Guest Tooty Posted June 4, 2002 Report Share Posted June 4, 2002 Hey Guys I've been waitlisted at one school and rejected by the rest. I think I'm gonna head to lawschool next year. Just wondering what lawschool is like. Are the people all Type A's with alot of attitude? Are the classes really hard? Is it so bad that both of you are considering med school? Are there law jobs for all the grads even the one's without A's? I heard there are too many lawyers out there and most of them are starving, any truth to this? Thanks LawGirl and Lawboy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lawgirl79 Posted June 5, 2002 Report Share Posted June 5, 2002 Hey Tooty, OK, first of all, law and medicine are very different disciplines/career paths! Sit down and think carefully about what really interests you, something you can see yourself doing even 10 years from now. Definitely don't just go to law school if you really want medicine, but were unsuccessful this year. However, if you DO conclude you would be happy as a lawyer, here goes... 1. There are some really obnoxious, library book-stealing people in my class, but I think these individuals are unfortunately inevitable in any program. Most people are pretty nice, at least at McGill, and the friends I made played a crucial role in surviving first year. However, I do know someone at U of T and she says it is VERY competitive there, which luckily I haven't really experienced. But, that is second-hand information. 2. Classes are very hard. First year law is very boring and very difficult. You have to make it through courses such as property and contracts, which are even more boring than they sound. There is A LOT of reading. And, the exams are brutal. You are allowed to bring all your stuff into the exams (books, notes, etc), so there are no points for memorizing like in the sciences (unfortunately). I have yet to write an exam without seeing people cry afterwards. And, exams are often 100% finals... 3. Since there are no people who graduate law school with an A average (at least at McGill), yes, there are jobs available for those with lesser GPAs. At McGill, zero percent graduate with As or A-s, about 8-10% graduate with a B+, and so on. Honours is a B, so you can figure out from there what the grades are like. Still, I do know that most people have NO problem securing good articling positions (which then usually turn into jobs). Someone I know who graduated this year got a job with Macmillan Binch (Bay st firm) with a B-. The firms get a copy of your class grade distribution, so they take that into consideration when hiring. 4. Starving lawyers?? I don't know any. I think I read recently that the avg salary for a lawyer in Canada is 81 000 (and that is just average--you can make a LOT more than that). I suppose that the state of the economy plays a big part in this, though...However, a lawyer-shortage is being predicted (retiring baby boomers, etc) which is good news for graduates. Also, from what I saw this year, the firms are eager to woo you. Every Thursday we had a "coffee house" which consisted of free food and alcohol courtesy of various law firms. One firm spent $15 000 (Isn't that awful?). It was like a wedding, with a DJ and everything. One thing about a law degree is that it is very versatile--you can do a LOT with it. I keep trying to remind myself that this is why I went in the first place! Law SCHOOL sucks (so far, anyways), but the work I've done in law--which has been in health policy--has been really interesting. I think the reason I'm contemplating medical school is mostly that I have felt, through these jobs, that without a medical education and 'real-life' exposure to the health care system I am somehow missing something in my analyses. And, I miss the clinical setting--I worked at a hospital for 3 years as an RA. Probably if I lived in the US I would have gone for one of those combined law/MD programs. Anyways, I hope this helped! Good luck, and feel free to ask any more questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tooty Posted June 5, 2002 Report Share Posted June 5, 2002 Lawgirl, you are the absolute best!!!!!!! I really want to thank you for your awesome advice. I was wondering what your plans are once you finish your law degree, are you thinking about going into health policy? May I ask what your LSAT and GPA was to get into McGill, I heard McGill is one of the best law schools. Do students with B- or even C+ end up with articling positions? Thank you so much again lawgirl, I am really considering this as a career that I can enjoy. I have just heard some horror stories about people starting there own firm and failing big time because the yellow pages are filled with with hundreds of little lawyers. Have you heard any of this type of talk Thank you Lawgirl, good luck to you Tooty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lawgirl79 Posted June 5, 2002 Report Share Posted June 5, 2002 No problem--glad I could help! My plans when I finish...well, I am seriously considering applying to med school, even though I am aware this is insane. If not, then I am definitely headed toward a career in health policy. I am interested in health protection/drug regulation. About the people starting up their own firms and failing--this is entirely possible. However, I think working for an established firm, the government, or a company is not only safer but would be way more interesting. Maybe I'm wrong, but you probably don't want to spend your life doing wills and estates, which I think is what a lot of independant lawyers/small firms do. If you work for a major firm or even the government, I promise you won't starve. A B- can definitely get you a good articling position, and I'm betting a C+ would not be the end of the world. I think actually that most people finish with a B- in the end, anyways--the school doesn't benefit from unemployed grads. A good undergrad background/interesting work experience will help too. If you did your degree in science, there are intellectual property firms that specifically recruit science people. I think 2 of these, if you wanted to look them up on the web, are Smart & Biggar and Bereskin & Parr. This is a VERY lucrative area. As for my GPA and LSAT--I had an A average (on that OMSAS scale it comes out around 3.8) and 96th percentile. HOWEVER--you do NOT need a really high LSAT for most schools. I think it's most important at U of T. And, McGill no longer requires the LSAT (This is b/c of the francophone applicants...similar to the Ottawa meds situation, I think). Be careful, though, because if you HAVE written the LSAT, they will use it to judge your application, and it can either hurt or help you depending on your score. One more thing about McGill (should you decide to apply) is the "French Question". McGill has this "Passive Bilingualism" policy where they say you must be able to understand and read French (you don't have to speak it though) because you get 2 law degrees--the LLB and the BCL (Bachelor of Civil law--Quebec has a Civil law system, the rest of Canada a Common law one). DO NOT let this disuade you from applying. When I applied, they called me and asked me questions in French and I had a lot of trouble understanding. I told them I would take a course before coming in the fall, and they told me I was accepted. I took a 6-week immersion course, and while it helped a lot, my French is still not that great. This, however, has had no impact on my grades. While there are French readings in most classes, there are summaries of these readings available en Anglais, even in the Civil Law courses. In fact, my best mark this year was in Civil law property, which had almost exclusively French readings. Sorry for the long-winded reply--I hope this is helping! You should pick up an LSAT registration guide (available somewhere at every University). It has in it the requirements for every law school in the country plus these "acceptance tables" which indicate your chances of getting in based on your GPA/LSAT. Best of Luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lawgirl79 Posted June 5, 2002 Report Share Posted June 5, 2002 That should say 3.8 for the GPA...I have no idea why there is a guy wearing sunglasses there instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tooty Posted June 5, 2002 Report Share Posted June 5, 2002 Lawgirl Your help is soooo appreciated!!! Health Policy seems really interesting. I was wondering how to get a job in Health Policy (like you did before law school) maybe for a year to get some neat experience related to health care initiation and execution initiatives. This would also help me save up some money for law school and keep me in the health care field. Thanks again (Sorry Lawgirl, I hope I'm not harassing you too much !!) BTW I think the reason that cool guy with the shades showed up was because your marks are so cool 8) take care Tooty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stressed22 Posted June 7, 2002 Report Share Posted June 7, 2002 This is strange. You don't get into med school and so you're going to law? This reminds me of a friend of mine. Law is really different from medicine - different skill set completely. Make sure you really want to do this. As someone who's going to law school next year, I really dont want to be in a class with med school rejects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Please Posted June 8, 2002 Report Share Posted June 8, 2002 Please don't be too condescending, stressed22. For most med applicants, law could simply be viewed as an alternative. Why not? To the vast vast majority of lawyers, LAW is JUST A JOB, the same as working at Macdonalds. Do you think a lot of ethics and the self goes into a lot of legal practice?? The days of lawyers like in "To Kill a Mockingbird" are long gone. The world of corporate law, business law, patent law and many other fields (some exceptions noted, ie. family law, some criminal law etc.) is shallow, greed driven and heartless. If you really wanted medicine but could not succeed in placing in Canada's positions, you owe it to yourself to find an alternate career. I think I speak for most people when I say that they want to do medicine for a higher purpose other than just having a job and career. If the status quo in Canada won't let you do medicine because of strange fiscal policies leading to limited seats, then why not take another job in the meantime to support oneself? It's the absolutely smart thing to do for onself if one can handle it. Yes they are different mindsets, but so what? Most people with average IQ's can handle both if they applied themselves. One does not exclude the other. Calling someone a "medschool reject" probably indicates a type of personality that would not make for a compassionate, empathic physician. It's probably a lesser evil for the public that you chose to try your hand at law over medicine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BC guy Posted June 9, 2002 Report Share Posted June 9, 2002 During my interviews at UBC, I was asked by both interviewers at my two interviews why I am not going for law instead of medicine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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