A Med School Memoir

So, I finally got my financial aid package all sorted out the other day.  I’ve officially signed away my life.

It makes me want to cry.

This is what makes med school real.  Not the acceptance and the accompanying promise of a (potentially) rewarding career.  No.  What makes it real to me is the fact that now I have signed up to take out more loans for one year of medical school than I took out for my entire undergraduate education.  Med school is real now, because I can’t not do it at this point… as medicine will now be the only profession that will pay well enough to allow me to repay these massive loans.  Yay!

Let’s look at the numbers, shall we?

Subsidized loans– $8,500/academic year.

Unsubsidized loans– $25,322.00/academic year.

Total loans– $33,822/academic year.

$33,822/year x 4 years = $135,288!

And, I should note, my school is a “cheap” public university!  If I had wound up at a private school, I would probably be looking at twice this amount!

I should also mention that above figure is actually a low-ball estimate, because the costs of years 2-4 are going to be higher than the first year.  I’ll probably wind up closer to $140-$145K in debt by the end.  In order to pay that off in 10 years, I will be looking at making payments of around $1550 every month.  To put that in perspective, right now, I work in a job where I earn around $2000/month, after taxes… so if I were going to try to pay off my student loans with my current salary, I would be living on ~$450 per month.  So, obviously, it’s pretty imperative that I actually graduate from medical school and find a job.

But no stress.

So, do I really want to do this?

As intimidating as these figures are, I’m confident in myself.  Sure, the next several years are going to be immensely stressful.  Aside from the stresses of attending school, getting good grades, passing the boards, doing well on rotations, and finding a good residency, there will the the ever-looming specter of my loans hanging over my head.  If I fail, I will be consumed by debt.  That’s quite a stressful thought.  But despite this fact, I’m confident that I have what it takes to succeed.  And despite the cost of attending medical school, medicine is still the only career where I can see myself being happy 30 years from now.

I always knew this was coming, but I guess I just wasn’t completely prepared for it.

Tags:   financial aid · MS-03 Comments