| Topic Name: |
MD/JD - Is it worth it? |
| Message Name: |
know why you need the JD |
| Date Posted: |
11/20/2001 |
| In Reply To: |
I am currently appying to medical school and am considering applying for a few joint MD/JD programs. What are your thoughts about this dual degree? What career paths do MD/JDs take? What is the earnings potential like? How is this comparable with the MD/MBAs? Thanks so much for all your insights! |
| Message: |
As stated elsewhere on this board I am a practicing MD turned law student. There really isn't all that much of a market for the dual degree. Having a law degree doesn't help at all for practicing medicine and having an MD might give you a slight edge in getting a job at a "biglaw" firm specializing in health law, but the vast majority of partners at these firms don't have MDs, MPHs, RNS or any other health care training and they don't seem to think that they're any the worse off for it. In fact it might hurt your chance of getting a job with some of these firms because the partners like to have a well defined superior status vis a vis the junior associates and having a medical degree might create an atmosphere where they aren't necessarily superior (but legal issues where clinical knowlege would be important would com up so rarely that this probably would be more of a psychological effect). Of course if you want to do small time Personal Injury work it might help but I would hope you'd think that's beneath you (no offense to PI attorneys but I think it would be massive overkill to get an MD just for that purpose). It also could help you get a job at a law firm specializing in biotech IP like Fish and Neave but you'd almost be as well off with just a biology or biochem BS so it would seem kind of a waste to go all the way for an MD just for IP biotech.
On the whole having an MD/JD is probably something that is fine for people who have wandered there by accident but is not something you should plan to do in advance.
Just think about this for a minute: by going to law school I've given up a 250K salary x 3 years plus I'm paying 150K in law school tuition and living expenses. That's almost a million dollars of real money (maybe more when you include interest on the loans). Is having that JD behind your name really worth it?
If you won't be satisfied with pure clinical medicine as an MD then go for the MD/PhD and combine medicine with research. Although they also have a lot of difficulty avoiding having to pick becoming a pure researcher v. pure clinician, at least those programs pay for your medical school. It's also more prestigious in the medical circles to be an MD/PhD than an MD/JD.
All that said there are some niches out there if you can find them. A lot of the state medical society officers seem to have MD/JDs and some bioethicists do too. But unless you are absolutely certain that you want to fill one of these public interest niches (which don't add anything to your earning ability) then hold off on the JD until you know what you'll need it for.
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