WE don’t know you. What has been in your heart all of these years?
If you became a doc, what specialty interests you?
Thank you for replying, I appreciate your thoughts. I don’t want to do the route Columbia is offering because I have no interest in working in IB (investment banking). A member of my extended family, my cousin, did that program at Columbia and he ended up disappearing into wall street. Clearly, this is an anecdotal and I’ve been told selective memory, but I have no interest in being a doctor and a lawyer, even at different times. If I wanted to work in IB, I would, an MBA would be a lot simpler if I was a banker. But that’s not what we’re talking about here. I practice medicine if and only if I do not practice law. It follows then that if I practice law, I do not practice medicine. I want to be my best in everything I do. When Bo Jackson played football, it took away from his time with baseball. Make sense?
Please share your secrets I hope to have this problem when I apply to MD schools. 
In all seriousness, I do think this is a choice you have to make yourself. You have great options either way. If it was me? I’d pick medicine, most likely Columbia University. I’m from VA and EVMS is definitely not ranked as high as Columbia, Georgetown, etc. Ultimately you have to do what is going to make you happy. Write down a list of the pros and cons of each. Which career would leave you waking up every morning being glad that it’s your career?
But Columbia would allow you to practice either medicine or law. And your logic about your cousin makes no sense. Because he went the IB route after a combined program, then . . . what, exactly? You can’t practice either law or medicine if you entered that program?
Devoting yourself 100% is a nice thought but you’re clearly not ready to do that yet (and I’m not sure it is prudent anyway but I digress).
In any case, @mom2collegekids has a good suggestion if you truly are undecided.
Start at med school because you can’t later. You can switch to law any time.
Watch the TED talk I linked to.
Sincerely, I appreciate your input. I think Harvard Law School is not something I can just “switch to [any time]”, I don’t plan on retaking the LSAT so it’s now or never unless somehow the stars align and I’m somehow selected as a Mcarthur fellow. Fanciful, but in private practice, I’d make more money as a practicing Harvard-trained lawyer and I believe someone on this board also mentioned the potential for lateral business opportunities. I think I know what I need to do now.
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eastern Virginia med school
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Sorry, but can’t help but lol at this acceptance. What was EV thinking by accepting an obvious safety that would never attend. I guess yield isn’t their concern. Anyway…I’ll be glad when you decline because I have a friend who’s high on their WL. 
Please tell us more about YOU…your dreams…your interests…where you see yourself in 10+ years? You’re clearly a brainiac. Do you like research?
I did. I like Ted Talks.
@Tamadrum313: I have several reactions to this thread.
One reaction is that I can’t believe that you applied to both law school and medical school before you decided which you wanted to do. On the other hand, I have an ancestor who actually passed the bar exam before he decided to become a doctor, so I guess that you aren’t the first person to run into this dilemma.
Another thing that I wonder about is the availability of jobs in each field. I am under the impression that there is a glut of lawyers. Clearly with the baby boom ageing there will be a need for doctors for quite a while. The medical profession is also getting better at dealing with a long list of problems, and seem to be paying attention to actually making people’s lives better, even for people who are dealing with long term incurable issues. Words such as “cancer” and “surgery” used to be very scary, and are still somewhat scary but getting significantly less scary over time.
Another thing that comes to mind is that every job eventually gets a bit “old”. When a job gets old, what keeps the professional going? One thing is the need to stay employed and draw a salary. However, I think dealing with people also helps a lot. Humans are a gregarious creature and we are naturally inclined to be able to put up with and even want a lot of dealing with other people. So, would you rather be dealing with people as their lawyer, or as their doctor? To me helping people get better, or even deal better with a permanent problem, seems like a very fulfilling thing to do with a life. I think of lawyers as including lawyers who do real estate closings, lawyers who write up patents, lawyers who deal with corporate law, and lawyers who try cases or defend cases or litigate. These are important. Are any of these as important to you as helping sick people get better? Which one would still motivate you 20 or 30 years from now?
Perhaps I am saying that you should think about where you will be after graduation and after multiple years in the field. I think that I know which one I would do if I were in you shoes, but clearly I can’t decide for you.
We need more smart doctors.
We don’t need more lawyers.
Actually, I’m pretty certain you can switch to HLS any time.
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Switch from where?
@mom2collegekids: From medicine, as you suggested.
You got a full scholarship at HLS? IF this is true… Congrats!
I’m pretty sure Harvard Law does not offer full ride scholarships, so I’m assuming it’s based on high need, so it’s not actually a “scholarship”. Also, I hope this is not a fake post.
^^^
@WildestDream Why would you think that the offer was based on “need”? the student’s parents are doctors.
H probably does offer merit for its law/med/grad schools like every other school.
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Actually, I'm pretty certain you can switch to HLS any time.>>>
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I’m confused. If the student is at a med school elsewhere, how would he switch to HLS at any time? Do you mean reapply later? Yes, but it sounds like his LSAT may expire soon. His MCAT is expiring this year I think.
Pretty sure HLS offers no merit awards. And LSAT scores are valid for 5 years, so a student with a 179 who chose med school and then decided to add a JD or drop med and go to law school is very competitive.
Neither is a career I would recommend without being driven to pursue it. That being said, the joint degree program at Columbia sounds like the best option that preserves flexibility.
“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.” Yeah, nothing at all offensive about that.
As others have pointed out, HLS does not offer merit scholarships.
I don’t know how one would qualify for need-based aid covering full tuition when both parents are cardiologists unless the OP is financially independent. From the same link above, the only other possibility would be loans.
This whole situation seems beyond belief…literally.