<p>Go to the Pre-Med Topics forum, there’s a sticky thread at the top about premed schools and do a Search as there are many threads asking about how important UG college is to getting into Med School.</p>
<p>It’s a good thing that you’re asking these questions because you’re mixing up some stuff.</p>
<p>Grad students often get money for assistantships and such. Med students don’t get those. </p>
<p>You won’t have a lot of free time in med school, so working to pay for school expenses is not likely. Any part-time job that you’ll have will yield only enough money for you pocket-money and such.</p>
<p>You seem to understand that Wellesley costs $50k+ per year, but you seem to doubt that med school will cost that much and more (depending on where you get accepted.). Med school often costs more than undergrad private. </p>
<p>As you can see…for an in-state Virginia student, the cost is about $60k per year. For a out of state student, the cost is about $71k per year. </p>
<p>that’s not unusual for a state school - they tend to run about $45k-60k per year for instate students. </p>
<p>U Iowa Med school costs about $51k per year for an instate student (for Cost of Attendance.). For an OOS student, it costs about $65k per year… </p>
<p>For privates…it can be about the same as an OOS public med school or even higher! </p>
<p>St Louis U med school COA… $70k per year.</p>
<p>Our state has rather inexpensive in-state rates for med school, but the CoA is still $45k per year for residents…but it’s $70k per year for an OOS student.</p>
<p>The non-federal loans we have are 8% or less interest.</p>
<p>Ok…but you’re still on track for having about $300k in debt (perhaps more, since the balances grow while you’re in school/med school) . So, even if all your loans are at an avg of 7%…then …</p>
<p>Are you serious about working while in med school?? You need a reality check on both going to college at Wes while making $5K/school yr and working while in med school.</p>
<p>I admire your attitude, but neither will work. Don’t forget many if not most pre meds never make it to med school. You need to be where you can focus on doing well, not where you need to work many hours. Many also take off time to study for MCATs. You need to look at the full picture.</p>
<p>So it could work though. Having 300k debt after med school graduation is possible. I’m sure a lot of people have debt after graduating med school. Also, there is also the possibility of scholarships and such.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure I can get loans for med school. I’ve heard of people graduating from med school with 200k in debt and them surviving. Wouldn’t I be able to do it with 300k if I choose to go to a cheap med school?</p>
<p>Like I said before, I know it’s not the smartest thing to do, but it can work, right?</p>
<p>Wouldn’t I be able to do it with 300k if I choose to go to a cheap med school?</p>
<p>Usually, you don’t get to “choose” to go to a cheap med school. You have to apply to 10-20 med schools and go where you’re accepted-- which might be lower-priced or might be expensive.</p>
<p>There are no “cheap” med schools. LOL (and, very few scholarships for med school)</p>
<p>And, yes, there are people who graduate from med school with $300k+ in debt. That doesn’t mean that they don’t deeply regret borrowing so much because of how it’s affected their lives.</p>
<p>Also realize that most doctors can’t afford 3,500/mo loan repayments right out of school. Doctors don’t necessarily make that much money these days - it wouldn’t be unusual to make only 80K as a starting salary. Even 120K is a lot for a starting doctor. Sorry - but 120K a year is not enough to “support” paying back a 300K student debt! </p>
<p>That also assumes things such as 1) you don’t fail out in the middle of the process 2) you don’t decide you hate hate hate being a doctor (it happens!) 3) you don’t have any life altering injuries, illnesses (mental or physical) that affect your ability to work fulltime 4) New health-care laws don’t further erode the amount of money doctor can make.</p>
<p>Bottom line - you are better off trying to keep your undergrad as cheap as possible to begin with - Wes won’t give you that much of a leg up in application process or in other experiences to merit the costs.</p>
<p>*Also realize that most doctors can’t afford 3,500/mo loan repayments right out of school. Doctors don’t necessarily make that much money these days - it wouldn’t be unusual to make only 80K as a starting salary. Even 120K is a lot for a starting doctor. Sorry - but 120K a year is not enough to “support” paying back a 300K student debt! *</p>
<p>Very true…</p>
<p>The mistake that many students make is that they PROJECT what doctors are earning in their 40s to what they earn when they are out of med school. Student loans payments begin once you graduate - when you’re earning modest incomes.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that for the first few years immediately after medical school, you will be doing your internship/residency. During that time, your salary will be in the range of $35,000 - $50,000 per year (depending upon location and years of experience) – nowhere close to what you will need to make those large loan repayments.</p>
<p>Do you hope to have a family, a home and cars? One article I recently read about student debt brought up that those in debt were less desirable marriage candidates. I thought that was going a little far but I can actually see the point, you could wind up a young doctor without the ability to buy a home, send your kids to good schools and live like other doctors.</p>
<p>Colboy, I’ve just skimmed this thread. I understand that you want to go to a smaller school and it sounds that Rutgers absolutely does not work for you due to the very hopeful tone you take in taking on massive debt. Maybe you can take a year off now. It will give you more time to research other schools. Wesleyen is wonderful but does not give great financial aid compared to others of the same caliber. You can make money to put toward debt and maybe your parent’s financial situation will 1) improve or 2) get worse and you can get more help from parents or you can qualify for more aid. it sounds like you need to take a sabbatical year.</p>
<p>*Keep in mind that for the first few years immediately after medical school, you will be doing your internship/residency. During that time, your salary will be in the range of $35,000 - $50,000 per year (depending upon location and years of experience) – nowhere close to what you will need to make those large loan repayments. *</p>
<p>Can you imagine having to make huge loan payments each month when you’re only earning $35k-50k per year? What would you live on?</p>
<p>Why would you say that? My younger son is pre-med and we’ve encouraged him. He’ll graduate from undergrad with no debt. We’ve gone with this strategy so that he’ll have to borrow minimally for med school, which we’ll help him pay for. </p>
<p>And, yes, even if you aren’t going to be a doctor, transferring is a bad idea. You’ve ALREADY have borrowed too much for undergrad. Right now, you have $40k in debt (for only 2 years!!!). If you transfer, you’ll need to borrow about $100k more!!! Which will leave you with $140k in undergrad debt.</p>
<p>That is just crazy. There aren’t ANY jobs for new grads that can afford to pay that back. </p>
<p>Stay at Rutgers. Work as much as you can to minimize how much you’ll have to borrow these next 2 years. Join some clubs or something to make some new and fun friends. That will make your next 2 years more enjoyable.</p>
<p>This hasn’t been brought up yet, but who on earth is going to lend colboy 110K to go to Wes? </p>
<p>Have you even found out if you can actually borrow that much money? If your parents have offered to take loans out in their name (which I don’t advise) you may find that they no longer qualify if their debt load is high already. Worse yet, the parents may qualify for one year of private loans for Wes but then be denied for the second year.</p>
<p>Many residents have their loans in forbearance or use IBR (which limits payments to 15% of income). Although the loans will increase as the interest capitalizes, some are counting on public service loan forgiveness to kick in for their federal loans after 10 years if they’re working at a 501(c)3, others just feel that they don’t need the added stress of trying to make those high payments while they’re in residency and believe their specialty will allow them to pay them off.</p>
<p>I understand the OP’s desire to transfer to a smaller school, but what about one of the schools that guarantees to meet need for all students (preferably with no/low loans), not just those with a lower income/EFC? It seems that Hamilton, Middlebury, Bowdoin and might fit the affordability requirements if they consider the other college debt…I would ask them as I know Hamilton does consider non-college sibling educational expenses in their formula. Idk if it extends to college loan debt, but worth an email/call to find out. If you can find such a school, would you consider applying for a spring 2011 transfer? Here’s a link to the list of school’s who have committed to meeting need without piling on a lot of loans…you’ll need to check their restrictions carefully:
[Project</a> on Student Debt: Financial Aid Pledges](<a href=“http://projectonstudentdebt.org/pc_institution.php]Project”>http://projectonstudentdebt.org/pc_institution.php)</p>
<p>Many residents have their loans in forbearance or use IBR (which limits payments to 15% of income). Although the loans will increase as the interest capitalizes, some are counting on public service loan forgiveness to kick in for their federal loans after 10 years if they’re working at a 501(c)3, others just feel that they don’t need the added stress of trying to make those high payments while they’re in residency and believe their specialty will allow them to pay them off.</p>
<p>I don’t think this will work for the non-federal loans this kid is taking out. She’s been taking non-fed loans (in addition to the fed loans) because she’s been borrowing large amounts.</p>
<p>So, she might be able to have some deal for $30k that she’s borrrowed in fed loans, but she won’t get that special deals for the $100k that will be in private loans.</p>
<p>“If I decide not to pursue med school, would you still be against me transferring?”</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone is against you transferring. We’re just against a lot of debt. If you said you weren’t going to medical school, the advice would still be the same. An undergraduate education, no matter what you do with it, is not worth that much debt. Again, I would take a year off and find more affordable options as it’s clear you are unhappy where you are. Yes, Wes is wonderful and it may have been the first choice for my D who applied to lots of LACs. But it was the less affordable of them all and crossed off the list as soon as the financial aid package came in the mail.</p>
<p>colboy, listen to the advice on this thread. My husband took two gap years before starting medical school and he was not the oldest in his class. Gap years are not uncommon. It’s smart to try to keep your undergrad debt to the smallest amount possible and then work for a couple of years to try to save some money to help you maintain a lower debt for med school. Although I wouldn’t plan to have a lot of extra time to work when in med school; that extra time just won’t be there.</p>
<p>My husband used loans to pay for med school. I was working and paying our living expenses, so in a way, I was his financial aid. I had just finished grad school and also had the responsibility of paying off my own student loans. Money was always tight. Even when we were finally both working and it felt like we had so much more income, we still didn’t make very much money. I’m a teacher and, at that time, we lived in an expensive area of the Northeast. </p>
<p>Many of our big decisions in life were influenced by our finances and student loans. We waited until our mid 30s to have children, I always worked, and we eventually moved south to an area that provided us better financial security. We have definitely gotten out of our student debt hole, but not without some sacrifice and planning. Also, having two incomes definitely helped. </p>
<p>Don’t give up on medicine if that is your passion. Continue to pay attention and plan for the student debt component and the impact it will have on your life. Good-luck.</p>