The conundrum of MD/JD
Auntie Matter, I want an MD/JD
so i’m currently a second year student (majoring in 5-7, minor in 17 (public policy)) on the premed track. i want to pursue an md/jd (ambitious and expensive... i know!) which requires taking both the mcat and lsat. i currently do not plan on taking a gap year prior to matriculation. however, i do not know how i would be able to make the time to prepare/take both exams on top of schooling and other extracurriculars. you may be asking yourself, “well, motion man, have you thought about doing that during iap/breaks?” in which case, yes, i have.
the problem is i have already come to the conclusion that summer 2025 will be used for more extracurriculars (i have a lot of healthcare experience but need to gain legal experiences for law school app). so summer 2025 is out of the picture for exam-taking. iap 2026? i already plan on doing a brazil trip for a literature class (not official but i’m close with the professor and he told me i have a seat) which i have to take or else my courseroad will be cooked. i was intending on applying next year which would be 2026 so im literally cooked. so my question for you is should i take a gap year and use that time to 1) gain more healthcare and legal experience for md/jd apps 2) prepare and take both exams 3) recover from the hell that is mit, or should i figure it out and apply without gap year?
— pre-med
Dear pre-med,
I’m going to ask you some questions, and I hope that gets you thinking about the why, the how, and the what. You need to ask yourself: Why do you want an MD/JD? How much time do you want to spend in medicine verus law? From what you’ve written, you sound like you have a dream, but you should really reflect on if this is something you truly want.
Don’t take this as personal criticism, but your query never really addresses the “why” of an MD/JD. Think about it: are medical malpractice, public health, expert witnessing, or patent law careers you are genuinely interested in pursuing? Think about how an evolving world will impact the work that you want to do, and don’t let the allure of some extra letters after your name affect your eventual decision.
Once you have sufficiently answered the why, you need to answer the how — specifically, how will you reasonably take both the MCAT and LSAT in basically less than a year’s time? These are arguably two of the most difficult graduate school entrance exams in the world. Doing great on one of these exams is already an incredible feat. And as you said, no summer or IAP is open for you.
You might be biting off more than you can chew. If you are excelling academically while taking many units a semester, then you might be capable of pulling this off, but it doesn’t mean you should! There’s too much to do in too little time. Also, you will need to take the STEP 1/2/3 exams and board exams to become a doctor, plus the bar exam to practice in different states.
If you think MIT is a certified firehose, this is a bona fide tsunami.
So, what does this mean? You should take time off if you really want an MD/JD — two or maybe even three years. In fact, I have a relative in the Matter Family who is pursuing an MD/JD, just not at the same school. (He left a T5 med school to get a JD at a T5 law school.) He just wanted something different. Which is to say: there’s always time to pivot and reroute, even much later down the line in your career.
Planning for the future — especially something as specific as an MD/JD — is such a weird and complex psychological problem. Nobody is immune to it, especially at a place like MIT. Reality is far from that. Remember, an MD/JD is seven years of life in school after MIT. Seven years! Don’t compress your workload and push yourself to your limits just because you can. You should find the beauty in having an imperfect plan, not goals that you feel peer-pressured into achieving. I’m not saying that you are being peer-pressured, but it is a factor to be aware of.
Finally, life after an MD/JD isn’t a utopia. I’ll talk about MD/PhDs, since I’m more familiar, but similar ideas apply to MD/JDs. A typical MD/PhD will do research for four to five years. You do residency and fellowship for at least six years. Then you do your postdoc — god knows how long — until you are, like, 42 or something. Then you become an assistant professor (if you even get hired) and have to fight for tenure. At that point, you’re 50 years old, middle-aged, and there’s only more work to do. In my opinion, balancing medicine and law is no different: there isn’t really a balance.
My final message is that thinking about the big picture is crucial here. You don’t live life twice.
Peace,
Auntie
P.S. The dominoes seem aligned for you in the direction of medicine, so just apply MD only.