Medicine vs Law

So up until recently I've been fairly set on doing medicine for a few reasons. Namely:
I got into serval medical schools with very little effort
A large number of people in my family are/were in the medical profession and recommended it to me
Many people seem to think that I would make a good doctor
It seemed like an easy option (relatively high pay, guaranteed employment, easy course in the sense that it isn't exactly what you would call intellectually challenging, just very time consuming)

However, a few things have changed in my life:
firstly, and most importantly, I'm having a baby in May (I'm set to start medicine at the very end of September)
I have also just moved to the uk from Australia, this changes two things
Firstly, I would have to pay international fees (law is significantly cheaper)
Secondly, I would have to work in the NHS. I really don't want to.
In addition to this I have also been presented with the opportunity to study law is a well reputed law school.

Now my main concern in order of importance are
Time spent away from my baby while studying
Time spent away from my family while training/working
Job security
Pay
The difficulty of the two courses
The cost of studying

Just to clarify, I'm not actually that fussed about 'helping people', in some ways I think lawyers do more to help people than doctors if we're going to be quite honest. I'm not bad with people but I'm no bleeding heart either, if someone comes to me with diabetes and they refuse to fix their diet as far as I'm concerned they're not worth caring about. Likewise, if someone does something ridiculously stupid in law, for example, forgetting to pay a small debt and then becoming bankrupt because they didn't show up to any of their court hearings, well then they're not worth my concern either. That said though I wouldn't be fussed about taking either as a client/patient for the right price. So it's really not a question of my freaking out last minute over working in the NHS, I was never that keen to be a doctor, it just sort of fell in my path and at the time it didn't seem like there was a better alternative. The thing that throws me out is the possibility that I may be too stupid to do a law degree and my uncertainty over job prospects.

If you have or are currently doing either degree I would very much appreciate your feed back on the degree itself. If you are studying either degree with a baby I would love to know how this has had an effect. If you just have an opinion on the matter because you're dad's a doctor or your mum's a lawyer then I'd like to hear about that too.

Thanks

The degrees are not interchangeable. Law graduates with a 2.1 from a good university are ten a penny and the competition is fierce. The hours are long and the workload is intense when you start your TC. Randomly choosing to swap from medicine into law doesn't make you any more suitable for law.



This is just not true at all...I can't even fathom how anyone could say this.




Law is a lot of work, a lot of reading, a good uni will also mean more contact hours than if you'd done say history or english. Medicine sounds simpler because you have longer contact hours but not much work to do outside of uni, so I hear. My best friend does med, is in uni 9-5 most days but has no reading to do and just the odd essay to write. Law involves a hell of a lot of reading/independent study if you're doing it well. Plus you will have to also do another tough year to be a solicitor/barrister, and long hours on a training contract. With a child I would really think carefully about choosing either option.

I didn't say she was suited to law . I said she can go and do it. She would have a better time there than doing medicibe if she dislikes patients

If she dislikes patients, she'll probably dislike her clients.

I don't think so. They're different. Have you even worked with patients before....

I was just being coy. Based on her dismissive attitude in the OP, it sounds as though she's indifferent to working with (or for) people, full-stop.

I didn't say she was suited to law . I said she can go and do it. She would have a better time there than doing medicibe if she dislikes patients

Just to clarify, you got into Australian medical schools? (As you have only recently decided to come to the UK) - what is the competition like over there? It's rather competitive to get into a UK medical schools so perhaps would require a little more than "very little effort"

Any particular reason why you don't want to work in the NHS? Would that mean you plan to travel back to Australia as soon as you qualify? You usually do two foundation years within the NHS (since you only 'provisionally' are a doctor when you leave medical school).



Based on that, law does sound the better option in my honest opinion. Medicine will take up a lot of your free time in terms of revising / essays etc which if you are not particularly bothered about the course, perhaps you would struggle to be motivated for the 5 year course?

To be honest, you sound like you are more interested in private work rather than helping patients, and that's not going to go down well on this forum / U.K. generally. Most private work in the U.K. is well past medical school and you will have sooo much work to do before then.

Don't do law, do medicine.

You've asked this in the medicine forum, so you're going to get people who have been rejected/tried their nuts off to get in, relatively furious at your apparent lack of passion to save the world.

Medicine is a good degree which leads to a job. It's very cliquey as a cohort - you will almost exclusively be friends with other medics. Being a doctor is a cosy and well-paid career. You don't just have to work for the NHS, you can work anywhere in the world as a qualified doctor - Australia, the states etc...This is just not so as a lawyer, where you would be confined to practice within the UK.

Having taken a law degree, I think most people either hate it or are lukewarm about it at best. It does not lead to a career. City firms take 50% of their intake from non-law courses. Non-law courses have higher module grades and much higher %s of firsts/2:1s than law. So you will be competing with people who have achieved less than you, but are considered better than you. It does not really matter how well you do in medicine as long as you pass.

Your idea of what it is like to be a lawyer is also a bit misjudged I think....but long story short, go for medicine and don't look back. Don't worry about your confidence with your career direction - it is very common at your age/when you're even older, don't listen to other people telling you you're not grateful/don't have the necessary passion for it.

Are you insane? Do you realise how late city firms work? One of my friends at DWF has been coming home from the office at 1 am, every night, for 2 weeks.

I dont think she should do either tbh. But she didnt give us that option lol

Preach! A lazy and uncaring GP almost cause my friend's little cousin to go deaf

... In addition to this I have also been presented with the opportunity to study law is a well reputed law school...

You have the cynicism of a doctor without the experience. I don't know whether that is good or bad. I have no knowledge of what its like to do law, but you don't have to be an over emotional do-gooder to do medicine. You do have to give a **** at some point though. It's hard when you're a parent but not impossible, depends what support you have around you.

It seems like you want to do medicine/law because you're clever and don't know what else to do. Medicine can be amazing, and I genuinely love my job. But sometimes its awful, and it isn't my IQ that keeps me going. Why not find something you actually want to do?

Thanks, good advice. Luckily this is the first child on both sides so the grandparents are keen to help. I should clarify for everyone that it's not that I don't want to do medicine. I actually find it quite interesting, naturally I've already started studying it. In Australia I was quite keen. Of course most cases aren't that fascinating but I don't think I'd get bored either. But not be able to find self sufficient employment does put me off. I don't want to be stuck in the public sector, particularly not in a system like the NHS for the rest of my life. However, there is always the possibility that it isn't as bad as I think it is...anyone from overseas working/studying the NHS at the moment? How does it compare? Are the paitents here as bad as they seem?

You've hit the nail on the head there for me, I just don't feel like I know what to expect with law but I'm worried that by choosing the safe option I'm wasting a great opportunity. Are you/have you studied either law or medicine? What were your feelings about it?