Law is cyclical, tracking the economy very closely. If you get a job while in a bad economic downturn, things only get better. If you don't find a job, things will ease up eventually. This isn't really much of a question. If you are a lawyer you might have a tough time getting a job in this bad economic time, but there are lots of other jobs you can do with a law degree, ranging from editing, working with nonprofits, pretty much any job involving lots of writing or compliance with regulations. And the degree doesn't really get stale as fast, so if it takes you a year or two to find a law job, things aren't per se "over". There are really no other jobs you can get with an offshore medical degree than resident, and odds are progressively more and more against you to get residency each year you don't get the residency.. there simply aren't other uses for the degree. And you will have more debt with an offshore MD degree. And you can't just open up shop without a residency like you could in law. So hands down you are better off coming out of a low ranked ABA accredited law school over an offshore med school. You might never earn six digits like your top 20 law school colleagues, but as the economy gets better you will find a job. The offshore guy who doesn't find a residency ends up with high debt and no way to pay it off. The economy can only get better over the next few years, while the prospects of offshore folks landing residencies will only get worse as more and more US med students enter the pipeline. It's not a close call here.