<p>"lol next on the list of what asian parents will be pushing their kids to do
<p>The Asian parents I know are pushing their kids into law, IB and management consultancy. After all, if it was good enough for the Clinton’s daughter … (Chelsea clinton is at Mckinsey these days, on a rumoured six figure salary )</p>
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<p>Of course, 20% of the people living there were in poverty (which would be 40% of those below median income), so they weren’t “getting by” too well. </p>
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<p>Sure, but part of the reason that it’s desirable is because it’s where the jobs are. This is especially true for law. People aren’t doing doc review in NYC for 25 bucks an hour because they find the city so “interesting,” it’s because that work doesn’t really exist outside of big cities. </p>
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<p>Well, not really, for the amount of money you’re spending. You have more in terms of job and cultural opportunities, but as you pointed out, you have much smaller, crappier living quarters and no car.</p>
<p>Chelsea doesn’t work at McKinsey anymore. She works at a hedge fund someplace in NYC.</p>
<p>Hmm…I’m going to be both a physician and a lawyer. This doesn’t discorage me one bit. </p>
<p>I’m going into medicine for one reason and one reason only–to SAVE LIVES. Screw all the red tape. So I have to jump a few hurdles. Big deal. If it saves even ONE life, it’s worth it.</p>
<p>I’m going into Human Rights law. Maybe, the lawyers who are unhappy are unhappy because they aren’t in it for the right reasons or their reasons aren’t all that compelling.</p>
<p>All you need is motivation and will power.</p>
<p>Americanski, not having a car isn’t necessarily a bad thing.</p>
<p>I take issue with this all too common belief that every individual in America MUST have their own PERSONAL car.</p>
<p>There are alternatives. Walk. Run. Bike. Take public transportation. Move closer. Whatever you do, STOP ACCELERATING CLIMATE CHANGE.</p>
<p>Just a short rant. Carry on.</p>
<p>I totally agree. It took me 3 days at home to realize how much I hate driving.</p>
<p>xALTRUISTx,</p>
<p>When do you plan on, oh I dunno, sleeping? Two high-powered careers? </p>
<p>BTW, how do you plan on funding both degrees? How will you finish your residency and also afford your JD? Have you thought this all through?</p>
<p>xALTRUISTx, </p>
<p>Med school: 4 years (plus at least 3 in residency), $200,000
Law school: 3 years, $180,000</p>
<p>Starting salary for a lawyer at Human Rights Watch: ~$40,000</p>
<p>A good rule of thumb is not to take out more debt than you expect to make your first year out. You would be violating that almost 10X. I admire your altruism, but you need to be realistic.</p>
<p>I’m late to this thread, but I have one comment on the OCRegister article posted by CAtennisplayer. What a shame that this is the kind of behavior that is rewarded by admission to med school. No wonder we have (some of) the kind of doctors we do who are arrogant, condescending and lack any bedside manner.</p>
<p>Why do u guys worry or feel the need to inform xALTRUISTx of the costs?
I’m sure they’ve thought this through. You have no idea of xALTRUISTx’s financial background.</p>
<p>“I admire your altruism, but you need to be realistic.”
It may not be realistic to you, but it might be for xALTRUISTx.</p>
<p>Regarding th OCRegister article. Perhaps things have echanged but when I was in medical school ( Howard University in the eighties) on of my favorite memories was collaborating on a spaghetti fundraiser for our note taking service.FWIW, my BIL reminds me may goal was to work barefoot in Africa ( I didn’t). Also of note is that my loans were insignificant.</p>
<p>I haven’t followed this thread, but nonetheless offer a few brief observations for what they’re worth (speaking as a lawyer who went to the University of Chicago Law School 25 years ago and now practices in a big city, specializing, as a sole practitioner, in criminal defense):</p>
<p>–If other professions, like investment banking, now seem “hotter” than law, because (among other things) they offer the allure of bigger and faster money, that’s fine by me. I would be more than happy if anyone whose “ambition” is fueled largely by monetary rewards were to avoid law altogether. They wouldn’t be likely to find much satisfaction as a lawyer, nor would they be likely to contribute much to the profession (or public) in any event.</p>
<p>–As for what I gather is the one poster’s ambition to be a human rights lawyer (and the cries of caution from others re how will you ever be able to pay back your student loans, etc.), while I don’t know all the details about these programs, I do know that many law schools (especially, I think, many of the finer ones) have been instituting loan-forgiveness programs for students who go into public service work.</p>
<p>–I haven’t gotten rich as a lawyer - nor did I expect to. But I have had the experience, for example, of seeing someone whom I represented for over a decade finally get off of Death Row. Could I have had that sort of impact on the life of an individual (not to mention his family) - and the resulting personal and professional satisfaction - as an investment banker?</p>
<p>wow that’s amazing epistrophy. I agree with you.
Can I ask you to elaborate on why it takes over a decade for someone to finally be taken off Death Row. I’m just interested.</p>
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<p>It’s a long story - it usually is in capital cases - but the relatively short version goes like this:</p>
<p>–After a protracted post-conviction evidentiary hearing, the judge vacated my guy’s death sentence on the ground that his original lawyer had rendered constitutionally defective assistance. The basis for the judge’s ruling was a determination that the original lawyer had failed properly to develop and present highly relevant mitigating evidence at my guy’s original sentencing hearing.</p>
<p>–The State appealed that decision, so we went off to the State Supreme Court for a full-blown appeal. The Supreme Court upheld the post-conviction judge’s decision, so we went back to the circuit court for a new sentencing hearing.</p>
<p>–The judge then granted a presentencing motion that I filed to preclude, on legal grounds, consideration of the death penalty at my guy’s new sentencing hearing. </p>
<p>–The State appealed that decision, so we once again went off to the State Supreme Court for a full-blown appeal. This time the State won.</p>
<p>–We then returned to the circuit court for a new capital sentencing hearing. The result of this hearing, which involved the introduction of a lot of evidence on both sides, was that the judge declined to impose the death penalty, declined to impose a sentence of life imprisonment, and instead sentenced my guy to imprisonment for a term of years.</p>
<p>The result of all of this is that my client, who has been in prison since 1979 (when he was 19 years old), will probably get out sometime later this year, after serving nearly 30 years in prison.</p>
<p>that’s very interesting. may I ask what state this is?</p>
<p>imaginationpower: </p>
<p>If you have more questions about this case, why don’t you pm me. (I don’t see much point in turning this thread into a discussion of this particular case, nor am I sure that I would feel comfortable divulging additional details about it - or any of my other cases, for that matter - here.)</p>
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<p>Let me guess: high school student?</p>
<p>How will you save lives AND protect human right all in the same 24 hour day? It really is not a practical goal. Choose one and go for that.</p>
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<p>Anyone who’s gone to school and worked and actually understands the value of one of those degrees understands how unrealistic it usually is. xALTRUISTx’s reasons, while noble, are not grounded in the time and dollar cost of doing both. Nor does it account for the fact that it’s nearly impossible to do both.</p>
<p>“Anyone who’s gone to school and worked and actually understands the value of one of those degrees understands how unrealistic it usually is. xALTRUISTx’s reasons, while noble, are not grounded in the time and dollar cost of doing both. Nor does it account for the fact that it’s nearly impossible to do both.”</p>
<p>Once again, you don’t know his financial background nor how capable he is.
Therefore, you don’t have enough information, provided that you don’t know anything about him, to make a judgement like that.
There are MD/JD’s out there.</p>