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Any MD's, JD's, or PhD's here?
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eIn07912



Joined: 06 Dec 2008
Location: seoul

PostPosted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 3:45 am    Post subject: Any MD's, JD's, or PhD's here? Reply with quote

Just wondering if there is anyone teaching or working here that has an upper level graduate degree? If you have a PhD, non-English or non-education.

I know a guy who has a PhD completely off the spectrum to be teaching English at a kindergarten, but there he is. Just wondering if anyone else put in the years beyond a MA or MBA and is in the country. Why did come? Why are you not working in your speciality? Is this just a time off thing or are you never going back?

If there are any MD's here, I'd really like to hear from you. Kind of considering that for myself in a few years. Might want to shoot your a few questions.

Anyways, just thought I'd ask.

thankx in advance
..ein...
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Socks



Joined: 15 May 2008
Location: somewhere in here...

PostPosted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 5:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

JD is a first professional degree and graduate professional doctorate in law...

just in case anyone didn't know..


and why one of them would be teaching Enlish in Korea beats me?


p.s. I have met many PhD people here -

they just prefer to be here - than rather in their home-country (usually same story - hate USA life, Korean wife, Korean kids, etc)
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brainfreeze



Joined: 04 Jul 2009

PostPosted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 7:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What did you want to know about being an MD?
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jsk



Joined: 31 Oct 2008

PostPosted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 7:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have a JD but can't really give a good reason why I'm here teaching. I've met a couple other lawyers in Korea and each had a different story. As for me, I hated the practice I was in, I couldn't find a better replacement job, I wanted to discover my "roots", etc. I was 27 when I left for Korea and am 29 now. I just remind myself these days that I'm fortunate to be working and have a semi-normal social life.
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bassexpander



Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

PostPosted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 8:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My little brother has a JD, but he's currently working as a law professor at a prestigious private university back home.

Interestingly, he once told me that a few proud Ph.D's seem to think of a JD as somewhat inferior.

He doesn't care. He's tenure-track.
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eIn07912



Joined: 06 Dec 2008
Location: seoul

PostPosted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 8:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

brainfreeze wrote:
What did you want to know about being an MD?


Well, stuff like why they're here? What pushed them out of medicine? What was their speciality? Is med school/intern life/residency really as hard as it's made out to be? General information it would be easier to talk to a family doctor about, but is more difficult because we live here. So finding a person that went through the process back in the States or Canada is a little difficult.

I find when I'm doing research on something there are two good sources of information, what you find online (from reputable sources... wikipedia generally not being reputable) and straight from people that have done it. I usually don't like to make major life decisions without at least consulting a few people that have done it themselves.

jsk How long did you practice before coming over? I'm guessing 2 years at the most, given your age. Could you tell the law just wasn't for you so soon? How's your student loan situation (if you don't mind?)

Like I said, I know one PhD here. Quite a few MA's and MBA's. I kind of get why they would want to take time off to come here. After a masters in something, you can take time away and go back for another degree in almost anything. Even if you have a PhD, getting a second is usually easier than the first. But it just seems like JD's and MD's are such a commitment, I'm really interested in hearing why other people would want to pass a career in those fields up to come here.
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eIn07912



Joined: 06 Dec 2008
Location: seoul

PostPosted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 8:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

bassexpander wrote:
My little brother has a JD, but he's currently working as a law professor at a prestigious private university back home.

Interestingly, he once told me that a few proud Ph.D's seem to think of a JD as somewhat inferior.

He doesn't care. He's tenure-track.


I've heard that too. I took some law classes at undergrad and saw it myself. There's also the whole stereotype that lawyers are like snakes in the grass. PhD's feel they're morally above that.

But a PhD can't teach contract law, intellectual property rights, tort law, and a few other classes that are becoming a corner stone to many degrees out there. Several degrees require at least one or two law classes and I'm pretty sure for proper accreditation it has to be taught by a JD or an SJD (essentially a Judge)
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Sushi



Joined: 24 Apr 2008
Location: North Korea

PostPosted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am sure a lot of medical doctors in The U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain and South Africa, would be happier teaching ESL than working in their profession.
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Forward Observer



Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Location: FOB Gloria

PostPosted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 1:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

bassexpander wrote:
My little brother has a JD, but he's currently working as a law professor at a prestigious private university back home.

Interestingly, he once told me that a few proud Ph.D's seem to think of a JD as somewhat inferior.

He doesn't care. He's tenure-track.



Stanford?
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ytuque



Joined: 29 Jan 2008
Location: I drink therefore I am!

PostPosted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 3:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

bassexpander wrote:
My little brother has a JD, but he's currently working as a law professor at a prestigious private university back home.

Interestingly, he once told me that a few proud Ph.D's seem to think of a JD as somewhat inferior.

He doesn't care. He's tenure-track.


At my uni, JD's are considered Phd's. The Koreans understand the "D" is for "Doctorate" and therefore a lawyer is PhD.
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bluelake



Joined: 01 Dec 2005

PostPosted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 4:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm working on my Ph.D. right now; I probably should have had it years ago, but life got in the way.
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tzechuk



Joined: 20 Dec 2004

PostPosted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 4:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

bluelake wrote:
I'm working on my Ph.D. right now; I probably should have had it years ago, but life got in the way.


Yeah, I hear ya. I am determined not to let life get in the way, bluelake and am seriously, seriously going to sit down and write my proposal and apply when the KOTESOL conference is over. Hopefully I will have a PhD by the time I am 35.. which is 3 years away....

To OP: I have an MBA and I didn't come to Korea to teach to begin with. Then things changed. I am teaching business at undergrad and post-grad level, btw.


Last edited by tzechuk on Sat Sep 05, 2009 4:13 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Zulethe



Joined: 04 Jul 2008

PostPosted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 4:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My older sister is a lier, um, I mean lawyer so I'm unimpressed. PHD, please don't call yourself a doctor. MD, yes, I'm impressed cause that's one thing I don't think I could have done no matter how hard I tried.

Yes, even the great Zulethe has limitations folks.

I would like to hear from the MDs if there are any here, which I seriously doubt.
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bassexpander



Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

PostPosted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 5:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Forward Observer wrote:
bassexpander wrote:
My little brother has a JD, but he's currently working as a law professor at a prestigious private university back home.

Interestingly, he once told me that a few proud Ph.D's seem to think of a JD as somewhat inferior.

He doesn't care. He's tenure-track.



Stanford?


No, but given his near-perfect GPA and class ranking in the top 4 at his university, followed by management experience at a few large chain clothing stores in his mid-20's, he would have had no problems getting in there.

He and his wife wanted to stay closer to home.
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brainfreeze



Joined: 04 Jul 2009

PostPosted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 5:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

eIn07912 wrote:
brainfreeze wrote:
What did you want to know about being an MD?


Well, stuff like why they're here? What pushed them out of medicine? What was their speciality? Is med school/intern life/residency really as hard as it's made out to be? General information it would be easier to talk to a family doctor about, but is more difficult because we live here. So finding a person that went through the process back in the States or Canada is a little difficult.

I find when I'm doing research on something there are two good sources of information, what you find online (from reputable sources... wikipedia generally not being reputable) and straight from people that have done it. I usually don't like to make major life decisions without at least consulting a few people that have done it themselves.



Not all the people on this forum are teachers.

As for MDs in Korea the reason that most are here, is the relatively high pay vs. the lower hours worked and the decreased amount of litigation compared to the US.

Med School can be hard, but that really depends on your intelligence and how good you are at rote learning. The USMLEs are a challenge and a poor score on them can screw over your future, so many people study pretty hard to do well on them. Then there's the whole Osteopathic vs. Allopathic debate (MD vs. DO for the laymen) I can't really say which is harder, but AFAIK both have a pretty similar curriculum. Either way you'll need a decent GPA and a very good MCAT score to get into most medical schools. The good news for you might be that as the new DO schools are being rolled out in the next few years admissions standards are going to start to drop.

Residency is pretty hard. Not the material but the hours worked. The average residency is about 80-100 hours/week. Pay is [Mod Edit] for those hours worked. But at least when you're done the pay rises drastically. You have to be able to handle the stress of dealing with patients as well as the long hours.

Now as for the JD you have to be very careful. Having one doesn't necessarily mean you can get a job. There are over 200+ ABA accredited law schools in the US, and currently there's a huge flood of lawyers. If you think that eslcafe is a cesspool of the disenfranchised ESL teacher, then check out jdunderground.com which will show you what happens if you get into the wrong law school.


Last edited by brainfreeze on Sat Sep 05, 2009 5:52 pm; edited 1 time in total
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