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[Twixmoment]

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[BritainKittenMittens]

How tight are finances and do you have a safety net?
If you think this year won't add anything, I'd just go for the postbac right now. A year you finish earlier is a year of an attending salary. If you'd be more comfortable with more a better financial situation, there's nothing wrong with waiting. You're still very young and you want to do it right.

 

[Twixmoment]

How tight are finances and do you have a safety net?
If you think this year won't add anything, I'd just go for the postbac right now. A year you finish earlier is a year of an attending salary. If you'd be more comfortable with more a better financial situation, there's nothing wrong with waiting. You're still very young and you want to do it right.

If I were to apply this year I would essentially not have a safety net. I would also barely have enough money to apply to med school assuming I drain through it all during post-bacc. The program including COA costs $80K. After this year, I will have approx. ~50k saved. $24K will be covered in federal loans. Want to avoid private loans as much as possible as they're essentially financial suicide.

If I were to wait a year, I would have approx. ~$75K saved. With $24K in federal loans, I might be able to save about $20K after the program to perhaps put towards med school/travel/etc.

 

[BritainKittenMittens]

If you don't have a safety net and finances are really tight, wait a year. Med school isn't going anywhere. You don't want to deal with the stress of school AND worry about food and money.
Have you done any research?

 

[Twixmoment]

If you don't have a safety net and finances are really tight, wait a year. Med school isn't going anywhere. You don't want to deal with the stress of school AND worry about food and money.
Have you done any research?

Yeah, I agree. But it is frustrating to essentially put my dreams on pause. Another debate is whether I should even apply this year. Should I apply and essentially beg for deferral? Would turning them down for financial reasons hurt me if I re-apply the following year? Not sure if anyone has the answers for this.

Haven't done any formal research as I'm not entirely sure how to find it as a working business professional completely unaffiliated with a school system. Shadowing has also been a challenge to find.

 

[Goro]

-Will have 200+ clinical and nonclinical hours by the end of this year, and should also have several pretty solid LORs from a recent online stats course. Also should have a really strong personal statement as my "why medicine" comes from a very unique and intense recent experience.
-On paper, I should be ready as I will ever be to apply to the top career-changer post-bacc programs (Bryn Mawr, Scripps, GWU, etc.). An extra year would give me an extra 200+ hrs in clinical experience but I'm not sure if it'll significantly improve my odds. My odds of getting accepted to these programs are essentially the same this year versus next year.
- I thrive under a structured, linear program and am risk averse so I would much prefer these structured programs with a strong track record and vetted professors rather than the variability in experience that can come from a DIY post-bacc.
-After communicating with officials at the top programs, I was informed that taking some of the pre-reqs beforehand (e.g chem 1/bio 1) could potentially be a detriment to admissions into the program. So, if I'm interested in these programs I'm kind of in a standstill with regards to taking on more pre-reqs.

Finances:
-After this year of saving aggressively and living back at home with parents immediately before the start of the program, I should have about $45K saved liquid. With about $24K provided in loans (post-baccs don't generally qualify for the full spectrum of grad school loans), this will be ~$70K. If I pull out from my 401K (definitely want to avoid this bc insane taxes), I might be able to get $15K extra.
-Tuition for these post-bacc programs are generally $40K, with around $40K in living costs for the year. The Scripps COA is around $84k.
-In short I MIGHT be able to afford the program if I applied this year and started the post-bacc in May, but it would be REALLY tight. I'm honestly not sure what I would do if **** hit the fan and I simply ran out of cash.
-This also doesn't apply to application costs in case I don't manage to link to a school.

Alternatively,
-I wait another year. This should give me another $25K or so in saved money. So total, around $70K in liquid cash. With $24K in loans, this is approx. ~$95K.
-This would give a bit more breathing room with finances.
-Might be able to give me a little bit of extra cash to survive on during gap year/potentially even medical school as well. An extra $20K can definitely go a long way as a student.

tl;dr - Wait a year and save up more money for more breathing room during post-bacc/med school (if I get accepted) or just say yolo and pursue post-bacc and risk everything as I pursue my dream/post-bacc?

It is really frustrating that if I wait a year, I'm kind of in limbo. To maximize my chances at these post-bacc programs I'm not supposed to take Chem 1 or Bio 1 so I'd simply just be volunteering and working to save money. I volunteered a ton this year and I should be ready to apply to these post-bacc programs. I also don't want to apply this year, get accepted and then have to beg them to either defer me or deny the acceptances if I don't think finances pan out. However, I will at least apply to Goucher this year since they provide graduate student level loans. It's probably the most competitive post-bacc right now, though so I'm not counting on getting accepted.

While I am fortunate to have a well-paying job that allows me to volunteer, I REALLY want to move forward and pursue these post-bacc programs. I should have JUST enough to barely afford the post-bacc and COL, but another year would give me a lot more breathing room. Every waking thought I have is towards med school and the thought of waiting a year not pursuing it and being in corporate drives me nuts..I'm currently 25 and simply want to get started asap.

Thoughts?

Med schools aren't going anywhere. Save up the money

 

[esob]

As everyone has noted, take time for the safety net. Covid forced several non-trads that I know to take jobs while in school. Some ultimately quit school, at least partially over finances.

 

[happypuppy]

I did this a few years ago. Save the money. You will be glad you did.

 

[whateverforever]

If I pull out from my 401K (definitely want to avoid this bc insane taxes), I might be able to get $15K extra.

You may be able to do a "hardship withdrawal" on your 401k. It appears you can take up to 10k out per year for school without paying the 10% penalty but you still have to pay normal income taxes. The funds have to be used to pay for school and you can't have other cash/monetary assets to pay for school. I've been looking into this but haven't done it so definitely do some of your research before you blindly follow my unproven advice lol.

 

[BritainKittenMittens]

You may be able to do a "hardship withdrawal" on your 401k. It appears you can take up to 10k out per year for school without paying the 10% penalty but you still have to pay normal income taxes. The funds have to be used to pay for school and you can't have other cash/monetary assets to pay for school. I've been looking into this but haven't done it so definitely do some of your research before you blindly follow my unproven advice lol.

This also reminded me of a 401k loan where you borrow money from your 401k and pay it back. Not all plans provide this so I’d check with the 401k plan first though

 

[whateverforever]

This also reminded me of a 401k loan where you borrow money from your 401k and pay it back. Not all plans provide this so I’d check with the 401k plan first though

Oh yeah I forgot I read about that too! Mine didn't offer this option because it's a pension but if OP's does this is a smarter idea since you'd pay all the loan interest back to yourself

 

[Twixmoment]

You may be able to do a "hardship withdrawal" on your 401k. It appears you can take up to 10k out per year for school without paying the 10% penalty but you still have to pay normal income taxes. The funds have to be used to pay for school and you can't have other cash/monetary assets to pay for school. I've been looking into this but haven't done it so definitely do some of your research before you blindly follow my unproven advice lol.

Yep, I actually looked into this. Definitely an option for me to consider.

Since the one year Post-Bacc programs technically span over two years (Starts summer, ends May/Spring of next year) if you roll over the 401k to a Traditional IRA on the second half of the program (when you will have no reportable income for that year) you are able to avoid the 10% penalty (because you are in school), and only get taxed on income tax, which would be extremely low since your income will basically be near zero for that year. So if I pulled out the Roth IRA, would just need to save maybe 20% in a savings account in case of taxes.

I guess the concern then is whether I want to take out from the 401k. For example, $30k in a 401k would become ~$400K by the time you hit 60. However, the deductions from the 401k would essentially become my "safety net". It would just be ideal to

My plan is to just apply this year to all the post-bacc programs. If I get into one that really has phenomenal med school placement, think I'm going to bite the bullet and just go. I know the smart and responsible decision would be to wait a year... This would also give me Texas state residency. But man, I am itching to get started. I think I would lose my mind.

 

[whateverforever]

@twixmonement okay so you have lots of options! I think going for residency isn't a half bad plan. There is the argument that one extra year of making money as a doctor would allow you to easily pay those loans or 401k funds back, but also- if you are getting by okay now and saving money I think it's also worthwhile to enjoy your life for a year, do some traveling or whatever before the big commitment