Hence, I'm still deciding between MD or MD/PhD, but I definitely want to pursue an MD regardless.
What concerns me is your title "Med. School vs. Anything Else." That seems to me a clear indication that you haven't properly thought through the decision to become a doctor. Spend some time volunteering in hospitals and make sure that you want to be in a health profession for the rest of your life. I had a similar decision to face regarding applying to medical school vs. applying to graduate school. I knew that I wanted to be a medical software engineer because I had written several programs for different research laboratories. However, I never had the chance to see the clinical benefits of such programs until I volunteered in a hospital. It is a fantastic feeling when you see a patient benefiting from your efforts. Hence, I'm still deciding between MD or MD/PhD, but I definitely want to pursue an MD regardless.
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You should go to medicine if nothing else would make you happy. The training is a pain in the ass that will consume many years of your life.
Medicine and Law are very philosophically different fields. There's only the fact that they're highly regarded professions linking them. Given that you haven't decided on one versus the other, you definitely need more exposure to medicine, and law, before you can commit to either route.
Medicine and Law are very philosophically different fields. There's only the fact that they're highly regarded professions linking them. Given that you haven't decided on one versus the other, you definitely need more exposure to medicine, and law, before you can commit to either route.
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please leave medicine to the fanatics...
I am thinking that the OP might be a high school student based on his/her name...hoping to graduate from college in 2017?
Even if you are in college, just get exposure to both fields by volunteering/shadowing in both. You can volunteer for legal aid, and you can volunteer at a local hospital. I also suggest doing at least one day of shadowing in completely the opposite environment (i.e. rather than altruistic, giving, public-service like legal aid and volunteer hospital service, go shadow a high-paid lawyer and/or a highly regarded research physician if possible) so you see the entire spectrum.
I think dr's tend to be kind of disparaging of lawyers, but each path has its own finely tuned suffering...I certainly couldn't spend as many hours doing the kind of work my recently graduated lawyer friends do...I'd fall asleep. They think of med school and residency like their own personal hell. It should become clear, which, if either, is appropriate for you.
And there are sooo many other paths out there. I think the title of your thread indicates that you don't really know what those are yet.
Even if you are in college, just get exposure to both fields by volunteering/shadowing in both. You can volunteer for legal aid, and you can volunteer at a local hospital. I also suggest doing at least one day of shadowing in completely the opposite environment (i.e. rather than altruistic, giving, public-service like legal aid and volunteer hospital service, go shadow a high-paid lawyer and/or a highly regarded research physician if possible) so you see the entire spectrum.
I think dr's tend to be kind of disparaging of lawyers, but each path has its own finely tuned suffering...I certainly couldn't spend as many hours doing the kind of work my recently graduated lawyer friends do...I'd fall asleep. They think of med school and residency like their own personal hell. It should become clear, which, if either, is appropriate for you.
And there are sooo many other paths out there. I think the title of your thread indicates that you don't really know what those are yet.
