School ranking vs, opportunity to get JD from lower ranked school as MD/JD

[DrJD]

Hey everyone,

I am currently in medical school, but would like to someday in the future work in Big Law as well.  Parlaying my experience as a physician into being a more effective lawyer.  So my question is this... I am currently going to a state medical school, whose corresponding law school is T3.  I could add in my JD, along with my MD, for two extra years and low cost but it is a T3 law school. 

So would it be better to get the degree now, or wait and try and go to a top 10 school 15 years from now when I would be looking to transition careers.  Would the MD, along with the JD from a lower tier school help me get the Big Law later on even though typically those jobs are reserved for teir 1 graduates?

Thanks for any thoughts!

(BTW- I don't intend for this to be a "Should I get a JD" thread, or a "what is the value of a MD/JD"...  So preferably none of the "WHy in the world would you think about doing this..." comments ) 

[nealric]

I would first ask what you are looking to do with your law degree.

If you really want biglaw, I would do a higher-ranked law school later on. Frankly though, I think there are few cases where a MD/JD really makes sense.

[big - fat - box]

The MD/JDs that I've heard of are plaintiffs' med mal attorneys who work on big money cases. The people that do this are making more than most biglaw partners.

15 years out of med school you will probably be making more money than you would as a biglaw attorney.

I vote not to go to the t3 school now. You can think about whether law school makes sense later on, 15-20 years into your physician career. Odds are that it probably won't.

[lovelyjj]

If you are doing this just for the educational purpose and can afford to delay your life for another 3~4 years without having any financial problems, by all means wait til you graduate and apply to higher ranked schools(your MD can probably be a boost if your LSAT is high enough for the schools). If getting a big law job is the only thing you want, it's also a good idea to not waste any time doing any medical stuff now and just focus on getting into top law school.

[camper12]

I think lovelyjj's advice is best here. However, if you are not in the position to delay your life an extra couple years without financial trouble, I think you should go for the JD later on in life because a)you'll be able to afford it more easily then, and b)you'll have a clearer idea of where your life has taken you and how you want to carry on with the rest of it. Either way, your goal for the JD should be a T1 school if you want to be in big law.