Deferring information

[Guest Lawgirl79]

Hi all,

 

I received some conclusive info on deferring at Mac, so I thought I'd post it here in case it will be helpful to anyone else.

 

I was hoping to apply this year with the intention of deferring (should I be so lucky as to be accepted). However, anyone with a similar plan should be aware that deferring is NOT permitted for anyone completing an undergrad degree, which includes law degrees (and, therefore, all other professional degrees--dentistry, veterinary medicine, etc). It is also not permitted to finish graduate course work. Deferral is only permitted if you are finishing a grad thesis, or for compassionate reasons or parental/pregnancy. So, it looks like I will be waiting another year to apply... :\

 

Hope this helps. Good luck to those of you applying and congrats to those of you who got in!

[Guest MDWannabe]

Lawgirl,

 

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but watch out with those law school grades! Your 3 years in law school will be counted as undergrad and the grades will be rolled in with the rest of your undergrad. If you're like most law students (ie very few wind up with A averages), it will wreak havoc with your GPA.

 

If I were you, I'd apply now anyway!

 

Good luck

[Guest Lawgirl79]

Thanks for the advice...congrats on getting in, by the way! You must be so excited!

 

I desperately want to apply, but I can't imagine a scenario worse than getting in and having to decide whether to drop out of law school. I'm pretty sure I want to finish, and eventually have a career that combines law/MD work. The GPA thing does suck, though. My ~3.8 undergrad has now become a 3.58, which is not too bad, but not great either, compared to a lot of premeds. I'm hoping that since I did OK my first year (B's/B+'s), the upcoming year may be a bit better. I've stocked my schedule with health-related classes--in my experience, being interested in something leads to better grades. Hopefully my GPA won't dip below the 3.5-3.6 range, and I can apply in my third year and have an OK shot. The non-academic side of my application should be pretty strong...

 

Ugh, this is all so complicated! Lucky you for not having to go through it again!

[Guest Lawgirl79]

Hi again--I just noticed in the general discussion you posted you have an LLB and LLM! If you don't mind, I'd be really interested to know what you've been doing, work-wise, since law school. Did you work in health law? What made you decide to apply to medicine? Were your law grades really high? Sorry if this is intrusive, I'm just very curious! I don't think there are tons of people out there interested in applying to medicine after law. I'd love to hear a bit about your experience.

[Guest MDWannabe]

If your GPA including law is above 3.5, it sounds like you'll fit in with the sea of applications that come in, to the point that your marks won't hurt you (or, for that matter, help you). If the rest of your application impresses, I think you'll be fine. In any case, even though I'm in, I will speak to the AdCom in the attempt to change this policy, since I think they could potentially lose some (although admittedly a very small number of) good applicants.

 

As for me, I'm a portfolio manager (10 years) with almost no postsecondary sciences. I practiced for 3 years before that in a large downtown law firm. Problem was, I was always more naturally oriented to sciences (funny how I got down this road in the first place), and more importantly, was missing the people contact. I don't mean the in-passing hi how are yous in the hall, but meaningful one-on-ones.

 

I believe the thing that interested the AdCom in my case was a really well rounded background that could translate into the dream I was pursuing. A long history of analyzing and problem solving, issue spotting and solution generating. The case approach in law school, and, more importantly, in MBA school is analogous to PBL at Mac. I'm told that McMaster's program was the first medical school to adopt a variation of Harvard MBA's case approach. Western's MBA program was the first Canadian MBA version of Harvard's. There was a lot of volunteer work (legal aid, working with homeless people, school board work, and some hospital work), so they could probably see a propensity to be proactive in a range of situations. That being said, I believe we talked more about some of my more eclectic leisure activities in my interview (cabinet making, distance running, windsurfing, canoe tripping - you know, all those things you won't have time for when you get in!).

 

As far as deciding whether to finish law, I encourage you to speak to as many doctors and lawyers as you can. It's very easy to focus on the school part, instead of the ultimate practice. In my experience, I without exaggeration can think of only a few lawyers who love their work, although they will tell you that the study of law is very inspiring and interesting. My lawyer contemporaries say the same thing. While doctors appear to be in the same boat at first blush, you will find with very little prodding that (even as the government bureaucracy and funding issues pervade) there is a much higher satisfaction level at the core of what they do - a feeling that they are really doing something meaningful to help others.

 

Sorry about all this rambling - probably more than you wanted to read! If you get to the application stage, we'll see about hooking up.

[Guest MDHopefully]

Hey MDWannabe:

 

Wow your life sounds strikingly familiar. I completed a MBA/llb program at Western and have my undergrad( Bcomm) from UofT. (I'm not sure about your undergrad but carrying on ), I worked at one of the seven sisters on Bay St. for 4 years and have been in investment banking for 3. I am going for medicine for the very reasons that you have pointed out. I will be applying this year and perhaps taking some science courses to write the MCAT.

 

I was wondering if you would not mind talking offline about things. gt233@aol.com

 

In any case congratulations MDWannabe, I wish you the best!!!!!

 

Thanks alot

Mike aka MDHopefully

[Guest MD Hopefully]

Sorry the email address was gt2333@aol.com

 

Hope to hear from you soon!

 

Good Luck again

[Guest akhenaten1]

It would seem that I hit the jackpot with this thread - I didn't think there would be many people out there that would be switching mid-way through careers or post law school. I am currently in my fourth year of practice at a downtown Toronto law firm and will be applying for Meds this year. I too do not have the science prerequisites to apply to any school other than Mac so I'm not sure what my odds will be.

 

Back to work for me but I will say that I look forward to speaking/sharing comments with each of you during the application process.

 

ciao