Applying in the middle of Law School

[Guest PhantomPhoenix]

I know someone who will apply during the 1st yr of law school for med.

 

Is there any restrictions in applying while in the middle of a professional degree like law.

 

I thought there was a restriction, that a person had to be finishing their graduate degree (in their final yr) before many med schools would accept them applying.

 

I maybe wrong....anyone know anything about this?

[Guest codloghorn]

i think law school is the same as an undergraduate degree.. it won't make a difference. but it is probably much harder to get high marks in law school! 8o

[Guest ADOMNIAPARATUS]

there shouldnt be any "restrictions" about finishing a graduate degree, should there? med schools look at whether you fulfill their undergrad requirements... maybe you should check with the med's admissions office to make sure.

 

still, law and med are 2 very different disciplines. personally i wouldnt waste my time doing law if i wanna go into med.

[Guest kosmo14]

Waste your time???

 

I currently have a classmate that had finished his second year of law and was accepted into medicine. He took his first year of medicine with my class and then this year he took a year off to finish his law degree. He will then join the current first year class next year to complete the remainder of his med school.

 

I firmly believe that having a law degree and a med degree can actually allow you to do a lot of diffent things that you wouldn't otherwise get to do with just an MD.

 

Anybody who pretends to think that the only thing involved in medicine is seeing patients and doing surgury needs to open thier eyes. There are many branches of medicine and fields that need physicians that don't involve the typical doctor/patient scenario.

 

Never say something is a waste of time if you have never tried it, or not in the position to judge either field.

[Guest byjude]

Pursuing both law and med is a very interesting and highly useful combination - although like applying to medicine with an MBA or any other prestigious professional degree, it could work slightly against the applicant if an interviewer or evaluator perceives that this person is just out to collect prestigious degrees.

 

But anyone willing to go through the stress and expense of both programs is to be admired!

 

Looking back over old posts, there was someone else on this board a few years back interested in applying to medicine after law. I can't remember if she had concluded that she would need to complete her program or not. I think it depends on school that you apply to, but I'm under the impression that you would need to complete the program before most schools would accept you - sort of like completing grad school, though apparently some schools like Mac will take you midway through that program.

 

Still, I would think for it to be a useful (& credentialed!) experience, it would make sense to complete the law degree before pursuing med.

[Guest aneliz]

UWO requires people that are doing graduate studies (ie an MSc, MA or PhD) to FINISH their grad degree as a condition of their acceptance. Therefore, you are not able to abandon a graduate degree before it is done to start meds at UWO. This is primarily to prevent people from starting a masters with no intention of finishing it...

 

However, Law is considered an UNDERGRADUATE degree by UWO (and others) and there is no restriction on having to finish it before starting med. There are a few people at UWO (across different classes) that have come from law. Several finished their law degree before they started and at least one is doing both degrees concurrently at UWO....

[Guest mintchoco]

I am one of those people who will be applying to medical school during the 1st year of law school.

 

Personally I decided only very recently that I would like to give medical school a shot (i.e. after I had been accepted to law schools already). I've thought about whether I should defer a year or not, but given some personal constraints, it seems my best decision is to keep going and go on to attend law school, as I already had taken a year off in my undergrad studies, etc. Yes, they are very different disciplines in some sense, but they can also be argued to be similar in other respects. I don't see it as a "waste of time", though you could argue it may be a "waste of money". I am very interested in learning law and gaining some super analytical/reasoning skills, which I think the law education can provide me. At the same time, I think my aptitude is better towards the sciences. Bottom line, I like to learn...so it's not a waste of time! Besides, once you become established in the medical community, there are tons of advocacy/board-of-director roles which the law degree would definitely be an asset to have.

 

Another reason I am not deferring is that with how competitive this whole process is, there's no guarantee I can even secure an interview for next year (I have only a so-so GPA & ECs, engineering background, MCAT not until August). Life must go on! If I can get in next year, then I may leave the law degree and jump ship to meds. But if I don't, I may try again while in 2nd year, in which case I would probably want to defer and finish the law degree before heading to meds.

 

I am well aware that the application committee will probably question me hard on why I'm jumping degrees, but I feel I have valid reasons/explanation to justify my choices at each and every stage.

 

That's my reasoning.

[Guest marbledust]

Personally I think having a back up to medicine is essential in case you don't get admitted or you decide at some point medicine isn't for you. Both years I interviewed I was asked what I planned to do if I didn't get into medicine. Having a plan B or education you can fall back on is especially important with the somewhat risky admissions process.

 

 

When I was doing my science pre-reqs I heard fellow students with awesome stats say "I'm not worried, I'll get into meds" - and then they don't get in. I think if you really want medicine and work hard anybody can get in, so I am not discouraging anybody. If you think you might like both law and medicine it doesn't hurt to apply to both or to switch programs at some point or even to do both if you are insane

[Guest ADOMNIAPARATUS]

My original reply was not to "judge" either disciplines. What I meant was, if I had set out in the beginning to achieve a specific goal, then I'd put my focus on that and find an efficient way to get there. In my case, I hope to go on to meds and specialize in endocrinology or hemotology so going to law would be a "waste of time" for me (and lots of money too) because I am not interested in it - and there's nothing wrong with that. It's true that the more degrees/qualifications you have, the more door of opportunities you can open. But we're all different - not everyone plans to (or can be) both an MD and a lawyer like the classmate you mentioned.