Finances for medical school other than federals $$

Hello everyone. First time poster here and I’m posting for a friend of mine thats a little farther along in the process than I currently am. (MCAT next summer for me)


Here’s his situation: He’s currently carrying around a 3.2 GPA, took the MCAT and didn’t do too well. Scored a 22 prior to taking any physics classes. I know, not the correct path. He was admitted to a respected Caribbean school but can’t afford to attend due to some personal credit issues. This issue never really occurred to me that an individual with shaky credit might not be able to obtain financing for medical school due to credit problems. I can’t think of a worse place to be: Accepted into medical school and not able to afford to go. Wow. Has anyone had any experience or heard of anyone that has experienced this? He’s currently looking into nursing schools but unable to obtain additional undergraduate financing b/c nursing is an undergraduate degree.


Any assistance for my friend would be great.


Excited to be a member.

It sounds like your friend might be rushing things.


If he can clean up his academic record and MCAT score and get into his state med school, he ought to be able to finance with all federal loans and have less difficulty due to his credit scores. Or he could work on cleaning up his credit. There are abbreviated nursing programs for people with existing bachelors’ degrees (so he would be able to save up a smaller amount to finance it himself) and there may be NIH funding for a nursing degree if he agrees to practice in a rural underserved area. Just some ideas to get your friend started on next steps.