Another precautionary tale, this time for pre-med wannabes

Applying to College
1

<p>What</a> options? $275K debt (school loans), no grad degree, unemployed 27 yrs old</p>

<p>
[quote]
Here is my situation:</p>

<p>27yrs old
Unemployed
$275,000 in student loan (250K)/credit card debt(25K)
B.S. Biology</p>

<p>I am 27 yrs old, with $250,000 in school loan debt and no degree beyond a bachelors degree in Biology (which btw is pretty useless). I also have 25K in credit card debt.</p>

<p>I was going to medical school on the east coast for 2.5 yrs (where all the student loan debt comes from) and then I stopped school bc I failed a class and was dismissed. I stayed living on the east coast for another 1.5 years having only minimal income, so I used credit cards a lot. I built up $55K in credit cards debt. (Have paid that down to 25K as of now).</p>

<p>I currently moved back in with my family so I have zero expenses. I do not have a job per say but I help out with the family businesses and sell on eBay too here and there.</p>

<p>As hard as it was getting dismissed from school, I now have gigantic debt with no upper level degree to show (or to pay off) for it. I only have B.S. Biology. (With honors)</p>

<p>My time to put off the school loans has come to an end, of the deferments and forbearances. Two months ago the loans became due, and I can not pay. XXbank, who I have school loans with started calling almost everyday, so I was forced to get a prepaid cell phone and put that number on file with XXbank so they didn’t call my house all the time. (Got the phone for free, and it costs only $15 for 6 months time roughly so its inexpensive-kind of ironic how I was driven to spend $ bc of someone who wants $ from me. The best $15 I ever spent!)</p>

<p>I am hesitant to get an outside job bc if I have income they are going to want to collect on my income, the school loans collector will come knocking and probably garnish wages.</p>

<p>I want to move on with my life and work and save some money for a car and a house or apartment, health insurance would be nice, but how can I do that when I have a $1,000 /month bill for student loans. I can’t.</p>

<p>My credit score is 729. I have a great history of paying bills. Never missed a credit card payment, I have maybe 1 late payment a year if at all. Just within the past 2 months these student loans bills are coming in asking for 895$ a month, the next month since I didn’t pay the first month, they ask for $1800 for that month, etc etc. Unrealistic.</p>

<p>I have no health insurance.</p>

<p>Basically my question is what should I do? Is this an extreme case that might qualify for bankruptcy? Any ideas/feedback is appreciated.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Moral of the story: ALWAYS pick the cheaper school. You might end up in this situation.</p>

2

<p>Well it isn't very often that a medical student will flunk out, but it does happen. You are right, always try to choose the cheaper school in regards to both undergrad and medical school unless the money difference is not so big and the other school is more prestigious. </p>

<p>Also, pick a major besides Biology (unless you really enjoy it). Medical school dont care about your major, in fact, it may even help you by choosing a more unique major since just about every other med school applicant is a Bio or Chem major.</p>

3

<p>He sounds like a complete failure btw. Imagine the doctor he would make.</p>

4

<p>Did you even read the story?</p>

5

<p>there's always 2 sides to a story, they say. I'd say what's posted above is a very skewed account of the story.</p>

<p>Med schools don't like to admit they made a mistake and so they bend over backwards to get students thru, let them drop back a year and repeat if they're in trouble academically, etc. So it's unlikely to be the case that this guy was surprised one day to find out he was failing a class, and then the school kicked him out without trying to help him. I bet there's a lot more to the story.</p>

6

<p>Moral of the story is: Do well in medical school. Or else you would get kicked out, become unemployed, and can't pay your insurance and undergrad debt bills.</p>

<p>If the Moral of the story is to "always pick a cheaper school to go to", then your setting yourself up for failure. You go to school for aspirations to win, you don't pick schools for safety nets so as when you fail, you fail "less miserably." </p>

<p>I'd rather try to focus my money on a good education and try to succeed in life.</p>

7

<p>Some CCers insist on going to private schools where the difference in cost can be up to 200k. Moral of the story: be financial responsible. If a school costs too much, state school is good, too.</p>

8

<p>
[quote]
He sounds like a complete failure btw. Imagine the doctor he would make.

[/quote]

He graduated with honors. Made it to med school. I say he's better than those who were kept outside of the gate.
Another thing is how high is med school drop out rate? PhD hovers around 40 to 50%. That's the way it should be. I want my doctor to be competent.</p>

9

<p>Phead128:</p>

<p>You are right, but you are being a bit harsh. I think middsmith is also right that people ought to choose the more financially responsible choice.</p>

10

<p>shame shame....</p>

<p>moral: don't fail med school classes. That way, you can stay in med school, become a doctor, make a lot of money, and pay off your debt</p>

11

<p>^ and then become rich.</p>

12

<p>before u post a story, u could at least read it...he was in fact going to dental school, failed a class, then failed the retake and doesnt want to do anything...
moral of the story is not to fail a class and then retake and fail again...thanks for not reading the story u decided to post as a warning to the wrong person middsmith...:)</p>

13

<p>^^ I'm lost. Here's what he said</p>

<p>
[quote]
I was going to medical school on the east coast for 2.5 yrs (where all the student loan debt comes from) and then I stopped school bc I failed a class and was dismissed.

[/quote]
</p>

14

<p>if u read through the thread u would see:</p>

<p>rated:
posted: Apr. 29, 2008 @ 8:55p [link to this post]</p>

<p>I wish I was making this story up, but I am not. I used med school as a generic term, it was actually dental school. I failed a class and I was dismissed. MY transcript says academic dismissal. I did not cheat or get caught dong anything illegal or anything like that. I failed a class and that's basically it. I went from being in one of the top dental programs in the nation, to having no degree to show for it and owe so much in school debt with no way to pay it. I went from expecting to earn in the top 5% of US adults, to negative hundreds of thousands of dollars. I might not have a real job now, and I am not asking for anyones sympathy, but my life was totally flipped upside down when this happened. It is not easy.</p>

<p>I was an average student, transfers in dental school are extremely rare to begin with. I tried every dental school in the USA to see if I could transfer all the classes i did pass or anything, restart at another school. But no schools will accept a student like me. I reapplied as a new student as well as transfer, it just does not work.</p>

<p>I appreciate all the comments so far, especially since most have been constructive. Perhaps I am due some criticism, but I am here to learn and to get ideas from fatwallet members. Thanks.
Message edited by: rickross on 2008-04-29 21:00:54 CDT</p>

<p>yup...</p>

15

<p>Hehe, in that case, I used med school as a generic term. His profile is almost like any pre-med students', biology major, etc... So it wasn't non-sequitur.</p>

16

<p>as a PREMED myself i find your vast generalizations quite insulting, not seriously but still</p>

17

<p>

The PhD dropout rate is around 40-50% for many programs, but that's not the fail-out rate -- most of the people who leave a PhD program leave by choice, not because they're forced to leave.</p>

<p>As far as I know, the med school fail-out/dropout rate is much lower than the PhD dropout rate.</p>

18

<p>vast generalization? eh? like how you might drop out of med school?</p>

<p>
[quote]
most of the people who leave a PhD program leave by choice

[/quote]
suggested by their thesis advisor</p>

19

<p>
[quote]
vast generalization? eh? like how you might drop out of med school?</p>

<p>suggested by their thesis advisor

[/quote]
</p>

<p>are you speaking english?</p>