I recently graduated from the college of William & Mary with a B.S degree in Kinesiology and Health Sciences, premed track as a Monroe Scholar. My parents are both cardiologists and my uncle is an NYU-educated lawyer. I’ve always been fascinated by Law and its possibilities but I’ve been around medicine my whole life, and I can easily see myself following in my parent’s footsteps and finding happiness in a medical career. So I took both the LSAT and MCAT my junior year in undergrad, receiving scores of 179, and 44, respectively. This helped earn me acceptances from many law and medical schools, but particularly Harvard Law and Georgetown Medical Schools. I have no interest in an MD/JD. Clearly, both options are attractive. I understand this is a good problem to have. However, it’s “either/or” for me. If you were me, what would you do? I’ve considered the facts, given you a window into my values. If you were me, what would you do?
To be frank, this is such a ridiculous and silly question to ask. Absolutely no one can tell you whether you should go to law or medical school. Absolutely no one on this board knows you well enough to give you even mediocre advice on such a life decision.
You got a 179 on the LSAT, so apparently you have some critical thinking skills. Do you think this is the appropriate venue for you to seek advice for this particular choice? [If you say yes, I am going to assume the 179 was fluke and suggest you go into neither law or medicine.]
Thank you for your reply. This is a big deal for me, so that’s why I’m on the internet soliciting opinions. I’ve actually shadowed doctors and lawyers both, and I like aspects of each’s job. To me, this is not so ridiculous. I gave you very limited information but also assume I’ll be okay with the monetary compensation in both and both allow me to “help people”.
So you have shadowed both lawyers and doctors… but think the opinion of random people who know absolutely nothing about you (you even admit you gave only limited information) can offer definitive advice??? And you will consider this advice??? Really? SMDH.
If you’ve been shadowing lawyers, I would think that you’d have realized that most of the lawyers making big bucks, if they are helping people, are “helping” in a morally ambiguous manner.
OK, say that all external motivators are taken away: You are independently wealthy but lots of people will hate you for your profession or whatever you do. What would you be doing?
I think that kind of advice can be useful. Obviously, I’ve been heavily influenced by the rents but I wouldn’t want to pursue a medical education in a vacuum. I actually chose to attend William & Mary from the advice of a neighbor, and that to me was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my admittedly young life. You still haven’t told me what you would do, other than cast aspersions (maybe a bit harsh) on why I dare to ask this question in the first place.
If you are really unsure about such a major life choices then get off the internet and GO VISIT both Harvard law and Georgetown Med… spend time talking with your closest friends and family who know you well.
Harvard medical school where you can do both MD/JD. Oops, that is NOT an option.
Maybe I wasn’t as clear as I could have been beforehand. I’ve been on both campuses as well as Study Abroad at St. Andrews in Scotland. The people I shadowed included a partner at my uncle’s firm (I will not divulge the name here) and a prominent gastroenterologist in NYC. I’m about 90% sure I prefer Harvard Law but I worry turning down Georgetown Medical School would be foolish. To me, 10% uncertainty is considerable.
Georgetown University Medical School is NOT that highly ranked - probably a mid tier medical school. You scored in 100% in MCAT. What was your secret ?
You’ve got yourself in a bind because you should have decided on a path before you applied. Now is not the optimal time to decide your path. I’m sure neither of those schools would have admitted you if they knew that you hadn’t committed to the field.
Here’s a TED Talk for you on how to make hard choices.
https://www.ted.com/talks/ruth_chang_how_to_make_hard_choices
Here’s the thing…
I think this is the last year you can use THAT MCAT score…and it’s fabulous. Are you saying that G’town is the best med that accepted you??? Did you have a crazy app list? Where else were you accepted for med.
IF you turn down a MD med school, you can kiss any opp of ever getting accepted to another US MD school good bye. That is not the case with law schools. Law schools don’t blacklist if you get accepted, decline all, and reapply later.
So…if you have any deep desire to go to med school, go to G’town…or another of your MD acceptances. Did any offer you merit?
It’s totally ok that G’town isn’t a top-ranked med. It’s ranked high enough to get you wherever you’d want to be.
Well, what I would do is choose neither and go a different path.
But I’m not you and you’re not me so I’m not sure why you are asking random strangers on the internet what they would do.
Assuming that this is a serious post, I would get in contact with a college career/academic counselor from W&M ASAP.
Clearly you are smart. Indecisiveness is perfectly okay. It is kind of terrible that society expects you to pick your path when are in your early twenties. Mais, c’est la vie. Good luck and congratulations on graduating and those acceptances!
I also have acceptances from Vanderbilt med school, eastern Virginia med school as well as Columbia Med/Law & NYU Law school. Including those options, IF I went med school, I prefer Georgetown - If Law, then Harvard. They all offered me merit scholarships, Georgetown being the most generous: full costs. Harvard Law is offering full tuition.
Actually, I take back #12.
If money was of no consideration and I was forced to choose one of these 2 paths, I would go to HLS just for potential business and networking possibilities. I wouldn’t become either a practicing lawyer or doctor, though.
If I were you, I would look into deferring both offers of admission, if that’s even possible, until I figured out what I wanted to do.,
Why not Columbia Med/Law?
I believe Columbia Med is generally considered better than Georgetown Med and Columbia Law is just a bit behind Columbia Law.
Though if you don’t care to practice either medicine or law, HLS would open up the best opportunities (in business).
Are you turning down Columbia because it’s a combined program??
Why turn down Vandy Med? G’town is fine, for sure, but I do think a person should go to the best med school that accepts them (if they want to become a doc).
I think Vandy Med only does one year of classroom and then onto clinical rotations. Is that correct? What does G’town do? Traditional 2 years classroom? Sounds like you’d be fine with one year classroom.
You’d turn down Columbia Medical School for Georgetown?