<p>If you go to expensive medical school, you will not want to be dragging an extra $100,000 in undergraduate student debt along to add to your medical school debt.</p>
<p>If you do not get into any medical school, you will not want an extra $100,000 in debt to have to pay off on a biology major’s post-graduation pay (which is about as good as that of humanities and some social studies majors).</p>
<p>I’d not listen to anyone that tells you how you “could” make “significant” cash while going to school. It’d be great if it were that easy. Any attractive options are gonna attract a lot of people to compete for them (e.g. google internship, RA). Never make financial decision based on something that has very low chance to reach!</p>
<p>Part-time campus employment almost never generate “significant amount of money”. If there are such positions, many people will flock to apply for them! Or you may need to work significant among of time which I doubt most premeds at Duke would have.</p>
<p>Remember to take interests into account when you picture how you pay off that 100K. Your monthly payment is not simply 100K/months to pay off.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I don’t think it makes sense to borrow $100k for ANY undergraduate program.</p>
<p>How did these wind up as your only two options? Someone who gets into Duke should be able to get a full ride – or at least a tuition waiver bringing the cost down to room & board – from better schools than UNM.</p>
<p>
Hanna, I believe the OP applied ED to Duke and was admitted; therefore, it is likely he was only able to apply to UNM since that’s his in-state option which has rolling admissions (which ED programs allow you to apply to concurrently).</p>
<p>If the OP can’t afford Duke and has no interest in UNM, it may be time to apply to some better state schools in other parts of the country like Minnesota, NC State, and Virginia Tech.</p>
<p>The problem is that you cannot afford Duke. Where are you going to find anyone to lend you the amount you need? Unless your parents can afford to take out the loans and come up with a private arrangement with you, you are not going to be able to borrow that much money. You are entitled to $5500 in Staffords. That’s generally it. If you go private, you are going to have to have your parents be co-applicants (yeah, they say co-signer, but it’s on their credit report and they are equally on the hook as you are until the loan is paid or until they die) Don’t know what kind of terms those loans have anyways with regard to medical school.</p>
<p>I’d prefer Duke too, but unless your family can make it work, it’s not doable. And actually you may have a much better chance getting into a med school from UNM since Duke’s great med school accept rate doesn’t take into account all the budding premeds who are all very much smart enough to make it into med school that get kicked down the stairs by the premed gauntlet that a lot of these tougher schools have. Easier to be at the top of the class at NMN. And you are certainly going to have to borrow even more if you are planning to go to medical school. </p>
<p>I live in an area where those doctors with heavy loans are really having a tough time. They don’t make what they used to make, in my day and who knows how many more cuts the medical profession will have to be taking as we go into national healthcare. Traditionally, the doctors’ pay goes down when this happens. Having a lot of loans is really a tough go.</p>
<p>" it is likely he was only able to apply to UNM since that’s his in-state option which has rolling admissions (which ED programs allow you to apply to concurrently)."</p>
<p>No, s/he could have applied to multiple rolling admission schools concurrently. Duke doesn’t have any rules about whether your rolling schools are in state or out of state. The ED commitment is to withdraw the other applications if you get into Duke, not that you will not apply in the first place.</p>
<p>“it may be time to apply to some better state schools in other parts of the country like Minnesota, NC State, and Virginia Tech.”</p>
<p>Yes, and quickly. It might be too late to be in the running for a lot of the most generous scholarships that other public schools have to offer. There’s a lot of space in between UNM and Duke, and it is a shame to let it go to waste due to a strategic error.</p>
<p>As someone currently at Duke, and someone who also had an amount of money to put up for it, I would strongly urge you to RECONSIDER. Duke is great but not worth $100,000 debt when you’ll be going to med school.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but try to be a bit more practical about this.</p>
<p>“As someone currently at Duke, and someone who also had an amount of money to put up for it, I would strongly urge you to RECONSIDER. Duke is great but not worth $100,000 debt when you’ll be going to med school.”</p>
<p>Worth repeating. No undergraduate school is worth 100K of debt with the above scenario!</p>
<p>OP is a finalist for the AB Duke scholarship. So looks like Duke is back into the equation!</p>
<p>duke is a great school, is there a possibility of you going to new mexico for say 2 years, or one i guess, then if u dont like unm transfer.
also, you can get a job and deferr the duke acceptance for a year to save probably im guessing 40k.</p>
<p>ebruin, no. Once you start at another school the merit offers go away.</p>
<p>Contact Duke and see if you can get more aid. Explain the situation.</p>
<p>Also, there are a lot of schools that are better than UNM but cheaper than Duke that you can attend. These should not be your only options.</p>