Medicine or law - more intellectually stimulating?

[vmc303]

Simple question: which field is likely to be more intellectually stimulating from a practitioner's standpoint? I did philosophy as an undergrad, and I know both fields can be fascinating. But I have no idea which is more interesting on a day to day basis for someone who's practicing, and not purely an academic. Obviously both present challenges and require smarts, but for the intellectually curious, which is likely to offer the most satisfaction?

I know the answers I'll get here will be biased, but I asked the same question on a law board, and I'm interested in hearing people's responses.

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[heeter]

"depends" is always going to be the answer. I know that law can be a serious grind. I know several practicing lawyers and the ones who are good at it are real workaholics who don't mind plugging away reading documents and writing for 12 hours a day. There is alot of burnout because there is alot of boring-assed work that lawyers have to endure. That being said, my impression is that medicine has more opportunities to make your own way and focus on the things you want to focus on. It's still a grind for sure, at least in residency. I'm biased b/c I know several tired and bored new lawyers and all the residents I know are tired and overworked but not bored. Anyone else?

 

[vmc303]

"depends" is always going to be the answer. I know that law can be a serious grind. I know several practicing lawyers and the ones who are good at it are real workaholics who don't mind plugging away reading documents and writing for 12 hours a day. There is alot of burnout because there is alot of boring-assed work that lawyers have to endure. That being said, my impression is that medicine has more opportunities to make your own way and focus on the things you want to focus on. It's still a grind for sure, at least in residency. I'm biased b/c I know several tired and bored new lawyers and all the residents I know are tired and overworked but not bored. Anyone else?

That seems like a good comparison. If I'm going to be working hard either way, I'd at least like to be doing interesting work. Most doctors, it seems, regularly keep up with journals and continue to learn new things throughout their careers. I'm not sure how many law partners spend time reading journals, but probably not as many. That right there tells me that the practice of medicine is probably more closely allied with the academic, theoretical side than is the practice of law. But I realize neither one is going to be like sitting in a philosophy seminar.

 

[delchrys]

jesus christ, i wrote a 50 jillion page reply and my computer puked on me.

well, that's good for you, since i'm too long-winded for most people's tastes.

i'm graduating from law school this year, and i plan on attending med school OR getting an MPH (not sure which, it will depend on our plans to have kids and when that will fit into my woman's surgical residency...lol).

i can say that law school is MUCH easier than med school unless english is your 5th language. i do almost no work and am well above the mean, president of the student government, staff member of the school's law review (legal journal), and i can breathe fire (okay, last one is a lie). i work in a med mal defense firm, and the work is not that intellectually stimulating. sure, i have to research odd points of law and write arguments proving my point, but judges really hate to read (no lie) and thus most of my efforts are in vain. litigation can be fun, especially if you're a type A personality, but everything in the field is already seeming a little boring; i can't imagine 10 years down the road. plus, in my field, i am constantly dealing with patients who are like shady vultures, hoping to make it big off some minor error, and/or doctors who should have their licenses revoked like last century.

what did i learn this week? that nurses should not, under any circumstances, put freakin TAPE over a patient's stage IV decub in an attempt to stop them from "messing up the sheets." bad.

it just kind of beats you down to work with both sides of the slime pool--crappy docs and greedy patients who suddenly "care" about their dead 100 year-old father who they previously let rot (literally) in the nursing home from hell with a busted hip, decubitis, and horrible malnutrition. people say everything has a price, but not me, dammit. soon as i get my debts paid off (5 years, tops) i am going to med school or MPH-land so i can actually ENJOY my job.

arg.

email me or post here if you have any law-school-type questions.
[email protected].

take it easy,

jason

 

[MD Rapper]

interesting

 

[neoncandle]

Do law.. I don't want to go to medical school with anyone considering being a lawyer. Yeah, there are lots of idiots in law school and medical school, but it is much harder to get into medical school, but once you are in only death will keep you from graduating.

 

[heeter]

another data point re law school --

my old roomie is a hella smart guy, scored mid 170s on the lsat, got into UTexas law, a freakin great school. he is in the top 10% of his class, smokes weed every day, and is still a lazy ass. this semester he is in london where he goes to class, no kidding, twice a week MAYBE. Law school is easy if you got some brains.

 

[Fermata]

A PhD would be more "intellectually stimulating" if that's what you want.

 

[vmc303]

Do law.. I don't want to go to medical school with anyone considering being a lawyer. Yeah, there are lots of idiots in law school and medical school, but it is much harder to get into medical school, but once you are in only death will keep you from graduating.

Um, why? Medicine and law are both challenging careers that attract smart, ambitious people. I guarantee you that some of your classmates will have considered law at some point. That doesn't mean they won't make good doctors though.

 

[vmc303]

A PhD would be more "intellectually stimulating" if that's what you want.

This wasn't one of the options though. A life spent doing nothing but reading great books or studying chess would provide plenty of intellectual stimulation, but it wouldn't pay the bills, and it's not one I'd want to have. Let me rephrase: I'm either going to become a doctor or a lawyer. Of the two, which one is *more* intellectually engaging?

 

[45408]

Do law.. I don't want to go to medical school with anyone considering being a lawyer. Yeah, there are lots of idiots in law school and medical school, but it is much harder to get into medical school, but once you are in only death will keep you from graduating.

what's your problem? some people go the MD/JD route (and make mad cash, I understand)

 

[WatchingWaiting]

Simple question: which field is likely to be more intellectually stimulating from a practitioner's standpoint? I did philosophy as an undergrad, and I know both fields can be fascinating. But I have no idea which is more interesting on a day to day basis for someone who's practicing, and not purely an academic. Obviously both present challenges and require smarts, but for the intellectually curious, which is likely to offer the most satisfaction?

I know the answers I'll get here will be biased, but I asked the same question on a law board, and I'm interested in hearing people's responses.

I think given your constraint of, "I want to make money and be intellectually stimulated," medicine is probably your best bet. Corporate law is NOT in any way, shape, or form intellectually stimulating. Constitutional law, being a law professor, the more abstract areas are potentially quite intellectually stimulating, but all are paid very crappily. The law fields that make good bank all tend to have a very large element of generating paperwork-- patent law, corporate law-- or a skillset that is much more verbal slickness (ala John Edwards), rather than intellectual rigidity or challenge-- litigator, being a rain-maker, partner.

There are many fields in medicine that allow good intellectual challenge as well as personal/moral gratification, and good pay.

 

[lowbudget]

Oh God, Medicine HANDS DOWN.

Law school is more stimulating than Med School, but being a doctor is definitely more stimulating than being a lawyer. The human body and the social environment and all the unknowns, with all the science and technology and research and development? Or memorizing rules and codes and user manuals and writing documents. Zzzz to the latter.

 

[vtucci]

I practiced law for 3 years before switching to pre-med.

Without a doubt, I would say medicine is more interesting to me. I know very few lawyers who enjoy their jobs. I worked 18 hour days as a junior attorney in Intellectual Property- one of the cutting edge fields- and hated it. I had 22 different files on my desk and I was still bored to tears. With the notable exception of family law, much of law is impersonal and done via letters/memos (to cover your ass with the client). Conferences are unusual and most of my work got done by e-mail. Entire days could pass when the only person I saw was my assistant.

If you are really interested in both, go the MD/JD route.