USask versus Dal versus UofC (potentially) Messy situation

[lali]

Hi all, my situation is very confusing. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 
So basically I’m stuck between becoming a lawyer or psychiatrist. Recently decided I’m going to try for medical school so I can have both options and then make a decision. This will become relevant later. So all the schools I applied to and could go to were UofC, UofS, and Dal. UofS and Dal I got into, UofC I got waitlisted. My interests are in environmental law/IP law which as I understand are mostly in boutiques/big law. However, I want to practice in Calgary. The additional benefit of going to UofC would have been that I could live at home with my parents and save on costs significantly. However, Dalhousie law has been a long term dream of mine, their specialization in environmental law as well as living in Halifax really appeals to me. Also I’ve never lived alone, and would like to experience that. But my concern is 1) The cost, 22k per year for tuition plus COL will result in me being over 100k in debt, 2) prospects for calgary biglaw, is UofS better as it’s closer to the calgary market?, and 3) ability to practice in other provinces, I know I don’t want to practice in the maritimes. Another complicating factor is that i’m in province for UofS med, so if I accept the UofS offer I retain my “in-province connection”, and thereby increase my competitiveness for med. 

So basically here are my questions: 

If I get into UofC, should I go there because of the savings and direct access to the calgary biglaw market? 

Does UofS provide better access to the calgary biglaw market than dalhousie? Will I be at a disadvantage to go there if I am interested in environmental/IP law? 

Is the cost worth it for Dal? Do they have a successful enough biglaw placement that I could lateral from a firm their to Calgary/justify the costs with a big bucks big law job? 

Can I attend any law school and then transfer if I feel like it’s not the right fit? For example I go to UofS for a year save some money and then transfer to Dal or UofC? I’ve went through the transfer process in my undergrad already UofR to UofC, but is law school like impossible to transfer in/out of- is this a risky gamble? Going to UofS raises my competitiveness for med too, but if I don’t get into med/decide I acc would rather do law- am I stuck there? 

If you’re still reading at this point, first off thanks and second wtf do I do? 

[Pantalaimon]

Transfers are possible, but not something I would count on. Generally you'd need to meet the admission requirements of the new school to transfer in, so if you didn't get into a school as an applicant it's unlikely you'd get in as a transfer. For example, UCalgary describes it as:

Quote

Your application will be assessed using the same criteria as for first-year admissions.
...

We will also consider your performance in your first year of law school and your stated reasons for wishing to transfer which should be clearly set out in your application. ... Space limitation in the law school are a factor in admitting transfer applicants, which means that in some years few or no transfer applicants will be admitted. Typically, we receive more transfer applications than we can accommodate, and applicants should be prepared for the possibility of receiving regrets despite compelling or extenuating personal circumstances.

Dal and USask are about equivalent in terms of Calgary big law. We've hired from both schools, but they're always a minority compared to UCalgary or UofA. If you want Calgary big law, UCalgary is your best bet of the three. That said, do you want Calgary big law? You've expressed a preference for boutique work, not big law, so big law placement may be a red herring.

It sounds like you may want to decide whether you want to pursue law or medical school, because trying to keep both doors open seems like it's leading to some decisions that you wouldn't otherwise make. For example, the only reason you seem to be considering USask over Dal is that it helps your med school application. That is a pretty bad reason to pick a law school. I know it's tough to close doors, but the choice between law or medicine is pretty fundamental.

If you end up wanting to pursue law, you then need to decide if you want to pursue big law or not. If you don't, picking UCalgary because it has better big law placement is also a pretty bad reason to pick a law school. Take a look at the IP and Environmental course offerings at Dal, USask and UCalgary. UCalgary, for example, has pretty terrible IP course offerings (at least when I went from 2019-2021), but pretty good environmental/regulatory offerings.

Ultimately, school choice is the last decision in your decision tree. Trying to make that decision without making all of the previous decisions is probably why you're feeling confused.

[lali]

Honestly you are right, but closing doors is so hard for me because I genuinely have interest in both and have done research/work in both. On top of that, giving up offers to law school for a chance at med seems naive to me. I do want the option of calgary biglaw open, and the other thing that’s swaying me towards UofS is the COL. My GPA was calculated really not in my favor for UofC (administrative stuff) but with my gpa now, i’m above competitive, which is why I felt somewhat confident regarding the whole transfer thing. Regarding the IP course offerings, given a background in STEM could I still pursue IP jobs as a UofS/UofC grad? What opportunities would I lose going to UofS versus Dal considering I want to  keep biglaw (including environmental and IP) work open? Ideal career path as a lawyer is biglaw 2-3 years to in-house or an IP/Environmental Boutique in Calgary. 

Thank you for your advice, you breaking it down into the decision tree was very helpful. 

[Pantalaimon]

So, just a jargon note, but "IP" includes both copyright work and patent work. I'm assuming based on your reference to STEM you're looking for patent work. In that case it depend on what letter of STEM your background is. With competitive law school grades and an engineering undergrad, you should be able to get interviews for patent work. I had a friend with a software engineering undergraduate who landed in Calgary on the patent agent track (although she's since moved on). For science degrees, it usually requires more than an undergraduate degree; often it requires a PhD. I don't have any idea on tech or math degrees. You can browse the lawyers at an IP boutique (for example, Smart & Biggar) to see their undergraduates and get a sense. For copyright work, obviously a STEM background is not particularly helpful (although I wouldn't say it hurts).

Unfortunately I don't have any experience with the IP hiring, so I don't know whether there are hiring preferences for USask vs UCalgary vs Dalhousie. For Calgary big law you wouldn't lose anything going to USask over Dal.

 

[AHappyLawyer]

All things considered, would you still want to be a lawyer (over being a doctor) assuming you *don't*  get BigLaw?

It is a not a guarantee that you do, whereas with Med School, you'll basically match somewhere and be a doctor...

[MyWifesBoyfriend]

OP you’re going to have to make an adult decision and decide on which door to close. You’ve been waitlisted at one of your target schools, yet you’re expecting that 1) you’ll have the cognitive chops to land big law or IP work; 2) that you’ll survive 2-3 years of said work; and 3) you’ll then go into a 4 year program and do 2-5 years of grunt work taking 26 hour call shifts. 

This isn’t meant to disparage you. I think you may want to plot your course a bit more realistically. Maybe talk with psychiatrists? It might not be so “naive” to give up a law school offer if medicine is more interesting to you.

Edited May 16 by MyWifesBoyfriend

[CleanHands]

I'm surprised OP did not clarify this and nobody asked this yet:

OP, are you sure that there's even a realistic possibility that you'll become a competitive applicant for medical school? Canadian medical schools are significantly more difficult to get into than Canadian law schools, and given that you were waitlisted for the UofC JD program (respectfully, not the most competitive JD program in the country) I don't understand why there seems to be an underlying assumption that you can get into medical school. Unless you're contemplating going to a med school in the Caribbean or something. Or if the issue is that your LSAT score was terrible but you somehow can do much better on the MCAT. It is not common for people to be able to get into a Canadian medical school but not UofC law.

Anyways, other users are correct, you need to make the decision between going to law school now and holding off and trying to get into med school (and maybe applying to law school again later if that doesn't work out). That's a decision only you can make. There's no middle ground, compromise option here.

Edited May 17 by CleanHands

[lali]

Hi, that’s a fair question. It was a mix-up in how my grades were calculated. Basically a year I didn’t do as well got calculated in the UofC gpa evaluation. I also kinda applied last minute (because at the time I wanted to go to Dal) so I spent about an hour on my essays each. I have an 87% UAA, and a sask connection, I also have two research projects/positions, 3 departmental pres, VP of a club, various jobs (in rural communities) and volunteering experience. Med is super competitive, but not really in the way you might think-  your gpa counts for 30% post interview and with a 80th percentile MCAT I can secure an interview. (at least according to the premed reddit). 

Also have a brother in the same med school, I asked him about it as well. 

Edited May 17 by lali

[lali]

3 hours ago, AHappyLawyer said:

All things considered, would you still want to be a lawyer (over being a doctor) assuming you *don't*  get BigLaw?

It is a not a guarantee that you do, whereas with Med School, you'll basically match somewhere and be a doctor...

I’d still want to be a lawyer but I don’t think I’d want to be a lawyer if I couldn’t work in environmental or IP law. 

 

18 minutes ago, CleanHands said:

I'm surprised OP did not clarify this and nobody asked this yet:

OP, are you sure that there's even a realistic possibility that you'll become a competitive applicant for medical school? Canadian medical schools are significantly more difficult to get into than Canadian law schools, and given that you were waitlisted for the UofC JD program (respectfully, not the most competitive JD program in the country) I don't understand why there seems to be an underlying assumption that you can get into medical school. Unless you're contemplating going to a med school in the Caribbean or something. Or if the issue is that your LSAT score was terrible but you somehow can do much better on the MCAT. It is not common for people to be able to get into a Canadian medical school but not UofC law.

Anyways, other users are correct, you need to make the decision between going to law school now and holding off and trying to get into med school (and maybe applying to law school again later if that doesn't work out). That's a decision only you can make. There's no middle ground, compromise option here.

Hi, that’s a fair question. It was a mix-up in how my grades were calculated. Basically a year I didn’t do as well got calculated in the UofC gpa evaluation. I also kinda applied last minute (because at the time I wanted to go to Dal) so I spent about an hour on my essays each. I have an 87% UAA, and a sask connection, I also have two research projects/positions, 3 departmental pres, VP of a club, various jobs (in rural communities) and volunteering experience. Med is super competitive, but not really in the way you might think-  your gpa counts for 30% post interview and with a 80th percentile MCAT I can secure an interview. (at least according to the premed reddit). 

Also have a brother in the same med school, I asked him about it as well. 

Edited May 17 by lali

[MyWifesBoyfriend]

Sorry OP, I was confused and thought that your plan was to do law first THEN med school.

Regardless, you’re not “stuck” between two paths. You have one actual option and a hypothetical fancy. You should sit the MCAT first, then chart your path accordingly. 

Edited May 17 by MyWifesBoyfriend

[Hanamichi]

Pretty naive to think you can get into med if you haven't even written the MCAT once lol

[lali]

5 hours ago, Hanamichi said:

Pretty naive to think you can get into med if you haven't even written the MCAT once lol

Dude, that’s every pre-med ever. I think I can get in because the rest of my app is solid, that’s why I’m writing the MCAT. Thanks for the comment though I guess.