Once you add the bolded condition to this, I think you change the question. Can someone take out that kind of money and service it in this field? Absolutely. Will it cut into one's lifestyle? Absolutely. The key issues with large debt (and unfortunately this isn't close to the amount some of your peers will borrow) is that (1) interest now runs during your residency years, so the nut is much bigger when you finally start paying it off, and (2) you may need to borrow more unless you are contemplating the thousands of dollars that are going to be involved in board exams and travel, interviews and travel, residency application costs, away rotation fees, books and medical equipment, etc. It's easy to say "room and board are taken care of", but there are plenty of incidentals on this path.
The current average for med school debt is reportedly $160k. Folks with preexisting undergrad debt probably are already over $200k. Then if you take into account that the average figure is tempered by a lot of people who have very little debt thanks to family help/working spouses, you can realize that a $200k+ nut is not all that uncommon. Cap that off with 4 years of interest, compounded, during a typical residency, and we are talking serious money that will take decades to pay off. Can you do it? Sure. Will it take a bite out of your lifestyle, particularly if you are working in one of the more average salaried specialties like IM, peds, psych, FM? Yep. Welcome to today's physician.
