For doctors that had alotta med school debt?!

Pre-Med & Medical School
1

<p>especially for those in primary care, which is generally lower paying than most doctors, is it worth all the suffering with the 200-300K in debt after med school? how long in average does it take to pay off? also, do med schools ever give out scholarships or need-based aid?</p>

2

<p>Almost all need-based aid comes in the form of loans (federal or institutional). </p>

<p>Some private school offer institutional need-based aid as grants or scholarships, but the schools who do this are quite few in number (think Ivies) and require each student to incur a base amount of loans each year before institutional grant monies kick in.</p>

<p>Both private and public medical schools offer merit aid, but again the amounts and availability vary widely. You need to be the best applicant or close to it to get bigmerit. Public medical schools tend to offer merit awards in few thousands per year (think $1000-$8000 range) to strong, but not absolute top students.</p>

<p>How long it takes to pay off loans depends on the kinds of loans you have (some are eligible for income-based repayment and loan forgiveness programs; some are not); the type of position you take after completing residency (academic, private practice, large managed care practice); the location of your practice/position (urban, rural, subrban); whether you participate in any federal or state heathcare provider repayment programs.</p>

<p>In some [geographical–think underserved] areas, a newly hired doctor may be offered partial loan repayment as an inducement to practice there.</p>

<p>Also your characterization of the amount of debt a newly graduated MD has is off base. The average for both public and private medical school grads is lower than $200+ K</p>

<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/download/152968/data[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/download/152968/data&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>As for it being “worth it”? That’s a decision only you can make.</p>

<p>There is significant research that shows that med students choose a specialty more by personailty fit (97%) and personal values (94%) than by financial (debt) considerations (27%).</p>

<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/newsroom/newsreleases/329198/022613.html[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/newsroom/newsreleases/329198/022613.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>[Personality</a> fit trumps finances in medical specialty choice - amednews.com](<a href=“American Medical News - Home - amednews.com”>Personality fit trumps finances in medical specialty choice - amednews.com)</p>

<p>[The</a> Impact of U.S. Medical Students’ Debt on Their Choice of… : Academic Medicine](<a href=“http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Abstract/2005/09000/The_Impact_of_U_S__Medical_Students__Debt_on_Their.6.aspx]The”>The Impact of U.S. Medical Students' Debt on Their Choice of... : Academic Medicine)</p>

<p>And if you want a economic analysis of primary care and debt repayment—</p>

<p>Can medical students afford to choose primary care? An economic analysis of physician education debt repayment.
<a href=“Can medical students afford to choose primary care? An economic analysis of physician education debt repayment - PubMed”>Can medical students afford to choose primary care? An economic analysis of physician education debt repayment - PubMed;

3

<p>wow
dang
…definitely alot to think about then
thanks!</p>