I have been an occupational therapist for 3 years (4 years of undergrad and 3 years of grad school under my belt, as well). I always thought that I’d eventually go back to med school…I love medicine so much. In fact, I can’t wait to be a physician. What’s holding me back? Well, I still need to take most of my pre-reqs, take the MCAT, and complete medical school. Also, I’m paying down 45 grand of student loan debt, credit card debt from grad school, and a car payment. My most conservative calculation would be that I’d end up with about 250 K in student loan debt by the end of it all. I have my eye on general peds, so that puts me at about 120-160 a year. Doing the math tells me that I will not be able to afford rent and groceries during residency and for the about the first 30 years of my practice…at which time I would be about 70 years old. There’s GOT to be a way to do this (for instance, if the lending corporations implode). Am I overreacting? I need some advice/thoughts/etc. Thanks a million!
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I have been an occupational therapist for 3 years (4 years of undergrad and 3 years of grad school under my belt, as well). I always thought that I’d eventually go back to med school…I love medicine so much. In fact, I can’t wait to be a physician. What’s holding me back? Well, I still need to take most of my pre-reqs, take the MCAT, and complete medical school. Also, I’m paying down 45 grand of student loan debt, credit card debt from grad school, and a car payment. My most conservative calculation would be that I’d end up with about 250 K in student loan debt by the end of it all. I have my eye on general peds, so that puts me at about 120-160 a year. Doing the math tells me that I will not be able to afford rent and groceries during residency and for the about the first 30 years of my practice…at which time I would be about 70 years old. There’s GOT to be a way to do this (for instance, if the lending corporations implode). Am I overreacting? I need some advice/thoughts/etc. Thanks a million!
Hi there Ashleyotr,
While it is true that you could end up with a heavy load of debt, you must consider that there are creative ways of getting your medical school debt greatly reduced or totally forgiven. The best way, is to attend a cheaper school with a full-ride scholarship. These are given to folks who enter with high GPAs and MCAT scores so shooting for the moon in your pre-med grades and MCATs is a good idea for one of these scholarships.
There is also the option of the National Heathcare Scholarship program. These require that you go into primary care and serve year for year in an underserved area. The specialties allowed are Internal Medicine, Family Practice, Pediatrics, Psychiatry and OB-Gyn. Since you want to do peds, this might be a viable thing for you. The downside is that they are pretty comptitive but a couple of my classmates snagged these and are very happy. One is doing Family Practice and is headed for a Native American reservation. He has a strong interest in Diabetes prevention. The other is OB-Gyn and will practice for three years in rural applacian Virginia.
Another thing to consider is that many practices in many areas will pay off your loans if you join their practice. This is especially true for good Family Practice groups because many Family practice groups are looking for good people to join them. This is a good reason to do a good job during residency. These groups are not necessarily in underserved or undesirable areas so look for loan forgiveness as part of your contract when you finish residency and join a practice group. Most folks have a pretty good idea of where they are going during their last year of residency so keep your ear to the ground.
There are also good scholarship programs out there if you do well in medical school. You might have to pay for one year if you don’t snag a “full-ride” at entrance, but you can really do well during the first year and get a scholarship during second, third and fourth year. Most of this next group of scholarships is given after the first year so strive to do your best.
Finally, you can’t predict what you will earn as a physician before you enter medical school. The guys coming out of my residency program (General Surgery) this year who are PGY-5s to PGY-7s were offered positions that start at $270K. This is much higher than what was projected at the time they even started residency let alone medical school.
Debt is something to take into consideration when you are looking at medical school but it should not be the only thing. I can tell you that no matter what I am paid, I have the best job in the world. I love what I do and I would probably do this even if I didn’t get paid. Taking care of patients is just the greatest thing that you can do. You can stay where your are and have debt or you can do what you dream of doing and have debt. The choice is pretty much up to you.
Good luck!
Natalie
