Um…why are people acting like it is so out of the ordinary for a 21-year-old not to know exactly what they want to do in the future? Because…it’s not. I know grown people who have had careers in one field for many years and decided more or less abruptly that they wanted to do something else. This isn’t so unusual. You have the good fortune and intelligence to do well on the admissions processes for both law school and medical school. Congrats! But you do have to make a choice.
Questions to ask yourself:
- "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." - This quote is a yellow flag for me. You've done some shadowing, but still...how much of you is thinking about medicine because it seems like a relatively easy pursuit due to familiarity? And when I say "easy" don't mean in terms of coursework and education, but in terms of already being relatively familiar with the lifestyle and demands to some degree. Actually, I would ask that about both law and medicine. Are you pursuing because you're genuinely interested or because those were sort of the careers that you grew up around and didn't really have to think much about?
-Are you quite sure that HLS is offering you full tuition? Because HLS’s website clearly states that the only grant-based assistance they award is need-based and there are specific amounts they offer (http://hls.harvard.edu/dept/sfs/financial-aid-policy-overview/award-packages/).
With two cardiologist parents (and HLS does consider parental resources for everyone under 30), I would imagine your need would be less than $48K. I ask this because I think it’s an important question: as a doctor, virtually any kind of specialty you pursue or job you get as a practicing physician will probably be enough to allow you to repay your loans. As a lawyer, there’s only a small subset of jobs that pay enough to comfortably repay Harvard Law-size loans, and those jobs typically require 60-80 hour weeks in large expensive cities doing specific types of law.
-What do you want to do? What kind of work do you see yourself doing every day? What kind of lifestyle do you want to lead? Medicine and law are very, very different kinds of work. Most lawyers are probably in front of a computer most of most days; they spend the majority of their time trying to stay OUT of the courtroom, although some lawyers spend more time in it than others. It’s a lot of sedentary work. Most physicians are in motion for a good portion of their day, touching and interacting with sick and uncomfortable people (although nowadays a lot of doctors spend a decent amount of time with computers as well). Law will include a lot of reading and writing, and a lot of public speaking. Do you like those things? Both are pretty detail-oriented work but in different ways. As a lawyer, small details can lose someone a lot of money or potentially land someone in jail/prison; in medicine, small details could kill someone. Both are high-pressure careers. Do you want that?
You say that you have shadowed some doctors and lawyers. Have you ever had an informational interview with them? One where you sit down with them for 30-60 minutes and interview them about their job duties, their level of happiness, their lifestyle, what they wish they had done differently?