The Whatever--Random Medical School Stuff

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1081

<p>When DS went through his bills recently, he found out:

  1. he “forgot” to pay his very last credit card bill in time (miss the due day for a few days.)
  2. he paid for the meal plan for the past semester and thought he did not. He paid with his credit card for the few times he ate in the cafeteria.
    He swears he will manage it better in the future.</p>

<p>Arrrgg!!! (We are especially concerned about 1) above. It could damage his credit score which we have been helping him to establish since the beginning of his college years.</p>

<p>His dean is right: He should move out of the dorm and learn how to manage everything an adult has to manage. If he can not manage his own life well, how can he manage the life-or-death situation of a patient in the future?</p>

1082

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<p>If getting a credit card required the amount of motivation that getting into medical school does then I would agree with this comparison.</p>

1083

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<p>Being a few days late won’t affect your credit - only if you’re 30+ days late on a payment does it get reported to credit agencies.</p>

1084

<p>If they charge a late fee and he is not usually late, he could call and they may refund it.</p>

1085

<p>Does his bank have auto-pay?</p>

<p>We all (me, D1 and D2) use auto-pay for monthly recurring bills (utilities, health insurance premiums, rent, etc).</p>

1086

<p>I do not connect managing life-death of a patient with managing personal finances. How about 25% of Med. Students (I do not know the number, just heard something like that) who are supported by their family. They are worthless Med. Students according to this logic and should not be given any residency spots. I do not see any connection, somebody needs to expand on this.</p>

1087

<p>First, thanks for the inputs.
DS set up the auto-pay after that event had happened. He did not before that.</p>

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I do not think anybody will use this term to describe med school students. LOL.</p>

<p>I think what it meant is that the physician-to-be had better be more mature in their life experiences - maybe an exception may be those MD/PhD “med scientist bound” students as the research capability may not be correlated to the researcher’s experiences in their other aspect of their life.</p>

<p>An analogy is that if a pastor in a church is much younger than most people s/he preaches, it just does not feel right in general. The wisdom obtained through ages could be useful here. In a sense, a doctor also needs to be some sort of leader who the patients are willing to follow his/her advice/order. More life experiences in many areas won’t hurt.</p>

<p>Another related point is that, these days, many high achievers may be very good at what they are good at. As a student, it may mean the academics and/or research capability. At least what DS experienced in his freshmen dorm was that, when you put many these kinds of students under one roof (and the “maids”, i.e., parents, were not around), it became chaotics pretty soon. I even heard that some students, when the topics of whose turn to clean the living area this time comes up, would say that they really do not do this kind of stuff (at home or on campus.) at the end of the school year, many just choose to pay the fine.</p>

<p>I also do not think that it is a coincident that slightly too many of them still did not have the driver license and knew how to drive in their freshmen year. But, hey, almost all of them have perfected the skill on the standardized tests. Something must be to give. My point is that, sooner or later, they need to catch up on other fronts (e.g., how to pursue SO. LOL.)</p>

<p>For example, I think DS has never paid attention to his FA letters and school’s e-bill/e-pay system until this holiday when he has more free time. It is somewhat funny to us that he said he wanted to know how deep the hole he had put himself in, financially speaking, and he wants to manage his financial matters by himself, when there is really not much money in his account. His idea about financial matters is still very naive.</p>

1088

<p>^^^^This is what I did not want for ANY of my kiddos, med students or not.</p>

<p>They all knew from an early age that there would be little in the way of any money for college for them so we would need to work together to be able to afford undergrad and later grad school for any and all of them. </p>

<p>So yes they did have checking accounts, and credit cards (very low interest rate student accts., USAA, Discover, Amex) summer before college. They all knew how to fill out the FA forms for undergrad (FAFSA, CSS Profile, individual colleges) and renewals every year after. They also learned from expereince and each other how to negotiate their FA packages each year. Much easier to do in person once on campus, every year after. We did not have long distance carrier nor cell phones until after the 4th one graduated high school.</p>

<p>So the one in med school paid for his app season, travel, interview trail and now med school all on his own. The money was one of the primary reasons he choose the school he did. He knew he would leave with very little debt with the offer he “finally” accepted. He is deferring his 4th year for b-school, he starts in May after his last rotation as an MS3. Its a dual degree program so only the 1 year is needed for his MBA. </p>

<p>He is again managing the expenses of b-school, it’s tuition is twice as much as med school tuition. But as far as the money aspect he has done so from such an early age it is now second-nature to him. And in a way it has a made a difference with his patient care. He understands and can relate to the hardships of no insurance, high deductibles, high co-pays, non-formulary scripts and so on. He finds and locates resources that can help his patients ahead of time. He helps run the clinic and finds resources for them as well.</p>

<p>He’s their “go to” guy. Like “face-man” on the A Team!!He made sure he was fluent in Spanish before starting, took some refreshers and sees so many extra patients compared to his fellow classmates.</p>

<p>I am sure being an econ major at pton didn’t hurt either!! I truly believe their education academically is only 1 aspect of so much more. He knows what is eligible for SNAP so when advising on nutrition his patients will listen. And they know he knows. He can at times get more relevant history from a patient than the primary care doc they have been seeing for years. It has made a difference at the school and during clinicals and has been noted.</p>

<p>The school does pride itself on that primary care ranking…</p>

<p>Kat</p>

1089

<p>Mcat,</p>

<p>I fully get what the dean is saying, I just completely disagree. There are plenty of financial mavens who have poor diets, smoke, and drink. Plenty of fitness gurus who can’t balance a check book, plenty of successful CEOs who can’t maintain a relationship. The issue isn’t that people can’t clean up after themselves, stay on top of finances, or maintain stable relationships, it’s that they consciously or unconsciously don’t want to (or don’t want to learn how to). Is it wise for your son to shirk his financial duties? Of course not, but for anyone to posit that that says something about his ability to be a successful physician is wrong.</p>

1090

<p>Well, cleanning is treated as luxury break time that D. could afford sometime. Some other times she cannot afford spending her time cleanning. She is pretty amazing orginizer, both for her things and her time. Everything has been prioritized though since she was 5 y o, just has chosen to be a very busy person, I was just an assistant there, supporting her goals. The same goes for laundry and other things. I always beg her to bring her laundry home on her visits just to give her a chance at doing something else (maybe cleanning, maybe just sleeping in).<br>
Very high in her priority list are her various relationships with lots and lots of people, some closer, some not so, many of them are not even friends to each other, she has a very diverse crowd of them and they have always been very important part of her life. She also absolutely loves to vist us at home and does it whenever she can. Also a high priority.<br>
I can see that something slips thru. More recently - she ran out of minutes on her cell, we had to skype instead. Mostly it was because of very long conversations with me.</p>

1091

<p>Besides auto pay, we have made other banking suggestions to S over the years.</p>

<p>One, although different banks have different options, we encouraged him to set up acct alerts (e.g., charge over a stated amt, card not present (internet purchase), charge at ATM, cash withdrawal at gas station, etc.). I have made internet purchases where I received an alert that a charge was made on the credit card before I received the actual confirmation from the vendor.</p>

<p>Second, since college we have recommended he set up two accts (checking and savings). It’s important that there be no acct fees. He set up a checking acct to pay bills and get cash that was only linked to his debit card. His savings acct was where he has kept the bulk of his “vast” wealth. Our thinking was as follows. If his debit credit was stolen, lost, etc., he couldn’t be totally wiped out. Secondly, it forced him to pay attention to his bills and transfer money as needed from savings to checking as needed. Third, hopefully he wouldn’t be tempted to make some large impulsive purchase as he would be limited by the balance in the checking acct. </p>

<p>So far so good.</p>

<p>On a totally different subject, S passed Step 3. He can apply for a license when he finishes his intern year.</p>

1092

<p>Considering the number of interview trips that may be needed for the residency application, will it be a good move (i.e., save some money) if the med school student (or the parent) gets a credit card which could help earn airline mileage? If yes, do you know any good credit card for this purpose? Airline company’s own credit card may not be good, because you do not know in advance the flight.</p>

<p>DS is glad to learn that he does not need to go offsite in the next 3 (winter) months. This means that even if there is a severe snow storm, he could still walk to the hospital without going outside. This is because there is an indoor/underground tunnel connecting his dorm and the teaching hospital.</p>

<p>He also said he happens to have an easier surgery rotation. I do not know what he means by saying that though. Maybe there is a divine intervention here because he badly needs some time to work on his new relationship in the next several months. It will be a critical period. It is still a very shaky relationship as of today.</p>

1093

<p>D. is an opposite. She could walk sometime now, depending which clinic she is going to. She will have to drive for several months starting in January. I am concerned. She is in very “snowy” places that would not have any Snow emergency level for 7 - 9 inches, unbelievable. Just last weekend, we had about the sam amount (7 - 9in), and we had Level 2, she had none. Our roads were really really bad, all including expressway.
Mcat2,
I believe I have an idea what your S. means by “an easier surgery rotation”. It is not his first rotation, it gets somewhat easier after the shock of the first one. Surgery was my D’s first rotation. There were some desparate times in later rotations but not at the same level. At least they get used to certain treatment, they are at the bottom of the food chain after all, and this was the greatest adjustment for D. Other challenges, like being on your feet for many hours without food (protein bars in her white coat pockets), no drink (this one was the hardest), but still all these physical aspects were not at the same level at emotional adjustments.<br>
In regard to relationships, the party involved just needs to completely trust and understand what medical student’s rotations mean and there are ups and downs, more time available and no time at all in some periods. If they do not understand it now, then they might not be a right person. Not much could be done about it. It is a great test that they need to pass. There is no such thing as a free lunch, and this one is not strictly “Econ.101”, it is applicable to every aspect of our lives…</p>

1094

<p>An update from son, the b-school awarded him a full tuition and fees plus other expenses merit fellowship. He is very relieved, and I am so very proud of him!</p>

<p>His very good friend from undergrad is at Columbia’s dual program for JD/MBA and she is paying both tuition’s, at the same time. </p>

<p>No longer stressing about the $60K+ tuition. Christmas present early.</p>

<p>Kat</p>

1095

<p>congratulations to your son KW.</p>

1096

<p>Cograts, kat! it will be a walk in a park for your S. - from another one with the MBA (and a H. also). Both did it for “why not?” reasons - employers were paying, so why not? Neither of us needs an MBA, but it has helped me to find few jobs. It was fun, more on entertaining side than business UG.</p>

1097

<p>Thank you texas and miami, I am very happy for him. His med school allows 2 years off for a variety of reasons, research, dual programs, family and this MBA will use up 1 of them. Many of his classmates are doing research but they are still required to pay tuition.</p>

<p>I do not think he has made up his mind about the 2nd year and the possibility of an MPH. He hasn’t ruled it out just taking it one step at a time.</p>

<p>Kat</p>

1098

<p>D. wants to be done, dun, dun…as soon as possible…period. I hope it will go her way…She calls herself a “proffessional studier”, she said she has perfected the skill, but wants to move on with her life. I know that they are tested forever, but at least there are few years of break in between.</p>

1099

<p>Taking time away for anything other than a PhD is a new phenomenon. It just didn’t exist when I was in medical school to this extent. We just wanted to get done because we knew we would have a 1-7 year partnership tracks in the future. </p>

<p>But now, so many physicians are employed and partnership opportunities are vanishing. I don’t know what to make of the gaps, especially when tuition has to be paid. I will have to read CC about the progress your kids are making to make sense of all of this.</p>

1100

<p>Many schools don’t charge tuition on research years.</p>

<p>Want an explanation as to why more people are taking time off during medical school for research and other things to beef their residency apps? Look no further than this: <a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/files/2013/02/residency-500-1.png[/url]”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/files/2013/02/residency-500-1.png&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;