Miserable Law School Student Needs Advice!

[marla]

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I'm currently a 1L in Law School and I absolutely hate it. I hate the people, the professors (professors in law school are the LAZIEST piece of ****, EVER), and the fact that the majority (98%) of the students are only motivated about getting good grades so they can make tons of money (that is literally their goal!? wtf). I guess I can't blame the students considering reputable firms will not even give someone an opportunity to interview unless they are in the top 15% of their class. It does not matter if you were the Deputy Minister of France, and recently e-mailed secretary of defense, Gates, and told him how to win the war in Afghanistan, while simultaneously invented the cure for AIDS, if your academic ranking is low, none of that **** is important!

Moving Forward, I seriously want to drop out of law school- I'm not motivated at all and dread doing work that I could care less about. I've always been interested in medical school, but I was dissuaded by my peers who convinced me that the sciences was way too hard to complete and I would ruin my chances of obtaining a good GPA (I am a first generation college student- so looking back I took advice from the wrong people- but when you didn't have anyone to help you- I guess any advice was good?).
I did some volunteering at a hospital in high school (I know- not impressive), 7 out of 9 aunts are nurses, I recently visited Haiti, (I'm Haitian and I lived there for 5 years) and witnessing all the devastating injuries and the doctors who were running around, trying to help as many people as possible, is really what confirmed that medicine is what I want to do for the rest of my life. As a volunteer, I enjoyed my interaction with the sick while helping medical professionals tend to their injuries.

If I decide to quit law school, I plan on doing some major shadowing!
I am thinking about a formal premed post bac programs and I have a couple of questions.

1) How hard is it for a non- science major (I honestly do not even remember what my core science classes were about) to do well (3.7 or above) in a Premed post bac program?

2) Taking standardized test has never been my strong suit. I barely broke 1000 on the SATS and did surprisingly okay on the LSATS (however, I didn't prepare at all, and English is my second language), so how hard would it be for me to do well on the MCATS (31 or above), if I study my a** off.

3) What is the culture of medical school? The culture at law school is COMPETITIVE (If you get good grades everyone hates, if you get bad grades your labeled a dummy)- I mean you compete for everything, Things that are not even of interest to you are competitive, not because they are of interest to anyone else, but because everyone, like yourself has reserved that thing, that is of no interest to no one, as their back up plan. Getting into law school is so easy- but doing well and getting a job is so hard. This is the life of a successful law school student who gets a GOOD job
1L- at the end of their first year they are in the top 10% of their class, compete and make law review (very competitive)- land a killer internship at a big firm so they can impress future employers or get an invitation to come back next summer (This is super hard to get- I applied for an internship and the coordinator told me, they received 5,000 applications for 17 spots).
2L- be in the top 10-15% of your class while managing law review, get an externship for credit, and also get an internship for the summer (hopefully the firm invites you to come back- and congratulations you have a job waiting for you when you graduate).
3L- if you have a job already waiting for you (just show up to class and don't **** up things too bad. If you do not have a job yet, be very scared!
And after you graduate you take the bar exam.
I hate this culture, because no really cares about "the whys" of things.

4) How hard is it to do well in medical school? In law school , the majority of your grades are based on 1 exam you have at the end of each course. It's a random fact pattern that you have never seen before, and you are graded on how well you apply your knowledge to the facts. Everyone knows their stuff going into the exam-its not about the law- but who can make the best and most creative arguments. It's about spotting issues and cleverly solving them in a very organized fashion. Tests are usually 3hrs long and the curve is crazy. My section consists of 84 students. In one course there was one A+, 4 A'S, 13 A-, 25 B+, and so on… You only have 1 chance to do well in each class.

5) Are non- science majors at a disadvantage going into medical school and competing with students who were bio/chem/physics majors? For law school your undergrad major is irrelevant, you can major in dance and do great. I do think English majors have a little advantage considering your exams entail writing for 3hrs.

6) What are some good medical internships/volunteering/work experience that I should look into?

7) Should I just finish law school, since I'm on a full ride?

Thank you for reading my very long post. My stats are:
3.8 high school GPA
3.76 UGPA (I majored in pre-law studies, double minor in business administration and international studies at a private University in NY).
Top 30% in law school. I'm on a full ride, and I am not disgruntled that I may not get a job b/c I've network tremendously throughout undergrad so I already have offers from diff places. I just hate law school and my future colleagues!
Very low SAT test score
One way to describe myself is a hard worker- I do not mind putting in the hours
I also apologize for the massive spelling errors- I'm typing all this on my BB.

 

[Law2Doc]

I'm currently a 1L in Law School and I absolutely hate it. I hate the people, the professors (professors in law school are the LAZIEST piece of ****, EVER), and the fact that the majority (98%) of the students are only motivated about getting good grades so they can make tons of money (that is literally their goal!? wtf). I guess I can't blame the students considering reputable firms will not even give someone an opportunity to interview unless they are in the top 15% of their class. It does not matter if you were the Deputy Minister of France, and recently e-mailed secretary of defense, Gates, and told him how to win the war in Afghanistan, while simultaneously invented the cure for AIDS, if your academic ranking is low, none of that **** is important!

Moving Forward, I seriously want to drop out of law school- I’m not motivated at all and dread doing work that I could care less about. I’ve always been interested in medical school, but I was dissuaded by my peers who convinced me that the sciences was way too hard to complete and I would ruin my chances of obtaining a good GPA (I am a first generation college student- so looking back I took advice from the wrong people- but when you didn’t have anyone to help you- I guess any advice was good?).
I did some volunteering at a hospital in high school (I know- not impressive), 7 out of 9 aunts are nurses, I recently visited Haiti, (I’m Haitian and I lived there for 5 years) and witnessing all the devastating injuries and the doctors who were running around, trying to help as many people as possible, is really what confirmed that medicine is what I want to do for the rest of my life. As a volunteer, I enjoyed my interaction with the sick while helping medical professionals tend to their injuries.

If I decide to quit law school, I plan on doing some major shadowing!
I am thinking about a formal premed post bac programs and I have a couple of questions.

1) How hard is it for a non- science major (I honestly do not even remember what my core science classes were about) to do well (3.7 or above) in a post bac program?

2) Taking standardized test has never been my strong suit. I barely broke 1000 on the SATS and did surprisingly okay on the LSATS (however, I didn’t prepare at all, and English is my second language), so how hard would it be for me to do well on the MCATS (31 or above), if I study my a** off.

3) What is the culture of medical school? The culture at law school is COMPETITIVE (If you get good grades everyone hates, if you get bad grades your labeled a dummy)- I mean you compete for everything, Things that are not even of interest to you are competitive, not because they are of interest to anyone else, but because everyone, like yourself has reserved that thing, that is of no interest to no one, as their back up plan. Getting into law school is so easy- but doing well and getting a job is so hard. This is the life of a successful law school student who gets a GOOD job
1L- at the end of their first year they are in the top 10% of their class, compete and make law review (very competitive)- land a killer internship at a big firm so they can impress future employers or get an invitation to come back next summer (This is super hard to get- I applied for an internship and the coordinator told me, they received 5,000 applications for 17 spots).
2L- be in the top 10-15% of your class while managing law review, get an externship for credit, and also get an internship for the summer (hopefully the firm invites you to come back- and congratulations you have a job waiting for you when you graduate).
3L- if you have a job already waiting for you (just show up to class and don’t **** up things too bad. If you do not have a job yet, be very scared!
And after you graduate you take the bar exam.
I hate this culture, because no really cares about “the whys” of things.

4) How hard is it to do well in medical school? In law school , the majority of your grades are based on 1 exam you have at the end of each course. It’s a random fact pattern that you have never seen before, and you are graded on how well you apply your knowledge to the facts. Everyone knows their stuff going into the exam-its not about the law- but who can make the best and most creative arguments. It’s about spotting issues and cleverly solving them in a very organized fashion. Tests are usually 3hrs long and the curve is crazy. My section consists of 84 students. In one course there was one A+, 4 A’S, 13 A-, 25 B+, and so on… You only have 1 chance to do well in each class.

5) Are non- science majors at a disadvantage going into medical school and competing with students who were bio/chem/physics majors? For law school your undergrad major is irrelevant, you can major in dance and do great. I do think English majors have a little advantage considering your exams entail writing for 3hrs.

6) What are some good medical internships/volunteering/work experience that I should look into?

7) Should I just finish law school, since I’m on a full ride?

Thank you for reading my very long post. My stats are:
3.8 high school GPA
3.76 UGPA (I majored in pre-law studies, double minor in business administration and international studies at a private University in NY).
Top 30% in law school. I’m on a full ride, and I am not disgruntled that I may not get a job b/c I’ve network tremendously throughout undergrad so I already have offers from diff places. I just hate law school and my future colleagues!
Very low SAT test score
One way to describe myself is a hard worker- I do not mind putting in the hours
I also apologize for the massive spelling errors- I’m typing all this on my BB.

First, you have to revamp your thinking on law school even if you choose to leave it. No med school will take you saying you "hated law school". Nobody wants someone who is running away from something, or seems interested in med school because a big law firm job didn't pan out. You have to paint a picture that you really enjoyed law school, gained numerous valuable transferable skills and insights, but now feel your interests really lie on the medicine side for X,Y and Z reasons, which your law background will help you with immeasurably. That is what the med school adcoms need to hear, or you are a non-starter. Otherwise it comes off that you only are looking to med school because law school didn't work out and you have some kind of half baked interest in being a professional more than being a doctor. May not be true, but that's how it sounds. Dropping out of law school would be a mistake, because most med schools feel that the best indicator of how someone will fair in a professional program is whether they made it through a previous professional program. That you quit in law school will make them concerned that you will also quit in med school when you realize you can't be a dermatologist or decide it's not really what they want to do. And while law school doesn't really care, med schools have a mission to satisfy a national or local healthcare need, and so they don't give out seats lightly unless they think you are going to finish and use the degree.

So yes, you absolutely should finish law school. Then you should spend a good amount of time volunteering/shadowing so that you have a very good sense of what medicine is all about and can show that you really looked before you leaped, this time.

You will find that while being a non-sci major isn't a disadvantage in med school (the prereqs are totally adequate and many nontrad nonsci folks end up in the top half of the class), being a poor standardized test taker is a huge problem, probably a deal killer. Med school (and thereafter) is very standardized test dependent. You will take the MCAT to get in, take the shelf exams in many courses, will have to take step 1-3 of the boards, will take standardized specialty exams, in service exams, and the like throughout your medical career. Even the non-shelf exam tests are multiple choice standardized-test like exams during med school. You will likely find med school more challenging than law school (I sure did), because the opportunity for BSing your way through an essay question doesn't exist the way it does on some law school exams.

Additionally, med school is not the place to go to avoid competition. There will be overt competitors (ie gunners), and there will be folks who aren't as unscrupulous but still have their eye on some of the more competitive specialties. There are many fields which require folks to have top notch grades and test scores, and so there will be people shooting for those things. Any system where they give Honors, and elect people to AOA and have specialties which require higher stats than the average to get matched breeds competition. You probably will see as much, if not more than law school because the admission stats to most med schools are higher than law schools so even the most questionable admission probably had better grades than the average law school matriculant. Smarter people with higher goals means people are going to try to leave everyone else in the dust. While you are almost assured to end up with "a" job at the end of a US med school, you aren't assured to get into the specialty you want. Some people fall short of their dreams in med school and end up cursing the competition or whining on SDN about their less than dream residency. Read some of the old posts by Panda Bear on SDN (a nontrad who, I believe, switched from FP to EM after a lengthy dissatisfied blog and numerous posts which sound about medicine similar to your sentiments on lawschool -- the grass is sometimes greener).

At any rate the first step is to research medicine by shadowing and volunteering to see if you even like it. Finish law school while you do this. And then see where you are. Hope this helps, even if it's a bit of tough love.

 

[DitchDoc73]

Here's my 2 cents on the questions you posed:

1.) How hard is it for a non- science major (I honestly do not even remember what my core science classes were about) to do well (3.7 or above) in a post bac program? This is a non-issue for med school admissions. As long as you have the core pre-reqs completed, very little attention is paid to what your undergrad degree was in.

2) Taking standardized test has never been my strong suit. I barely broke 1000 on the SATS and did surprisingly okay on the LSATS (however, I didn’t prepare at all, and English is my second language), so how hard would it be for me to do well on the MCATS (31 or above), if I study my a** off. This could be a very big problem for you. The MCAT is mostly reading comprehension based, with the application of some underlying scientific concepts that you learned in your pre-reqs. In the medical field you will be taking standardized exams for the rest of your career (just as Law2Doc pointed out).

3) What is the culture of medical school? The culture of medical school will be very competitive as well. But you are almost guaranteed a job as long as you complete and pass all of the boards (it just may not be in the specialty that you wanted).

4) How hard is it to do well in medical school? I will pass on this one, as I could only give you second-hand info from other friends that I know.

5) Are non- science majors at a disadvantage going into medical school and competing with students who were bio/chem/physics majors? Once again take this answer with a grain of salt (since I am not currently a med student), but from what I have been told there is a little advantage for science majors. This advantage is usually limited to the fact that they have seen some of the material before in undergrad.

6) What are some good medical internships/volunteering/work experience that I should look into? Volunteer at a hospital, shadow a physician, etc...

7) Should I just finish law school, since I’m on a full ride? If I were in your shoes, I would have to finish law school. Leaving now may be more detrimental to your med school chances than you may think.

Thank you for reading my very long post. My stats are:
3.8 high school GPA (<- Doesn't matter anymore, and will not be looked at by 99.9% of adcoms)
3.76 UGPA (<- Competitive undergrad GPA, just need to complete the required science pre-reqs with a good sciGPA)
Very low SAT test score (<- Doesn't matter anymore, they will want to see how you perform on the MCATs)

I wish you the best of luck with your future choice!

 

[marla]

Thank you DitchDoc 73 and Law2Doc for your tough luv, lol.

I just want to let everyone know that I am not leaving law school because it is "too competitive" or because "I can't handle the competition." Or because I won't get a BigLaw job (I don't want BigLaw- I only mentioned it because that is what everyone else wants). I hate law school because people seriously do not care about anything but getting an A on the final. It's kind of like an atmosphere where everyone in medical school do not care about helping future patients, or why the correct answer is the right one, they all just focus on the exam and then their mission is to get an A on the exam. That's it. They don't care if they learned the material, they do not want to talk about anything that is not on the exam, they hate kids who focus or ask questions that we will not be tested on. Can you imagine talking to people who just want to get a good grade on an exam and THAT IS ABSOLUTELY IT. THEY ARE NOT CONCERNED WITH LEARNING. I honestly can't explain it.

And like I said I am not concerned about not a getting a good job- that will not be an issue for me.

In regards to my standardized test taking skills, big question mark. I never studied for a standardized test so I don't know if that is the main reason why I do not do well. Medical school exams and the mcats are more knowledge based so I'm feeling more confident in that regards. If I study - I don't see why I wouldn't do well.

 

[Catalystik]

Additional comments: Some med schools grade P/F and some give traditional grades, with the former environment being much less competitive. As long as you pass, you will be a physician. You might not be in the most competitive specialty without high Step scores and a few Honors in your clinical rotations, but you have about a 95% chance of becoming a practicing physician and making a decent salary someday. Once you are accepted, med schools work with you to get you through. Some even decompress the first year into two when you have little science background, to help ensure your success.

 

[kia ora]

Can you imagine talking to people who just want to get a good grade on an exam and THAT IS ABSOLUTELY IT. THEY ARE NOT CONCERNED WITH LEARNING. I honestly can't explain it.

you're going to hate taking prereq classes with a bunch of premed undergraduates, then

 

[Mister T]

I'm currently a 1L in Law School and I absolutely hate it. I hate the people, the professors (professors in law school are the LAZIEST piece of ****, EVER), and the fact that the majority (98%) of the students are only motivated about getting good grades so they can make tons of money (that is literally their goal!? wtf). I guess I can't blame the students considering reputable firms will not even give someone an opportunity to interview unless they are in the top 15% of their class. It does not matter if you were the Deputy Minister of France, and recently e-mailed secretary of defense, Gates, and told him how to win the war in Afghanistan, while simultaneously invented the cure for AIDS, if your academic ranking is low, none of that **** is important!

Um ---- that's the same in medicine too.

Medicine will give you job security, a high pay and respect in the eyes of the public when you're all done with the training. That's why it's so competitive.

http://www.medschoolhell.com/2005/12/28/all-about-the-benjamins/

In any case, if you're not motivated with law school, you're not going to be motivated with medical school either. It's detail oriented like law school and is really drab work but you get paid a hell of a lot better and get treated a lot better when you're all done with it, which is why sticking through medical school makes so much more sense.

but I was dissuaded by my peers who convinced me that the sciences was way too hard to complete and I would ruin my chances of obtaining a good GPA (I am a first generation college student- so looking back I took advice from the wrong people- but when you didn't have anyone to help you- I guess any advice was good?).

I feel your pain. I like to think of it as a big reason why the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The rich aren't exactly any smarter than the poor. They're just better informed. But in any case, if you're not in the "in" crowd like doctor's kids who have all the connections for getting shadowing experiences, and all the advice from their parents who have been through the grinder, and what to do and what not to do, you get screwed.

Take me for instance. I was brainwashed by my family, friends, high school, and society to go to the "best" school. After all, going to a podunk community college and saving money for two years and transferring to a cheap 4 year university afterwards would have yielded the easiest way to make 4.0s. SHOULD'VE REALIZED THAT BACK THEN HUH?

Wise man says, a genius in a room of geniuses is average.
An average person in a room of idiots is a genius.
A genius in a room of idiots is an Einstein.

(I'm Haitian and I lived there for 5 years)

Oh... ok. Don't worry, you'll get into a lot of MD schools because you're Haitian and black. Guaranteed.

My Haitian friend ended up getting 6 different acceptances to MD schools with 2.8 in biology, "studied" for two days and got a 24 on the MCAT, gave some sob story to the admission committee and got in wherever he applied.

This reminds me that I hate being "yellow" and "squinty eyed"

 

[marla]

hey guys can you just answer my questions like ditchdoc73 and law2doc - if your too busy to read and respond to my long post just move on! Thank you

 

[futureboy]

hey guys can you just answer my questions like ditchdoc73 and law2doc - if your too busy to read and respond to my long post just move on! Thank you

Sorry, you don't get to dictate the responses just because you started the thread. Frankly, it sounds like you have a bit of an attitude.

As for your questions, Law2doc speaks the truth. He generally gives excellent advice.

By the way, top 30% in your class is nothing to sneeze at, even if you won't get a biglaw job. You could still get a decent/good job. You may want to consider taking the bar and practicing law for a few years while taking the prereqs and shadowing, if you can. I've been a practicing attorney for quite a while, and I can tell you that the practicing law is quite different than going to law school. By practicing, you can make some money while finding out whether or not law really isn't for you. Also, you'll have a backup plan (a law license and some actual work experience) if you don't get in to med school. Additionally, by representing clients and communicating with other attorneys, you will develop skills that will transfer well to medicine.

For what it's worth, I also hated that in law school the final exam is your entire course grade. The only difference between an A and a B was that the A student gets lots of extra points for raising and arguing obscure/unrelated/ stupid issues that no real lawyer in his/her right mind would actually argue in court. I spotted the major and even minor issues well and argued them well, but that usually was only a "B."
Also, I agree with you that the top 10-15% of the class is treated as the "golden children," and the rest of us were basicially garbage, and I went to a pretty good (top 35) school. That is why was particularly satisfying when I kicked the biglaw lawyers' asses at trial, or got a $1,000,000 settlement from one of their clients (which I did once. No, it wasn't a med malpractice case. It was a commercial litigation case).

Ok, rant over. Good luck with your future endeavors and decisions!

 

[njbmd]

I'm currently a 1L in Law School and I absolutely hate it. I hate the people, the professors (professors in law school are the LAZIEST piece of ****, EVER), and the fact that the majority (98%) of the students are only motivated about getting good grades so they can make tons of money (that is literally their goal!? wtf). I guess I can't blame the students considering reputable firms will not even give someone an opportunity to interview unless they are in the top 15% of their class. It does not matter if you were the Deputy Minister of France, and recently e-mailed secretary of defense, Gates, and told him how to win the war in Afghanistan, while simultaneously invented the cure for AIDS, if your academic ranking is low, none of that **** is important!

The grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence. You will find the same things in medicine and the same motivations in medicine.

 

[gman33]

A big thing to think about is not whether you will like law school or med school. They are both only a short part of a long career.

If you would rather be a doc than a lawyer, make the switch. Although if you drop out of law school, it will be a big red flag.

 

[sindadel]

I wouldn't stay in law school if you hate it that much - you're only in your first year after all. If you don't have a pattern throughout your life of starting and stopping things, I don't think it will be that bad. Start volunteering now, and try to get some shadowing in to find out if you really like the idea of medicine. Take a leave of absence from law school next year and do your pre-reqs, formal post bacc is fine, but spendy - you may want to create your own informal one. If you find yourself enjoying the material, looking forward to learning more about medicine etc., withdraw from your law school and apply. Since you have a weakness with standardized tests, I would consider taking a formal exam prep course.

Take the MCAT in May and apply early and broadly - June.

Pay attention to creating your story of transformation. I think the Haitian connection could be a compelling story. A tragedy on such a scale is plausibly life-changing. I'm sure you won't be the only applicant to use it, but that doesn't mean it can't be convincing.

 

[sumstorm]

At any rate the first step is to research medicine by shadowing and volunteering to see if you even like it. Finish law school while you do this. And then see where you are. Hope this helps, even if it's a bit of tough love.

Very true. Listening, or even shadowing relatives in nursing or medicine, and volunteering in Haiti will not give you a realistic perspective of med. I love working in disasters (CNA) but turned down med school acceptance because the day to day stuff wasn't for me. Every field has obstacles, drudge, monotony, etc. You need to know if you can hack those, not just the good moments of rescue or the idealism or novelty.

Dropping the drama and attitude would help the OP alot.... otherwise it comes across as arbitrary, random, and indecisive. Know what you are getting into, don't make the same mistake twice of jumping into a field without due consideration.

 

[riverjib]

If you have always been interested in medicine, why DID you choose law school? If you did your research, you would have known what you were getting yourself into when you chose law. In fact, a lot of would-be lawyers choose the profession for all the reasons you hate it. It's unrelenting, competitive, and you deal with incredibly tough and obnoxious people who will take you down the second you lapse and show weakness. Among the professions that require intelligence and dedication, law is probably the least forgiving in the sense that it is based upon argument. You have to be arrogant (at least at work) just to survive.

Dropping out of law school is an option, but you'll be hard-pressed to prove that you're sincere in your pursuit of medicine right away. If you dropped out of law school, why should they believe that you won't drop out of med school? If you're on a full ride, I'd suggest that you bite the bullet and finish.

One of the first things you mentioned is that 98% of law students are obsessed with making tons of money. What makes you think med students are different? Before I chose medicine, I worked in an operating room and volunteered on medical missions. You'd think that people would look on this favorably, but most physicians and nurses I worked with were incredulous that I was willing to sacrifice my coveted vacation time to go to another country and work for free. Most pre-meds volunteer just enough to put it on the AMCAS and get an extra letter of recommendation. I chose medicine because I grew up without health insurance, and watched my mother practically kill herself to pay my for my brother's extended hospitalization, and then saw patients in a third-world country who are probably dead by now because our mission wasn't extensive enough to cover long-term treatment for cancer and other illnesses. I plan to live a balanced life and spend time with my family, and volunteer my services to people who really need them. Even if I get into a competitive specialty, I'm not going to work enough to make much more than my fiance, who is a physician assistant.

Most physicians and students interested in medicine want to reap all the benefits of the profession. I condone that. I think that after you've busted you butt for so many years, you're well within your rights to make a lot of money and deny care to those who can't pay for it.

While it's fair, most people (before thinking about it) can make a moral argument that medicine is based upon helping people. Consequently, pre-meds and med students are trained to blather incessantly about "helping people," when the truth is that most of them want to make money and earn respect from the community. The fact that I'm not expecting to get rich doesn't make me any different. I want to make decisions for my patients, and I definitely wouldn't make the sacrifices I'm making now if I didn't think I could make a comfortable living as a physician.

Law students are more honest. We all know that while lawyers can advocate for people, there is plenty of moral ambiguity and lawyers capitalize on it. It's okay for a law student to admit that they want to be rich and hugely successful, but it's not okay for a medical student to say the same thing. So most (except the bold ones) don't actually say it. They say what everyone wants to hear, and do it anyway.

Point is, you should think carefully before making any decisions. If law is not right for you, why are you defaulting to medicine? I don't care how many nurses are in your family or how nice it felt to comfort sick people you've encountered...you still haven't shown any real interest in medicine. It's going to be easier AND harder for you to pursue medicine...easier because you're obviously bright and academically capable (you can study nonstop and do really well on the MCAT if you're a good student, but excelling on the LSAT is akin to an IQ test...you can spend years studying for it, but you'll max out at your innate intellectual threshold)...but harder because you have will have demonstrated that despite your intelligence and capability, you're not necessarily serious.

 

[MedLaw]

I agree with most of the posters above. I have been visiting this board since the first half of my 1L year, seeking advice of those who were willing to share their wisdom and experience with me. I'm currently a 3L and still everday wish that I had gone to Medical school (or an MD/JD program since I'm more interested in medical/health policy) but I honestly think that, like futureboy said, practicing law is much different than law school.

My plan is to graduate (this May!! Ya!) and continue working at the litigation firm I have been interning at, while attempting to shadow physicians and take classes. Though it will be difficult, the benefit of having a decent income and a few years of real legal experience will outweigh the amount of work I'll (hopefully) be doing.

Your main concern if you drop out will be, as others have pointed out, that you are running from one profession to another, but at the same time, if you hate law school, and that causes you to do badly that isn't exactly going to help you out too much either. Further, if your law education isn't being funded by a nice scholarship, you may need to take into consideration the fact that you may be graduating with 70-150k (depending upon the shcool) in loans, which COULD severly hinder or delay going to medical school after you graduate law school.

As for the annoying class mates, that's part of life, as a doctor, attorney, student, or janitor your going to be dealing with people you find incompetent or simply jerks. You'll have to learn to deal with them at some point.

 

[MedLaw]

"sorry" for the lack of writing style in the post above. I'm currently on my lunch break at work and am trying to eat, read, and post at the same time!

 

[dragonfly99]

It's kind of like an atmosphere where everyone in medical school do not care about helping future patients, or why the correct answer is the right one, they all just focus on the exam and then their mission is to get an A on the exam. That's it. They don't care if they learned the material, they do not want to talk about anything that is not on the exam, they hate kids who focus or ask questions that we will not be tested on. Can you imagine talking to people who just want to get a good grade on an exam and THAT IS ABSOLUTELY IT. THEY ARE NOT CONCERNED WITH LEARNING. I honestly can't explain it.

Yes, I can imagine it because this is how I felt about most of the med students at my medical school. Don't make the assumption that med school will be a lot different than law school in this regard...both are filled with Type A people who are motivated by things other than sheer altruism. I do think the average med students, at his/her core, is probably more altruistic than the average law student, but I'm sure that I'm very biased. What I am also sure of is that at many med schools, particularly the ones that don't have a lot of pass/fail grading and/or ones that have a high entering average GPA and MCAT score, there is a LOT of competition over grades. A LOT. So you need to get over any notions that that won't be the case.

If you were not on a full ride to law school, then maybe I'd say consider quitting law school if you never want to practice law. But if you're on scholarship, then I say stick it out. In the mean time, at least start shadowing some doctors to see if medicine is something that might be for you. I don't think you know yet. Most graduate/professional schools are tough and many are filled with ubercompetitive types who can be off-putting, particularly if you compare with your undergrad experience. That isn't a reason to jump ship on a potential career in law. Do you think you can see yourself enjoying a career as some type of lawyer? Remember, your experience in law school is transient...a law career could be 20-40 years. Who cares if you hate law school now, if you'll like being a lawyer. I pretty much hated med school (well, I guess hate is a strong word, but I definitely didn't like it) but I really like being a physician.

 

[kai35]

I'd say finish law school, then go back and do your pre-med prerequisites if you still feel that's something you want to do. If you finish law school, it'll be a major asset on your med school application (med school admissions committees are always looking for diversity, and that includes diversity in experience; hardly any applicants are bar certified lawyers). This gives you a little leeway if your science grades are shaky (note: you still need to be at least a 3.0 to be safe). If you quit law school, you will need to explain this if you're to include it on your application and that may be seen as a negative as you could be seen as indecisive or as a quitter (not saying you are, but I'm just saying that's how it could come off).... this will obviously afford you much less room for error.

Law school is 3 years, right? Take some biomedical law electives if they are offered... in a couple years you'll have a much better idea.. if you still feel the same way, then it's probably the right decision.

Good luck!

 

[lawyerdoc2b]

Marla,

Speaking as a lawyer for over 20 years about to begin medical school, it is never too late to pursue your passion. That said, your post does not show me that your real pssion is medicine. Before you leap from the law back to undergraduate science classes, do some medically related volunteer work to see if your desire is a true calling.

After two decades of practicing law, I took science courses at night while working full time during the day. During the admission process I was told that my finishing Law School and working as a successful professional meant more to the Admission Committees than grades and MCAT scores. Why? Becuase Law School is hard and I stuck to it and succeeded. Your undergraduate degree is in pre law. If you quit now it will be a huge red flag when you apply to medical school. Contrast that with finishing Law School, passing the bar and then pursuing medicine.

L1 is a grind and a dismal experience. L2 is much better. L3 is mostly electives. In LC you can focus on medically related classes related to Law. Finish what your started or you will look like a quiter. Finish what you started and you will be head and shoulders above 90% of the applicants.

L1 will be over in 2 months. Clear your head this Summer and come back to L2 with a renewed purpose to finish and finish well. Take the Bar Examination after graduation. When you pass it shows the ADCOMs in medical school that you can do well on standardized tests.

It worked for me. It just took 20 years to figure out that I should have been a medical doctor to begin with. You can do it. Good luck

 

[Dr Heart]

Life's full of confusing cross roads.

Good luck 🙂