Getting into law school vs. Med school

[giveme170]

 It seems like most people who scored over 170 have studied less than 3 months. Most of these people would get into pretty good law school unless they have a horrible GPA. Would you people say getting into law school is considerably easier than getting into med schools? It seems like many people who scored over 170 (including people I know) did not necessarily study hard to get their score, whereas most of my pre-med friends are spending endless hours in the library to get those A's on their organic chem classes. I myself studied for the LSAT for the past few months and made 15+ points increase on my score, but I am really starting to think all of this is happening way too fast and easy, at least compared to what my premed friends are going through. Is it like getting into law school is much easier than getting into med school? Are med students comparatively more diligent than law students? I am just curious about what you guys think. 

[kirchner]

Are med students comparatively more diligent than law students? I am just curious about what you guys think. 

No, I think med students need to have a lot more specific knowledge to succeed in med school.  I remember helping a friend study for the MCAT in college.  Almost any sort of UG science is fair game.  She studied biology and I physics, so I was basically there to fill in the gaps on the physicsy questions.  I remember one in particular was about the photoelectric effect.  This is pretty specific compared to the ability to read and reason (i.e., pretty much the only pre-requisites for the LSAT).

[CrnchyCereal]

It seems like most people who scored over 170 have studied less than 3 months. Most of these people would get into pretty good law school unless they have a horrible GPA. Would you people say getting into law school is considerably easier than getting into med schools? It seems like many people who scored over 170 (including people I know) did not necessarily study hard to get their score, whereas most of my pre-med friends are spending endless hours in the library to get those A's on their organic chem classes. I myself studied for the LSAT for the past few months and made 15+ points increase on my score, but I am really starting to think all of this is happening way too fast and easy, at least compared to what my premed friends are going through. Is it like getting into law school is much easier than getting into med school? Are med students comparatively more diligent than law students? I am just curious about what you guys think. 

Getting into med school is WAY harder than getting into law school.  Difficult pre-med requirements aside, I wouldn't touch the MCAT with a 10 foot pole.  Sciences are not my forte.

[giveme170]

I studied for the MCAT before, I did not feel that MCAT was necessarily too difficult, it was just that there were so much to do. Studying for the LSAT is ok even though some stuff I learned were pretty complex, simply because therre really isn't that much to learn.

[just dot]

I think getting into Med school is harder but I also think that generally different types of people apply for Med school than Law.  Med school requires a lot of memorization and studying.  Law requires more logic and analytical reasoning skills.  There are some people who could study for the LSAT for a year and not hit 170.  They simply don't have the aptitude for it.  (I can't speak for the MCAT, I've never taken it).  

I think the people you know who only studied for the LSAT a small amount of time and hit 170 probably had an aptitude for logic and reasoning in the first place.  

[«ě»]

I did better on my first (and only) MCAT than I did on my first LSAT, and with somewhat comparable amount of preparation. Also did better on my GMAT than on my LSAT... perhaps I decided to go for the wrong school actually... :p

[papercranes]

Med School is harder. Especially in Canada.

You can't just get by with a weaker GPA because your MCAT looks good. You pretty much have to be flawless since the start of UG, have a bunch of volunteer work and have a great MCAT score.

[Meliss1086]

I read somewhere, recently, that med schools are actually placing less emphasis on the MCAT in admissions. I'm sure it's still very important, but relative to its importance in the past, it isn't weighed as much these days. Most, if not all med schools require an interview.

Funny to think only 1 law school requires an interview and a standardized test is one of the most, if not the most, important part of the application.

[chunkylover53]

Med schools are harder to get into b/c any med school is still a med school. By that, I mean there is not a huge discrepancy in earnings from the lower ranked med schools to the top ranked med schools. And the only benefit of graduating in the top of your class in med school is that you get first preference on the residencies you would like to do which still does not discriminate in salary levels too much.

Whereas, in law school, there is a huge difference from the top tier law schools to the lower tier ones in respects to salary. And there is even a huge difference in salary for people who graduate in the top of their class as opposed to the bottom.

This leads me to believe that med school is infinitely harder to get into than any law school in general, but when you actually get into each respective schools, law school's urgency to graduate in the top of the class creates a competitive atmosphere that will almost never be found in med schools. In the end though, I think the med school route is overall harder than the law route, but like someone said before me... I am not a science person either and maybe for those science people, the idea of law school and that all reasoning just won't sit well with them.

[EarlCat]

I did better on my first (and only) MCAT than I did on my first LSAT, and with somewhat comparable amount of preparation. Also did better on my GMAT than on my LSAT... perhaps I decided to go for the wrong school actually... :p

I hear stuff like this a lot, and maybe you were joking, but some people do think this way.  You shouldn't go to law school because you're good at the LSAT, nor should you avoid it because you're bad at the LSAT.  If you want to be a lawyer, go to law school.  If you want to be a business person, go the business school.  If you want to be a doctor, go to med school.  Who gives a care what test you're best at?  Or even what career you'd be best at?  Do with your life what you WANT to do, which is not necessarily what you're good at.