<p>This is such a College Confidential type question, lol.</p>
<p>As another user said, medical school admissions are a lot more specific in what courses are required (certain hard sciences and maths) whereas law school admissions are far more open and almost entirely numbers based. </p>
<p>The dilemma, however, is that the legal field is more or less a blood bath right now and prestige/pedigree of what law school you attend is vital for landing a job capable of paying off a huge law school sized debt load - so to have promising prospects in law, you need to attend a “top” (usually tier one or top 14) law school BUT, to major in something like Biology or Physics (where you’d nail down all the pre-med requirements), landing a Harvard/Yale Law worthy GPA would be much harder than your exclusively pre-law counterparts who are majoring in English, History, or Poli Sci. Granted, you can still major in Political Science or English and take science electives that fulfill pre med requirements but even still, you are competing GPA wise with students who have full humanities based schedules whereas you’re trying to land similar grades in classes like Organic Chemistry.</p>
<p>You asked what the requirements are for med schools - you can look that up on the websites of the different medical schools. I’ll give two examples of required courses from two different medical schools here in Massachusetts - UMass Medical School and Harvard Medical School.</p>
<p>-UMass Medical School-
Biology: A one-year general biology or zoology course, with a laboratory component is required. Students wishing to pursue additional course work in the biological sciences should consider genetics, embryology, cell biology, or comparative anatomy.</p>
<p>Chemistry: One year of inorganic and one year of organic chemistry each with a lab are required. Students interested in advanced courses are advised to consider biochemistry or physical chemistry.</p>
<p>Physics: A one year course in general physics with a lab is required.</p>
<p>English: At least one year of college level English literature or composition is required. </p>
<p>-Harvard Medical School- (Syncopated because HMS is pretty wordy with their rationale, LOL.)
- Biology
The required 1-year biology course should be devoted to genetics and cell biology and should emphasize human biology (signal transduction, basic pharmacologic principles, homeostasis and feedback, an introduction to hormone receptors, neuronal signaling, and immunology). </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Chemistry
Students should be exposed to general chemistry, organic chemistry, and biochemistry in a 2-year sequence that provides the foundation for the study of biologically relevant chemistry. Organic chemistry preparation should be woven seamlessly with basic principles of biochemistry (especially protein structure and function).</p></li>
<li><p>Physics
In the area of physics, students should be well prepared in biologically relevant areas of mechanics, kinetics, thermodynamics, the properties of matter (quantum theory) and wave theory, electricity and magnetism, and optics. Ordinarily, this requirement is accomplished most readily by a year-long course in physics.</p></li>
<li><p>Laboratory Experience
Required laboratory components of biology and chemistry are no longer defined as discretely as they were in the past. Lengthy laboratory components of the required science requirement courses are not necessarily time well and efficiently spent. </p></li>
<li><p>Computational Skills/Mathematics
Computational skills are required for contemporary scientific literacy. Although the calculus of derivatives and integration represents important concepts for the precise, quantifiable understanding of dynamic physiological processes and systems, a full year of calculus focusing on the derivation of biologically low-relevance theorems is less important than mastery of more relevant algebraic and trigonometric quantitative skills. </p></li>
<li><p>Analytical and writing skills/Expository Writing
Creative, complex, and compelling discoveries in medicine, as in other fields, involve grappling with good questions borne from close-reading analyses and careful observations. Therefore, effective courses in science and nonscience disciplines should focus on analytical and writing skills. In addition, at a minimum, HMS matriculants should have one year of critical writing/thinking preparation, preferably in a course devoted specifically to the development of expository writing skills. </p></li>
<li><p>Language
Because effective communication among the medical care team and between physicians and patients is so crucial to the delivery of care, all matriculants should be fluent and have a nuanced facility in English. Mastery of a foreign language, although not required, is a valuable skill that expands intellectual and cultural horizons and that reinforces preparation for patient care in a multicultural society.</p></li>
<li><p>Additional Requirements for the HST Program
In addition to all the above requirements, the HST curriculum requires that students be comfortable with upper-level mathematics (through differential equations and linear algebra), biochemistry, and molecular biology. In addition, one year of calculus-based physics in college is required.</p></li>
</ol>