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Law School vs. Med School – Excellent Choice.
Is law school harder than med school? Whether law school is harder than med school depends on natural abilities and aptitude of a student. Those with desire to have more scientific career solving medical problems should choose medical school. And those who like writing, presenting persuasive arguments in legal setting and solving legal problems should choose law school.
When choosing between law school or medical school I probably would choose medical school. Law school vs med school analysis becomes easy when in addition to earning potential I started factoring intangible and non-financial perks.
Medical school beats law school in few important aspects. Especially in the aspect of finding a job after graduation and having a good fulfilling and respectable career.
But, only as long as you can deal with people’s health problems all the time and can handle blood and other perks that come with the practice of medicine.
Is Law School Harder Med School? Admission Comparison.
Both law school and medical schools offer challenging curriculum to their students. I am a little bit qualified to answer this question because I have doctors in the family.
Also, a couple of my law school classmates formerly were doctors. I questioned them about study differences.
Law or medicine can be boiled down to a couple of major points. Lawyers resolve legal problems for their clients, and doctors resolve medical problems of their patients. And often legal problems are “dirtier” than medial ones.
There are 170+ medical schools in the United States granting medical doctor (MD) and doctor of osteopathy (DO) degrees.
There are over 200 law schools in the US. But while there are about 40,000 law students enrolled each year, only about 20,000 medical students enroll annually. This should already suggest better post-graduation opportunities.
Just look at doctors job outlook statistics from the Department of Labor.
Medical schools are keener on keeping their graduate’s numbers down. Probably because doctors are concerned about their income and overall standard of medical care.
Law schools seem not to be concerned that much about competition in the legal market. Therefore, the debate is law school harder than med school should also include evaluation of employment perspectives.
Similarity also lies with intense studies of advanced topics. Law school requires a deep study of theoretical legal concepts. Medical school requires a deep study of medical theories and concepts.
Law School vs. Medical School Curriculum Difficulty.
Law school or medical school both offer challenging environment for their students. It is easier to get enrolled into law school and become law school newbie than into medical school.
Law schools do not require any pre-requisites except for any bachelor’s degree and LSAT test. Medical schools usually require prerequisites like pre-med or biology degree, or science electives in undergraduate college.
You can check Harvard med school’s required prerequisites. Of course, to get into any medical school you will need to pass MCAT with flying colors.
Law or medicine is about natural aptitude of a student. Law school is about heavy reading and then writing law school exams.
Medical school is more about learning problems through clinical studies and hands-on training. This is an important difference. I have heard that med school is easier than engineering school. Go figure.
The choice law vs. medicine depends on what student knows best. Medical students must know mathematics, biology, chemistry, for example. This means that the med school requires scientific understanding.
Law students do not need to know anything really, besides law and ability to read a lot and write well and spin the truth. Both programs require a very good memory.
Another important difference is that law school is three years of studying law and then three to six months preparing for the bar exam – that is how to become an attorney.
Once law graduates pass the state bar exam, they obtain an attorney license and then are allowed to practice law in the state which issued the license.
Medical students, on the other hand, have to endure four years of medical school. And then multiple years of residency, depending on their specialty.
Sometimes it comes up to up to a total of 12 years of study and practical training to become a doctor. During residency, a med student becomes a physician and starts receiving a salary.
Easier to Endure Law School or Medical School?
My law school classmates who formerly were doctors told me that law school in some ways is harder. Because medical students study fewer variables, and they are more constant. Whatever that means. Med students are not required to spin facts both ways.
In law school, there are more variables and they change more often. I think that means specific principles.
In the medical field, principles and concepts stay the same as adopted by the industry. One cannot spin digestive properties of a bile both ways, I think.
In law there are rules, then exceptions, then exceptions to the exceptions, then new rules come up, then lawyers twist the rules depending on their client’s needs.
For the sake of example, excessive consumption of alcohol is bad for liver function no matter how we medically spin this fact.
But in law, we may have exceptions for bad childhood, loss of job and income, misrepresentation and trickery by friends, mental anguish, good behavior record, cat charity donations and millions other factors as exceptions justifying alcoholism.
Unlike lawyers, doctors cannot “argue their side” with the human physiology to prove their point. And should not.
Between law school or medical school I think medical school offers more straightforward and clear education program than law school.
But law school studying is more even and set. The first year is brutal and the last two years are kind of relaxed, boring and at a similar pace.
With fewer study hours in the third year than the first year in law school. Law school is physically and mentally less demanding.
Medical school is opposite – the first couple of years require huge volumes of reading and memorization, and the last two years require 100-hour practical work weeks, with serious sleep deprivation.
Student debt and repayment post-graduation
Is law school harder than med school? At this point we see that it is not. But which one is worth more in terms of future income stream?
Where in law school or medical school, student loans are usually much higher for doctors than for lawyers.
But, career of a doctor, in my opinion, is much more stable. Overall most doctors over lifetime are paid way more money than most attorneys. That is why attorneys often sue doctors, I guess. Just kidding. Kind of.
Doctors on average make several times more than attorneys. Doctors are almost guaranteed to become millionaires if they work hard and smart and stay competent. Medical school is more practical, while law school is more theoretical. Doctors learn how to do their job hands-on in medical schools.
Lawyers? Not so much. No guaranteed job or income. Many lawyers are actually quite poor and quit profession altogether. Law schools do not teach their students how to practice law. Which is kind of BS, in my humble opinion.
Historically, doctors enjoy a good reputation, people love them and respect them and admire doctors because doctors help them feel better just being around. At least, supposed to do that.
Attorneys, on the other hand, are kind of hated by many because people are afraid of being sued, just for being around.
And true, many lawyers file frivolous lawsuits against people and businesses. That throws a reputation shadow on all lawyers.
Between law or medicine, doctors have more respect in the society. Almost on the level of admiration.
Here is a true story. My former neighbor in an apartment building in Los Angeles was a UCLA medical student and son of Indian immigrants. He studied well and hard.
After graduation and whatever else he had to finish for residence and MD license, he was offered and accepted a hospital administrator position in middle-sized Midwest town. His starting salary was something like $400,000 annually, plus benefits.
He did not believe this was happening to him. He was running around apartment building back and forth looking like “what the hell is happening??” He bought a house BEFORE he arrived at his workplace location.
You will practically never hear a story like that about law graduates. The only time law grads were offered anything more than low pay was either when they graduate from top law schools.
Or, if their pre-law majors or work was in science, engineering and…medicine or pharmacy. Yep. Between law or medicine, medicine pays better.
Work Difference Between Lawyers and Doctors
The reputation of the doctor is also more favorable than that of a lawyer. The medical profession is more prestigious, more interesting and doctors are more flexible in their work hours.
I cannot say the same about the legal field. A physician has the flexibility to work fewer hours at the same rate. A Big Law attorney has to either work extremely long hours or quit.
Law school is worth it without any reservations only if it is either in the top 15 or if you can go to lower-tier law school for lower cost (not possible).
The medical school allows every single graduate to make 100-200K no matter what and where they were in their class or their school.
Law is about sitting in front of a computer all day, reading endless legal opinions, rules, and BS from other attorneys. It is not glamorous at all. Few times going to the court, unless it is incriminate defense attorney.
The doctor is about being an angel for a patient – a savior. Almost like God. And doctor walking in the room invokes respect and “Aw, doctor!”. Lawyer invokes…well, you know, “…damn, lawyer!”
A pity or concern for being sued by accident. Even successful lawyers often do not report much job satisfaction so often.
But many successful doctors enjoy their jobs and their lives. In terms of law vs. medicine, law work is worse and more miserable than medical residency, I think.
Also, the law is usually state-specific. A lawyer from New York wanting to move to California will need to retake the California bar exam with different state law. Or will need to wait and work in home state for 5-7 years, then get waived in and still need to learn local law.
A doctor does not have to re-learn anything because standards are the same and treatment methods and standards are practically the same in New York and California.
Final thoughts on Law School vs. Med School choice
Law school is not harder than med school. Medicine surely offers better career path. In my opinion, the law is also about being able to BS exceptionally well.
Medicine is about solving actual health problems. But I have heard some high-level BS from doctors too. But their BS was more elaborate and scientific-based. Just kidding.
Overall, by admission criteria, the possibility to enroll, the duration of the study, pre-requisite requirements, law school still seems to be an easier choice.
But for career stability and money-making purposes, medical school beats law school hands down. There are simply too many lawyers and not enough jobs for all of them.
The final verdict is that med school training is harder, but medical career is way more rewarding than law school. On the other hand, law school is easier and quicker, especially if you can go for cheap, with less student loan burden.
Still, law school applications dropped almost 30%-40% since the early 2000s. Nowadays it is even easier to get into law school.
But medical school applications increased in the same period, making it even harder to get into than into law school.
What you need to figure out is what you like to do more. Do you like to deal with human health problems all the time? See blood often? Deal with sick or very sick people who ask for help? And sometimes you simply cannot help them, but often you can and should?
Or, you want to fight with other attorneys all the time, try to figure out how to twist the law in favor of your client without getting disciplined by the bar? Read and read and read legal texts all day to write a good brief? Or solve a tax problem? Or defend a person accused of a crime, where a person committed a crime?
If I had another choice between going to law school and medical school, now I would choose a medical school. If I could get into one. But that is my personal opinion.
So, to the poised question law school vs med school, my answer would be probably med school is a better choice overall. But a more difficult one.
Max Feo JD, MBA, Tax LLM.
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