Amy
What is more rigorous or difficult - a medical or law career path?
Factoring in difficulty and rigor of respective undergraduate education paths, MCAT/LSAT, medical/law school, and medical residency/law internships. #medicine #law #law-school
2 answers
abhi Kumar
abhi’s Answer
Medicine and law are considered to be two of the most glamorous career paths on the job market, and thus, each requires a rigorous and stress-laden education. Doctors average about twenty-three years in school (four of which are spent in medical school), while lawyers average about twenty-two (three as a law student). Moreover, the academic path continues well beyond law or medical school in most cases, often through an internship or residency. Though Law and Medicine exact heavy tuition fees on prospective physicians and attorneys, both careers warrant prodigious salaries, with lawyers earning 113,310 dollars per year and doctors earning 183,170 dollars per year.
Casey Callahan
Casey’s Answer
I can't speak for the medical path, but I can speak for the legal path. One thing I would emphasize is that the legal job market is not what it used to be - for years before and up until I started law school in 2010, going to law school was considered a guarantee to having a well-paid job upon graduation. That is not remotely the case anymore, unfortunately. Jobs are much more scarce, and depending on the market you're in and how many law schools are in the area, certain firms may not even consider you if you're not a student at the top 1-2 schools in the area, or in the top 10% of your class. I went to law school in New York City, and even just getting an unpaid summer internship was incredibly difficult, not to mention a job after graduation - I was unemployed for almost a year after I graduated!
That's not to say I don't think you should pursue a legal career - if it's something you're interested in, and can yourself doing long-term, definitely pursue it! It's certainly not as long of a process as going to medical school. But the two fields are incredibly different, and I would encourage you think about where your interests lie, as both fields require a pretty big investment in money AND time.
If you are leaning towards the legal field, some points of advice I would offer:
1) Don't worry about taking any pre-law classes during undergrad. I went to film school at NYU for undergrad and had never even taken a real exam when I started law school, and now I work in banking & capital markets focusing on regulatory compliance. Your undergrad grades are important, but the subject matter of the classes really isn't.
2) Consider attending law school in the state you plan to practice. A lot of your law school classes will include learning about the laws of the state the school is in, and you will likely be required to take a civil practice class that's ONLY for the state the school is in. You can certainly take the bar and be admitted to more than one state, but it will be much easier when it comes time to study for the bar and get a job if you're already well-versed in the local law.
3) Don't go to law school for the money. Six-figure salaried jobs at BigLaw firms are incredibly hard to come by, as I mentioned above, and if you do get one, you'll most likely be working horribly long hours for several years after you start working. Having a lot of money isn't quite as nice if you don't have any time to spend it! :)
4) 1L year is important. Your grades during 1L can affect your 1L summer internship prospects, which will affect your 2L internship prospects, which will affect your post-grad job prospects. They also will most likely affect your overall grades for the remainder of law school. Case in point: I got a C on my Torts midterm (not even the final exam!) during 1L, and because the classes that year are weighted so heavily, it took me until second semester 3L year to get my cumulative GPA up to a 3.75.
Good luck!