Physician with 3.98 161 LSAT

[LawyerMD]

Hi

I really would like to get into a top 10 law school, but I know realistically my chances may be slim with a 161 LSAT.

I have a graduate degree (physician)
many publications, outstanding letters and extracurricular activities
and am interested in health care law

Do I have a chance?

Also I applied to a combined program with another graduate degree, and have already been accepted to several top ten programs for the graduate part... does that help at all in getting into the law school part?

I saw last year Yale's lowest LSAT was 154. Not to say that is my goal, but I would like to get into a top ten school. Is this realistic?

[HR6352]

No chance unless you're black or Hispanic. 

Why would you want to become a lawyer any way?  Doctors do much better. 

[LawyerMD]

law school predictor says Berkeley and UCLA would consider me, and Im rejected everywhere else.

So who are the people that are the scattered people getting 154s into a top ten school.

I still want to be a doctor, but I want to do health care law. Im really passionate about it.

[BikePilot]

My guess is very URMs with very good GPAs and probably very rich parents making huge donations. That you are already a doctor and published could help a lot though, I just don't have any data on how much it could help.  Apply broadly and cross your fingers.

Do you really need a JD to do whatever it is you want to do?  You can write on health-law policy without one - only really need the JD if you want to practice law I'd think and its an uphill battle to make $$ doing that right now.

good luck!

[waxecstatic]

I'm sorry but this is the most ridiculous idea I have ever heard.  As a doctor, you will never stop learning, you will constantly have to adapt to changes relating to drugs and variations in disorders.  If you are a doctor, you do not have time for yourself, yet you want to dedicate three years of your life because you are passionate about health care law?  Furthermore, you have already put yourself through the rigor medical school, internship, and residency.  Why in God's name would you want to go to law school now?  You know how many people go to law school?  You are not even guaranteed to do what you want even if you were to graduate.  Who cares what school you go to quite frankly.  I think you're missing the big picture.  If you are a doctor, just worry about the patients you are seeing, and that should be plenty if not more than enough.

Most ridiculous post ever.

[LawyerMD]

You're pretty ridiculous for discounting peoples' goals and aspirations. There are many reasons why I want to practice both law and medicine besides health care law but I dont have to explain that to you.

Please google MD-PhD (spend over 8-9 years in school) MD, MBA; And believe it or not I have seen people with MD JD MPH... running hospitals, and other major health care organizations. Three years is not a long stretch of time and I find it pretty obnoxious that you would discount peoples goals because of their current profession.

There are lawyers who switch into medicine, and vice versa. There are various combinations of dual degrees. In fact there are even a handful of medical schools that offer MD-JD 6 year programs.

Most ridiculous post ever.

[waxecstatic]

Give me a break.  It is not as if I am telling you that you will not get into college, be in the major league's, become a teacher, or become a writer.  Law school is an aspiration like wanting a bigger house is an aspiration.  Your not having a JD or your having a JD will have zero impact on anyone besides yourself, because there are more than enough people available to fill every kind of law job.  You are a bit quixotic.  For every big law job, there are 50 people waiting to take that person's place who are every bit as qualified.  Furthermore, law school has become a haven for clueless college grads.  That's one huge difference between law school and med school as I'm sure you know.  Plus, it is not about racking up degrees.  I don't think there will ever be a day in which you say "medicine is boring and unchallenging."  You want something boring, you're on the right course by applying to law school.  The law is extremely boring.  It is also over-saturated on the supply side.  A law degree ain't what it used to be let's just say.  Three years is not a long time?  Then you find yourself tacking on a year or two of entry level work to supplement this or that.  That mindset is a slippery slope.  

It isn't the most ridiculous post because you are not familiar with the economics of a law degree.  To be perfectly honest, with a 161, I really doubt you will get into an elite school.  Certainly if you were just a college kid, you'd have zero chance.  Not because that is a bad score.  It is very respectable.  But because like a hundred thousand people take the LSAT every year.  Law school is not like medical school; it doesn't not offer job security, and for many people it is, sadly, a waste.  My English teacher was a lawyer.  It is definitely not worth it for many folks.  There was a Wall Street Journal article about this that was published a couple years back.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119040786780835602.html?mod=hps_us_pageone
Before you go any further, read that article.  
 
Malpractice, insurance companies, baffling illnesses, patients calling everyday about drugs.  Isn't that enough?  But apply anyway if that's what you want and see what happens.  Good luck.

[Thane Messinger]

There are many reasons why I want to practice both law and medicine besides health care law but I dont have to explain that to you.

Please google MD-PhD (spend over 8-9 years in school) MD, MBA; And believe it or not I have seen people with MD JD MPH... running hospitals, and other major health care organizations. Three years is not a long stretch of time and I find it pretty obnoxious that you would discount peoples goals because of their current profession.

There are lawyers who switch into medicine, and vice versa. There are various combinations of dual degrees. In fact there are even a handful of medical schools that offer MD-JD 6 year programs.

This is not at all a silly question.  Three friends in my first year section were physicians.  They were, I think it is fair to say, among the happiest of us all.  One, who turned 52 during his first year, had a great IP practice.

In fact, if genuine your desires are BETTER reasons than to make lots of money, change the world, blah, blah.  (And admissions committees will see them accordingly.)

A few questions:

Are you willing to spend three months of full-time study to retake the LSAT?  If so, chances are you'll do much better, and chances are the deans will give the benefit of the doubt.  (With cases such as yours, it's much more likely to be decided by the seniormost admissions staff.)

Without a higher score or some other factor, however, the prior answers are quite right: admissions to a Top 10 school are unlikely.  (A further question:  is the Top 10 for academics, camaraderie, prestige...?)

In short, not silly at all.  Admissions committees are looking for just the qualities you write of . . . but, at the top especially, they need to see all of those qualities, the quantitative as well as the qualitative.

[waxecstatic]

Just because other people have done something does not make it practical.  50 million people voted for George W. Bush.  I rest my case.

How in God's name can a person juggle the stress and perpetual pressure to learn more for medicine, while dedicating themself to law school, and not to be discounted, if applicable, fulfilling their responsibilities as a father and husband?  What I don't understand is that medicine is higher on the prestige ladder than law, yet by going to law school you would be sacrificing your dedication to a profession more highly regarded and needed to fulfill the requirements to enter a profession that is saturated on the supply side and less highly regarded.

It's your life, so do you want, man.  Just my two cents.

[TheCause]

Just because other people have done something does not make it practical.  50 million people voted for George W. Bush.  I rest my case.

How in God's name can a person juggle the stress and perpetual pressure to learn more for medicine, while dedicating themself to law school, and not to be discounted, if applicable, fulfilling their responsibilities as a father and husband?  What I don't understand is that medicine is higher on the prestige ladder than law, yet by going to law school you would be sacrificing your dedication to a profession more highly regarded and needed to fulfill the requirements to enter a profession that is saturated on the supply side and less highly regarded.

It's your life, so do you want, man.  Just my two cents.

why don't you go to med school if it's so much better?  Couldn't cut it in your math classes?