<p>Who work harder, law students or med, and lawyer vs. doctor?</p>
<p>why are you comparing these two? they are very different and attract very different people - unless you are working on the assumption that these are the two options a smart student should choose between.
if you want to be a lawyer you go to law school.
if you want to be a doctor you go to medical school.
those are the relevant differences for someone to consider.</p>
<p>Hi,
My daughter has been accepted to Johns Hopkins, Cornell University, etc. We have a hard time to decide which major my daughter is supposed to work on. I have a same questioin with your too. I know a littile about law school. AS for pre-med, Princeton review on the line says that only 16,000 spots for medical school admission are available each year. So many people work on pre-med program each year and it makes so hard to enter medical school. My daughter does not know what to decide about her future major, which is related to her choosing college too. I would like to have advice. Thanks,</p>
<p>you can major in sciences and go to law school. you can major in social science/humanities and go to medical school (as long as you take the required science courses).
i'm sorry, but i can't understand a choice between these two careers based on which is easier to get into or harder as a profession. they are two very different fields - AND there are other professions out there.<br>
caixia - i doubt your d has to decide her major before she is even there. most colleges expect students to explore to find their fields of interest. don't pressure her to decide to early - give her a chance to see what interests her - it may not be either law or medicine.
she should choose the college where she feels she will fit in the best and be happy - not merely what she thinks is the appropriate path to a career that she may not be ready to choose.</p>
<p>I don't choose a career because it's easier or harder, or because it makes me look smart.
I just wanna know which career/school, you think, is harder.
Think of it like a stupid survey, you know</p>
<p>Anyway, thanks for your inputs</p>
<p>caixia,
I think when you d is at a college she can talk to her advisor, go to the career center, or something like that. They would be more professional and have more information. Don't be worried about it yet. But well, you know, you can always ask people for their opinions and that's what I'm doing. Uh and internships help, too. If your d can/want to, tell her to to try both hospital internship and some law internship.</p>
<p>Depends. Doctors study harder and need more technical knowledge. Lawyers need more social skills and writing skills wheras doctors don't really.</p>
<p>There are many lawyers that are failed pre-meds, wheras the converse is not true. So I would have to say doctor (at least a good one).</p>
<p>Crappy lawyers and doctors are probably equal to each other in terms of ability.</p>
<p>Well, I've heard a lot of people say that law school is for people who can't do science or engineering....</p>
<p>Here's a more rational question: who makes more money, lawyers or doctors?</p>
<p>(Why would anyone want to work harder?...LIfe is too short as it is.)</p>
<p>
[quote]
Well, I've heard a lot of people say that law school is for people who can't do science or engineering....
[/quote]
No, you've heard wrong. Law school is NOT for people who do science or engineering because the academic rigor of a science or engineering major is astronomical compared to a liberal arts major. And, GPAs are on average lower for science or engineering majors. Since law school is so heavily based on LSAT and GPAs, majoring in a science or engineering is a great way to make sure you never get into law school.</p>
<p>Of course, that is why law school is known as the "Smartest of the Dumbest Club".</p>
<p>Polo: I'm an engineer-turned-law student. :p</p>
<p>There's also a fair amount of snobbery: poli sci, English, and sociology are "intellectual" majors, but engineering is a trade. Not professional school, mind you - it's a trade. Grrrr.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
No, you've heard wrong. Law school is NOT for people who do science or engineering because the academic rigor of a science or engineering major is astronomical compared to a liberal arts major. And, GPAs are on average lower for science or engineering majors. Since law school is so heavily based on LSAT and GPAs, majoring in a science or engineering is a great way to make sure you never get into law school.
[/QUOTE]
I wish I had thought of law school admissions before I decided to major in computer science. Our department's average GPA was a 2.9, the second lowest in our school. Math was the lowest with an average of 2.8. Actually, my major GPA was a 3.6 (I had the highest GPA in our department, but that GPA would have been lower than average if I had majored in something like Sociology, and it seems to be lower than the median at many top law schools), and my Math GPA was a 3.92 (I took 3 courses and was on course to do a minor until I decided to stop taking Math courses after my sophomore year). Maybe I should've majored in Math instead...or better yet, majored in something like Econ or Sociology.</p>
<p>Oh, you know what sucks? My overall GPA was a 3.7, but re-calculating it using the LSAC scale yields a 3.65. I got a lot of A-'s in my major field (which was often the highest grade given, since a lot of profs in our department refused to hand out an A unless the work was of truly unique caliber), and our school calculates an A- as 3.7, while the LSAC uses 3.67. If I had a lot of B+'s (or A+'s, which my school doesn't have) things might've evened out. </p>
<p>Oh well...nothing I can do about my GPA now. Guess I gotta 'all-in' on my LSAT score. God what a pressure cooker!</p>
<p>As a member of the 3.6 club I welcome you. Its not too hard since law attracts the smartest of the dumb, I like to think the above average of the smart can do fairly well matched against them. Just try to score above the 75th percentile of the LSAT of the schools you want to get into and you should be fine for apps (easier said than done I know).</p>
<p>Your major is also extremely useful for the games section of the LSAT.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Polo: I'm an engineer-turned-law student.</p>
<p>There's also a fair amount of snobbery: poli sci, English, and sociology are "intellectual" majors, but engineering is a trade. Not professional school, mind you - it's a trade. Grrrr.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Congrats! But its downright difficult. Seems like you beat the curve!</p>
<p>Doctors get paid more I think, and I believe med school is harder.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Crappy lawyers and doctors are probably equal to each other in terms of ability.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>The best part? Both have the power to ruin your life in very different ways.</p>
<p>let's talk about what's the crappy part of being a lawyer or a doctor.</p>
<p>Actually, I was near dead-center of my class - and considering we had very low GPAs, getting into law school was rough. My saving grace was that (for anyone who cared to examine my transcrip) I beat the curve - by a nice margin - in five of my eight semesters. The other three were when I spent more time in the hospital and doctor's offices than out of them. </p>
<p>I was pulled off the waitlist at the school I'm at... they like engineers and math people, so they forgave my low GPA.</p>
<p>LAW SCHOOL AND MEDICAL SCHOOL, both are hard--but in different ways. </p>
<p>when i was in law school, there was a girl who was did a joint MD/JD program. she had already completed 2 years of medical school and began the law school portion. she said that law school was much harder because in medical school they tell you want you need to know and you just memorize and repeat it. in law school, however, they don't tell you anything. you have to figure it out on your own and then you have to defend your arguments against a professor who knows much more than you. </p>
<p>also, since my girlfriend went to medical school while i attended law school, i noticed some things. i know for a fact that there is no way she could do what i was doing. likewise, i probably couldn't do what she did. </p>
<p>the idea that law students are failed medical students belies the circumstances most students find themselves in. many think they want to go to med school because often times, parents push them into that direction. it is only when these students discover for themselves what they are interested in, do they transition to law or some other field. </p>
<p>WHO WORKS HARDER, you're joking right?
lawyers and doctors both work very hard. however, lawyers, generally, need to be entrepreneurial while doctors tend to be employees. </p>
<p>there are different skill sets involved. </p>
<p>WHO GETS PAID MORE
the range of earnings is wide. but let me give you an example: lawyer files a class action lawsuit for 100 million dollars, on contingency. lawyer's contingency fee is 30%. that case alone is probably much more than what a general physician will ever make in his career. a lawyer could retire off of one case. but why would he? its so... rewarding. ;-)</p>
<p>what about a personal injury case? man loses an arm because of a faulty product. settle for 1 million let's say. same contingency fee. do 2 of those a year. </p>
<p>i'll give you another example. immigration attorney charges a flat fee, $2,000. but in detroit, michigan he can only get 2 clients a month. he doesn't get paid as much. </p>
<p>the thing is, most doctors will only ever be salaried since most do the HMO or hospital route. lawyers have a flexible compensation model. </p>
<p>WHO REALLY GETS PAID MORE
go to wall street. be a hedge fund manager. play the stock market. make 1 billion dollars a year. </p>
<p>CONCLUSION
there is a difference between being smart or educated or a respected professional versus making money. going to school doesn't necessarily make you money. working hard also doesn't necessarily make you money. </p>
<p>john rockefellar didn't graduate high school and began his professional life as a bookkeeper. he said that going to school was a luxury he did not have. so what do you want to do? </p>
<p>of course, they don't teach you how to make money in school because that isn't their point. but, it should be your point. this is coming from a guy who has a JD and doing a 2nd bachelors. i, however, collect degrees for fun. i make more money by owning 3 apartment buildings than a doctor does from his salary. do you know what i do all day? whatever i want. every month, i make sure tenants collect rent. that's about it. </p>
<p>profits are made off of the labor of other people. figure out how to exploit that and you needn't know much else.</p>
<p>worst thing about being a lawyer is getting clients and dealing with bad clients, so far.</p>
<p>
[quote]
doctors tend to be employees [...] most doctors will only ever be salaried since most do the HMO or hospital route
[/quote]
Huh? Most physicians are probably in private practice.</p>