Should I give McMaster medicine a shot? Aspiring lawyer.

[Marco]

A little about my situation.

I have cGPA of 3.92/4 and scored in the 99.5th percentile on the LSAT. I'll be applying to the top law schools in the US / Canada next cycle.

Medical schools were never on my radar because I assumed that I wouldn't be qualified to apply to them since I come from a non-STEM undergrad, and I wasn't interested in taking science pre-reqs that'd likely damage my GPA for a very remote shot at med schools. However, I learned yesterday that McMaster doesn't require any pre-reqs and won't even look at the non-CARS sections of the MCAT, which I imagine would be the section I'm naturally strongest in.

I've had some generic office job experiences since graduating in 2017. I don't have any exposure whatsoever to medicine in any capacity (volunteers, ECs etc.). I haven't done a lick of serious science or math since grade 11 in high school in 2012.

With my profile, is it even worth applying to Mac's medicine program? Is there a catch somewhere I'm missing or could I hypothetically just guess every science question on the MCAT, crush CARs and get a shot at an interview there? Would I be screened out during said interview (on the long shot I get one) for not having a strong medical ECs/volunteer/experiences etc.?

And on the miraculous chance I secure an admit, how ill-prepared would I be for the program with absolutely 0 STEM grounding. I've retained little of what I learned even in high school.

Any insight would be appreciated!

 

[tungsten44]

McMaster does not care about ECs so you're fine there, you're definitely not the first person to try the CARS only strategy on the MCAT so it's not a crazy thing to do.

If medicine is what you want then I would definitely apply because you have a great GPA, and the other 2 components Mac cares about are CARS & CASPer. I would suggest taking a mock CARS section to see where you're at and go from there. There's nothing about needing medical ECs, as long as you have life experiences to talk about during an MMI when appropriate then that's fine as they don't need to be related to medicine.

As far as the actual MD curriculum goes, I would imagine that it would be a bit of a learning curve for you that might require a bit more study time than your STEM peers but considering how many exceptional applicants there are to medicine, they wouldn't let you in if they didn't think you could handle the rigour

[Marco]

2 minutes ago, tungsten44 said:

McMaster does not care about ECs so you're fine there, you're definitely not the first person to try the CARS only strategy on the MCAT so it's not a crazy thing to do.

If medicine is what you want then I would definitely apply because you have a great GPA, and the other 2 components Mac cares about are CARS & CASPer. I would suggest taking a mock CARS section to see where you're at and go from there. There's nothing about needing medical ECs, as long as you have life experiences to talk about during an MMI when appropriate then that's fine as they don't need to be related to medicine.

As far as the actual MD curriculum goes, I would imagine that it would be a bit of a learning curve for you that might require a bit more study time than your STEM peers but considering how many exceptional applicants there are to medicine, they wouldn't let you in if they didn't think you could handle the rigour

If I had known earlier about Mac's admission policies I'd have shot my shot over the past few years, honestly. I'm already 26 and given how the cycles unfold I won't be able to attend a med/law school until I'm 28. I don't have the fortitude / discipline to arrest my life to keep trying med schools for a number of years at this point. I'll give Mac a hail-Mary shot next cycle and if I don't get admitted, just attend the best law school I get into.

It's unfortunate that medical schools count law school grades as a part of the undergrad GPA calculation. If I attend a great law school, which grades harshly on a curve, I'll basically be permanently scuppering future chances at medical schools by destroying my strong bachelor's GPA.

Since I have plenty of time before applying, I could also grind out the STEM parts of the MCAT and try to get a decent score on those. Are there any schools in Canada that'd be worth doing that in my situation? Considering no science pre-reqs + no medical ECs etc? Or is Mac my only realistic chance?

Also, how does Mac view references? Are they important? It's going to be awkward asking profs for med and law school references lol

Thanks a lot for the response!

[zoxy]

On 12/28/2021 at 6:23 PM, Marco said:

And on the miraculous chance I secure an admit, how ill-prepared would I be for the program with absolutely 0 STEM grounding.

I personally think you'd really struggle at a traditional program, especially since your last science class was in grade 11 and you wouldn't study any science for the MCAT, but Mac's curriculum might allow you to muddle by. But a traditional school would also actually teach you more background that would help you in the long-run. There are other posts here that talk about the experience of having a non-science background in Medical School. In the post that I linked @catlady403  had your exact situation and her post is enlightening about how difficult it was for them, and how people underestimate how difficult it may be without science pre-reqs. But I think only at Mac and Calgary would they not explicitly teach you about some of the minutiae during your first semester.

 

On 12/28/2021 at 6:23 PM, Marco said:

Is there a catch somewhere I'm missing or could I hypothetically just guess every science question on the MCAT, crush CARs and get a shot at an interview there? Would I be screened out during said interview (on the long shot I get one) for not having a strong medical ECs/volunteer/experiences etc.?

There's no catch, Mac is just that irrational a place. 

I personally would take that 175 LSAT and parlay it into a Scholarship at a T14. You'd be making 210K USD at a big law place in three years time in NYC or Chicago, rather than trying for Med School with no science background.

UCalgary as an IP applicant might also give you a slight shot as they only care about CARS. But you'd most likely get weeded out by your lack of relevant ECs and the global academic merit component of their application process. Calgary admissions is very EC heavy.

 

 

[Marco]

13 minutes ago, zoxy said:

I personally would take that 175 LSAT and parlay it into a Scholarship at a T14 and be making 210K USD at a big law place in three years time, rather than trying for Med School with no science background.

This has been my goal too, but reading about the crazy hours and unfulfilling drudgery of biglaw has given me some cold feet. I haven't looked into the difficulties of the medicine path at all, let alone for someone with no science background, so I'm probably glamorizing it in my head. I sort of just assumed Mac would hand-hold folks if they were willing to admit people on such a non-science basis. The requirements really don't make sense lol

I'll definitely check out that thread you linked & look into other's experiences. Thank you!

Fwiw I'm an Ontario resident.

[offmychestplease]

3 hours ago, zoxy said:

I personally think you'd really struggle at a traditional program, especially since your last science class was in grade 11, but Mac's curriculum might allow you to muddle by. But a traditional school would also actually teach you more background that would help you in the long-run. There are other posts here that talk about the experience of having a non-science background in Medical School. In the post that I linked @catlady403  had your exact situation and her post is enlightening about how difficult it was for them, and how people underestimate how difficult it may be without science pre-reqs. But I think only at Mac and Calgary would they not explicitly teach you about some of the minutiae during your first semester.

 

There's no catch, Mac is just that irrational a place. 

I personally would take that 175 LSAT and parlay it into a Scholarship at a T14. You'd be making 210K USD at a big law place in three years time in NYC or Chicago, rather than trying for Med School with no science background.

UCalgary as an IP applicant might also give you a slight shot as they only care about CARS. But you'd most likely get weeded out by your lack of relevant ECs and the global academic merit component of their application process. Calgary admissions is very EC heavy.

 

 

1. it's not "in 3 years time".. they still have to apply to law school (0.5 years from today is when a cycle would open, 1 year for the cycle to finish, 3 years of law school, 1 year of articling) = 5.5 years from now at the minumum to be a fully-fledged lawyer.

2. Even if you go into a top school, the majority of graduates do not enter big law, let alone wall street big law.

[Marco]

57 minutes ago, offmychestplease said:

1. it's not "in 3 years time".. they still have to apply to law school (0.5 years from today is when a cycle would open, 1 year for the cycle to finish, 3 years of law school, 1 year of articling) = 5.5 years from now at the minumum to be a fully-fledged lawyer.

2. Even if you go into a top school, the majority of graduates do not enter big law, let alone wall street big law.

Yes, but he was comparing it to a potential medical school attendance, which would be a similar application / acceptance time horizon.

The T14 law schools have very high placement rates in biglaw. Cornell places 75% of its class into mostly NYC big law and it's only ranked 13 in the US. Not all students in these schools would pursue big law to begin with either. If you get into a T6 like Columbia that % rises to 80+. NYC big law isn't tough to get if you can make into a top tier school. 

 

[zoxy]

On 12/28/2021 at 10:12 PM, offmychestplease said:

Even if you go into a top school, the majority of graduates do not enter big law, let alone wall street big law

At T14 schools the majority do end up in Big Law. The ones who don't do Big Law after a going to a T14 schools is because they have access to even better jobs or don't want a Big Law lifestyle. That's actually why Yale and Stanford are lower down in the proportion that end up in Big Law. Because a decent portion of their student have access to even better jobs than big law, such as beltway boutiques or VC and Tech.

https://lawschooli.com/best-law-schools-for-biglaw/

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/slideshows/10-law-schools-that-lead-to-full-time-jobs-at-big-law-firms

Where do you think the majority of the big law jobs are? The major legal markets are not in Des Moines Iowa or Fargo North Dakota. It's NYC, Chicago, DC, LA, the Bay, and Boston.

On 12/28/2021 at 10:12 PM, offmychestplease said:

1 year of articling

Americans don't have articling. Articling is a uniquely Canadian scam. Base big Law pay is 210K USD for a first year associate straight out of school, and that's without accounting for a year end bonus. The US legal market and their wages is incomparable to Canada. Bay Street partners are paupers compared to partners at the elite American firms.

Also OP is right at the 75th percentile for both LSAT and GPA for Columbia and NYU. They'll probably get a solid amount from Chicago/NYU/Columbia and even more money from the lower Tier T14. It might end up being cheaper for them to go to Northwestern or Cornell than UofT law.

[Marco]

29 minutes ago, zoxy said:

Also OP is right at the 75th percentile for both LSAT and GPA for Columbia and NYU. They'll probably get a solid amount from Chicago/NYU/Columbia and even more money from the lower Tier T14. It might end up being cheaper for them to go to Northwestern or Cornell than UofT law.

My statistical profile is actually a bit better than that since my university grades on a 4.33 scale. So I have a 4.13 GPA by American standards.

My dream is HYS, since they all provide significant needs based aid that I'd be eligible for due to coming from a low income background. They'd cost substantially less than a full-ride to any other T14 because that aid covers room, board & books as well whereas my understanding is full rides only cover tuition. Still, an acceptance to a T3 can never be depended on, no matter how strong your stats. I'll have a decent shot if I can frame some interesting essays though, which I'll take a lot of time to compose and revise over the coming year.

[MDee2B]

7 hours ago, Marco said:

I don't have any exposure whatsoever to medicine in any capacity

This is a red flag imo.

even if you do somehow manage to sneak into a medical school despite this, you might be in for the surprise of your life when you walk into the hospital for the first time and realize that you’ve made a huge mistake and that medicine is not for you.

i think this is something you need to fix before pursuing what is a half-baked idea.

On the other hand, you seem to have your law path pretty well figured out, and therefore I think you owe it to yourself to at least expose yourself to medicine (clinically and/or academically) before you take such a serious jump and turn your life upside down by pursuing medicine.

6 hours ago, Marco said:

reading about the crazy hours and unfulfilling drudgery of biglaw has given me some cold feet.

If one particular path in law seems unappealing to you, maybe it’s worth  exploring other avenues within law that better suit your interests/goals/lifestyle etc before simply jumping ship. 

[Marco]

21 minutes ago, MDee2B said:

This is a red flag imo.

even if you do somehow manage to sneak into a medical school despite this, you might be in for the surprise of your life when you walk into the hospital for the first time and realize that you’ve made a huge mistake and that medicine is not for you.

i think this is something you need to fix before pursuing what is a half-baked idea.

On the other hand, you seem to have your law path pretty well figured out, and therefore I think you owe it to yourself to at least expose yourself to medicine (clinically and/or academically) before you take such a serious jump and turn your life upside down by pursuing medicine.

If one particular path in law seems unappealing to you, maybe it’s worth  exploring other avenues within law that better suit your interests/goals/lifestyle etc before simply jumping ship.

Yeah, medicine isn't something I'm set on. It was just a notion that occurred to me yesterday when I learned it may be possible, and is already fast dissipating as a serious option at the moment. FWIW, I probably wouldn't aspire to be a hospital doc. I'd aim to be a family physician or something, mine seemed to have chill life. Though I don't know if that's actually the case or just my mistaken impression.

Re: other law avenues, I've pondered a bunch of options extensively. Most wouldn't make sense because salaries are fairly bimodal in law, with many specializations commanding poor pay for the amount of schooling and debt involved. The best bet would be a cushy government job but those can be elusive, especially if I don't spec into it early in law school.

Unfortunately, I don't have a special passion for law, or any other type work for that matter. I'm not sure if it's any different with doctors, who seemed to be more actuated by humanitarian motives (or at least profess to be) for their careers.

On a side note, I've observed on LinkedIn that a bunch of lawyers have made the switch to medicine. It might not be impossible for me either since certain elite law schools operate on a modified pass/fail basis, including UofT. I wonder if that might be a path to preserve my undergrad GPA for a similar jump in the future? Heh, another crazy idea of mine.

Appreciate the response!

 

 

 

[bearded frog]

I would try and get some medicine exposure ASAP to make sure that it's the path for you, but clearly you are self-driven and resourceful so I don't think learning medicine at Mac would be an issue. We had quite a few non-stem background students in my class and the ones I knew close all did well. You're correct that you could probably do well on casper/carms if you did well on the LSAT if you dedicate some prep time, but I agree with the above posters that you're going to want to make sure medicine is the path for you when you have a clear alternative path in law as an option. And I know lots of lawyers and how much of a grind it can be (worse hours than peds residency, at least).

[Edict]

On 12/29/2021 at 12:27 AM, Marco said:

My statistical profile is actually a bit better than that since my university grades on a 4.33 scale. So I have a 4.13 GPA by American standards.

My dream is HYS, since they all provide significant needs based aid that I'd be eligible for due to coming from a low income background. They'd cost substantially less than a full-ride to any other T14 because that aid covers room, board & books as well whereas my understanding is full rides only cover tuition. Still, an acceptance to a T3 can never be depended on, no matter how strong your stats. I'll have a decent shot if I can frame some interesting essays though, which I'll take a lot of time to compose and revise over the coming year.

Not sure why you would ever want to become a doctor if you have the chance to become a wall street lawyer, make way more and retire early. 

[OldManNearTheSea]

8 hours ago, Edict said:

Not sure why you would ever want to become a doctor if you have the chance to become a wall street lawyer, make way more and retire early. 

Go read 20 pages of a bond indenture making sure not even a single comma is out of place. Now imagine doing that for 12 or 14 hours a days for a couple decades. 

[anotheranon]

I did Mac Med from a nontrad background with absolutely no science and only took the CARS section of the MCAT, made it through, it was a lot of work tho.

[zoxy]

On 1/13/2022 at 10:00 PM, Edict said:

Not sure why you would ever want to become a doctor if you have the chance to become a wall street lawyer, make way more and retire early. 

Because the lifestyle is pretty rough at the premier firms. Like NSx resident rough without any of the job satisfaction. Also the majority of associates don't end up as partners in those big law firms. The ratio of partners to associates, or "leverage" as it's known in legal terms, is pretty low for firms like Cravath, Skadden, and Wachtell. Most lawyers end up choosing lower pay but better lifestyle after a few years in Biglaw. Also essentially nonexistant job satisfaction.

I did my undergrad at a "target school" in the US and was on the IB/Consulting pathway until the end of second year. I'm still pretty happy about my choice to switch my majors and up in medical school here in Canada. And I'm pretty resigned to the fact that provincial governments are broke meaning that the healthcare system and physicians pay will deteriorate. I wonder if I'll be singing the same tune in residency and as an attending.

[Marco]

On 1/13/2022 at 11:00 PM, Edict said:

Not sure why you would ever want to become a doctor if you have the chance to become a wall street lawyer, make way more and retire early. 

In addition to what zoxy said, my preference is to remain in Canada. I don't have anyone in the US but strong family attachments here. If it weren't for the enormous salary disparities for lawyers across the two countries, there's no way I'd consider moving there. That gap appears minimal (or fairly modest) for physicians though, especially factoring in a much smaller debt burden in Canada.

On 1/14/2022 at 1:24 PM, anotheranon said:

I did Mac Med from a nontrad background with absolutely no science and only took the CARS section of the MCAT, made it through, it was a lot of work tho.

Awesome. Did your lack of a science background come up at all in the Mac MMI process? What about during interviews for future stages in the process (like residency?)

I've received some mixed signals about the rigour of med schools, and I can't find anything online about Mac's content specifically. To give a taste of my level of in-aptitude, I felt like I was reading an alien language in grade 11 chemistry. Stoichiometry was kicking my ass lol. On the other hand, if it's mostly a prodigious amount of biology memorization, I'm more confident in myself.

[Edict]

4 hours ago, Marco said:

In addition to what zoxy said, my preference is to remain in Canada. I don't have anyone in the US but strong family attachments here. If it weren't for the enormous salary disparities for lawyers across the two countries, there's no way I'd consider moving there. That gap appears minimal (or fairly modest) for physicians though, especially factoring in a much smaller debt burden in Canada.

Awesome. Did your lack of a science background come up at all in the Mac MMI process? What about during interviews for future stages in the process (like residency?)

I've received some mixed signals about the rigour of med schools, and I can't find anything online about Mac's content specifically. To give a taste of my level of in-aptitude, I felt like I was reading an alien language in grade 11 chemistry. Stoichiometry was kicking my ass lol. On the other hand, if it's mostly a prodigious amount of biology memorization, I'm more confident in myself.

If you prefer to remain in Canada, then that is fair, medicine would mostly mean you'd stay in Canada and I generally agree that being a doctor in Canada isn't too bad, but its a very different world and life compared to corporate law, as a warning. 

Its mostly memorization. You don't need any chemistry knowledge in medical school, but a knack for memorization will take you very far. Mac Med being a 3 year school though will be a whirlwind and there is very little guidance. So you will really need to be self driven and seek out the mentorship that would allow you to succeed. With Mac, you really need to get out of the gates running.

The MMI is blind so they really don't know anything about you, so it won't come up.

 

[frenchpress]

Agree with others that it’s doable with a non-science background, but a lot depends on what you’re capable of and it can be a real struggle for some. I managed (and not at Mac) - I did spend some time doing pre reqs and ended up studying for the full MCAT, which helped me build a tiny amount of science knowledge before I started… and while it helped in some ways, I actually found much of it the science stuff aside from biology wasn’t actually particularly relevant or useful for medical school.
 

Others have asked this, but I do feel like it’s important to emphasize considering whether you think you’d actually even like the work as a doctor. I personally think family medicine is a great job, but it has some very frustrating aspects and more than one of my classes from medical school over the years have told me they would rather lose an eye (or an arm, etc, depending on the person) than be an outpatient family doctor. And I know more than a few people in various specialties who found medicine wasn’t what they expected, and are looking or dreaming of ways out. Do you know any doctors you could talk IRL in order to actually get a sense of what you’d be getting into? 

[Marco]

36 minutes ago, frenchpress said:

Others have asked this, but I do feel like it’s important to emphasize considering whether you think you’d actually even like the work as a doctor. I personally think family medicine is a great job, but it has some very frustrating aspects and more than one of my classes from medical school over the years have told me they would rather lose an eye (or an arm, etc, depending on the person) than be an outpatient family doctor. And I know more than a few people in various specialties who found medicine wasn’t what they expected, and are looking or dreaming of ways out. Do you know any doctors you could talk IRL in order to actually get a sense of what you’d be getting into? 

Well, I sort of gave up on this med school notion the day after I posted the thread. So I haven't really looked into it deeply. One of annoying impediments for me is getting the 3 reference letters for Mac. I'm already going to be stretched on those for law school admissions and I sort of don't want to ask those same people to submit something for med as well, since it'll make me seem unfocused and kinda crazy

And if I dip outside the refs I'm depending on for law schools, it'll probably be perfunctory stuff from profs who have no idea who I was and can only testify to my undergrad grades from 5-7 years ago. I imagine those would be very bad? Worst case scenario would be to somehow get through all these hoops just to be dismissed cause of crappy references...

 

You guy's are definitely right about possibly hating family medicine. Initially, my thinking was - if I'm gunning for NYC corporate biglaw under the assumption I'll hate it (most people do) - I might as well try something that sounds nicer, more fulfilling and keeps me in Canada.

I don't really know any doctors atm. In fact, I haven't had a proper family doctor in almost a decade... I used to have a really awesome one. He discovered my mother's cancer at a super early stage, all her subsequent specialists were very impressed with him. She had no symptoms and didn't report anything wrong either, he divined that shit out of nothing. Unfortunately, he moved away to a distant area and I have no contact anymore. Perhaps I can try reaching out to him.

[Edict]

13 hours ago, Marco said:

Well, I sort of gave up on this med school notion the day after I posted the thread. So I haven't really looked into it deeply. One of annoying impediments for me is getting the 3 reference letters for Mac. I'm already going to be stretched on those for law school admissions and I sort of don't want to ask those same people to submit something for med as well, since it'll make me seem unfocused and kinda crazy

And if I dip outside the refs I'm depending on for law schools, it'll probably be perfunctory stuff from profs who have no idea who I was and can only testify to my undergrad grades from 5-7 years ago. I imagine those would be very bad? Worst case scenario would be to somehow get through all these hoops just to be dismissed cause of crappy references...

 

You guy's are definitely right about possibly hating family medicine. Initially, my thinking was - if I'm gunning for NYC corporate biglaw under the assumption I'll hate it (most people do) - I might as well try something that sounds nicer, more fulfilling and keeps me in Canada.

I don't really know any doctors atm. In fact, I haven't had a proper family doctor in almost a decade... I used to have a really awesome one. He discovered my mother's cancer at a super early stage, all her subsequent specialists were very impressed with him. She had no symptoms and didn't report anything wrong either, he divined that shit out of nothing. Unfortunately, he moved away to a distant area and I have no contact anymore. Perhaps I can try reaching out to him.

Yeah, I'd just stick with law. The way I see it, no profession is perfect and all have different flaws, but you are better off choosing one and sticking with it unless you are absolutely sure you hate it, because by choosing one and sticking with it, you get maximum optionality. Its very easy to think the grass is greener on the other side, but unless you absolutely despise what you are doing, the grass is probably not greener.

[zoxy]

15 hours ago, Marco said:

One of annoying impediments for me is getting the 3 reference letters for Mac.

I'm pretty sure Mac doesn't use references competitively. They're just used to find red flags and you they need to be egregious for them to red flag you. Mac's admission process is really straight forward. Pre-interview it's 1/3 GPA, 1/3 CARS, 1/3 CASPer. Post interview it's 70 percent MMI, 15 percent GPA, 15 percent CARS. You could easily get your law school references first where they are used competitively and then ask your referees for references for Mac. You don't need to have medicine specific references.

[Marco]

13 minutes ago, zoxy said:

I'm pretty sure Mac doesn't use references competitively. They're just used to find red flags and you they need to be egregious for them to red flag you. Mac's admission process is really straight forward. Pre-interview it's 1/3 GPA, 1/3 CARS, 1/3 CASPer. Post interview it's 70 percent MMI, 15 percent GPA, 15 percent CARS. You could easily get your law school references first where they are used competitively and then ask your referees for references for Mac. You don't need to have medicine specific references.

Ah okay. That makes things easier.

Is there a suggested CARS section I can take cold to see where I'm at before prep?

I think I'll shoot my shot at a single MCAT later this year, see where the cards fall after that.

[zoxy]

4 hours ago, Marco said:

Is there a suggested CARS section I can take cold to see where I'm at before prep?

Most third party CARS prep material is trash imo. Only good sources of prep is the AAMC CARS material, and that's just the 2 CARS question banks and the 4 practice exams. The QBanks are actually really difficult. I think I was getting 60 percent on the first Qbank and ended up with a 131 in the real thing. I personally used LSAT materials once I exhausted the AAMC material.

A 175 or whatever you got on the LSAT should make a 131 or 132 very feasible. Don't sweat it, most premeds can't read.

[hero147]

16 hours ago, Marco said:

Well, I sort of gave up on this med school notion the day after I posted the thread. So I haven't really looked into it deeply. One of annoying impediments for me is getting the 3 reference letters for Mac. I'm already going to be stretched on those for law school admissions and I sort of don't want to ask those same people to submit something for med as well, since it'll make me seem unfocused and kinda crazy

And if I dip outside the refs I'm depending on for law schools, it'll probably be perfunctory stuff from profs who have no idea who I was and can only testify to my undergrad grades from 5-7 years ago. I imagine those would be very bad? Worst case scenario would be to somehow get through all these hoops just to be dismissed cause of crappy references...

 

You guy's are definitely right about possibly hating family medicine. Initially, my thinking was - if I'm gunning for NYC corporate biglaw under the assumption I'll hate it (most people do) - I might as well try something that sounds nicer, more fulfilling and keeps me in Canada.

I don't really know any doctors atm. In fact, I haven't had a proper family doctor in almost a decade... I used to have a really awesome one. He discovered my mother's cancer at a super early stage, all her subsequent specialists were very impressed with him. She had no symptoms and didn't report anything wrong either, he divined that shit out of nothing. Unfortunately, he moved away to a distant area and I have no contact anymore. Perhaps I can try reaching out to him.

Have you thought about working in Canada as a lawyer on baystreet? The pay is definitely worse but you can still make 110-130k as a first year associate and could become a partner down the line. You would likely make more than a family doctor and work less than you would at Big Law down in the States. I have a friend my age who is a fourth year associate on Bay street and he's definitely doing better than me finanically and for the foreseeable future.