Hello everyone. I have 3 different career paths i’m interested in, just not sure which to actually pursue.
(1. get JD, 2. get PhD, OR 3. get MD.) OR ( 4. get dual JD/PHD)
When i started undergrad i had originally planned on attending law school, but later realized that might be a bad idea (unemployment and competitive) So i kind of gave of on that and soon started leaning towards medicine. For a lot of different reasons i’m actually considering going to medical school but as cheesy as it may seems… i think i may have discovered my love for psychology and research. I find it very interesting and its something that i want to pursue so that is why i want to get my phd after undergrad (and i get to be a licensed psychologist!). I just don’t know which route to take. I really need some advice. Anything is appreciated.
What year are you in? You don’t have to make all of these decisions now. If you don’t know what route to take, the best thing to do is not to go to graduate school right away - but take some time off to work, perhaps in one of these fields, and see what you really want to do.
I will say, though, that you probably shouldn’t do a JD/PhD unless you want to be a law professor. Specifically a law professor - not a psychology professor who studies law-related things (you can do that with a PhD alone). The academic law market is so competitive that having a PhD in addition to a JD can help you significantly, but only if it’s from a great law school AND a great program in the secondary field. You don’t do a combined degree because you can’t decide; you do a combined degree because you want to use the two together in some highly specific way.
The rest…it just all depends on whether you really want to be a doctor, a psychologist, or a lawyer. They are three completely different career fields.
I am currently in my 2nd year. I have many pros and cons of why i want to do a JD/PHD but i am debating on whether or not i should do the dual program or just do law school first and then get my Phd. Wanting to become a lawyer and researching psychology is the main reason for my interest in the dual program. With medicine i feel like i wouldn’t be able to study psychology as much (and obviously practice law) Although, If i don’t get into a top law school, there is a very high chance of not succeeding or finding employment in the legal field. Therefore i feel discouraged with the law route causing me to want to go towards medicine (another strong interest of mine).
I understand these are three completely different career fields but i’m interested in all of them. Im trying to be realistic.
Especially as a sophomore, it is completely natural to be interested in more than one career field. However, at some point, you will have to choose. Even if you did decide to get a JD and a PhD, you’d still have to choose a career. And yes, sometimes choosing means closing some doors behind you - but that’s okay. You don’t have to try to keep all the doors open; you just have to pick something that you can reasonably enjoy and look forward to.
And hey, nothing’s forever. I know some people who did a PhD and decided that they wanted to be lawyers or doctors after, so they went and did a JD or an MD later. I also know some folks who did it the other way around.
Either way, you have plenty of time to be making these choices. I still think that the a JD/PhD is probably the wrong choice for the majority of people - it really is a specialized kind of degree for people who want to do legal research in the context of academia, not just for people who have kind of vague interests in both psychological research and practicing law.