$25,000/year for 4 years? Who has that?

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Sheon

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I currently have a career in the military. I am applying to school this summer in hopes of attending medical school in Aug 2000. Over the past few months I've cut my expenses to the bone (paying off the car, no cable, no long distance, zero balance on credit cards, etc.). Even with all of these reductions I am finding it very difficult to envision my family surviving on the budget of a medical student.

I am applying to the military medical school and I think I have a good chance of getting in, but in the event that I don't get in I think life could get pretty tough. Does anyone have any advice on how to get some living expense money for a person in my situation? (Note: Having a "nest egg" to fall back on decreases your eligibility for non-loan financial aid!!!)

Any input (even if you only want to share a similiar situation) would be GREATLY appreciated.

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Most medical schools will come up with a "Budget". You can normally borrow the full amount of that budget. The budget includes tuition, books, minimum housing, food (minimum usually), utilities, insurance, and other necessities. I does not include car payments or other bills such as credit cards. You can usually borrow this budget amount in subsidized ($8000) and unsubsidized (I think $30,000) Stafford loans for a total of $38,000. If the school budget is not this high you can only borrow up to the school budget in the Stafford loans. Other than that you would have to take out private loans or health loans by banks, etc. Check with a financial aid officer at your local medical school for better information. I may not be totally correct. Maybe other people out there might know more about it. You probably can borrow enough for your family and yourself if you have good credit, and also if you are willing to go into that much debt. Borrow as little as you can because the rule is for every dollar you borrow you have to pay back 1.50 to 2.00.
 
Check with each school's financial aid office. Some school's have more generous budgets than others. For example, the University of Kansas Med. School has a very tight budget. I think they budget $350 or so for rent. UOMHS (a DO school) in Des Moines budgets $515/month for rent. After accounting for different costs of living between Kansas City and Des Moines, UOMHS still budgets more money for rent, food, utilities, etc.

Also, if you don't get accepted at a military medical school, you can still get a military scholarship for med. school. They pay books, tuition, equipment plus a monthly stipend. In return, you serve one year active duty for each year you were on the scholarship (three and four year scholarships are available). The Army, Navy and Air Force all have scholarship programs for medical students. Good luck!

p.s. minor correction - subsidized Stafford loans are available up to $8,500, not $8,000.
 
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Wow we have come a long way!!!!
 
nothing can be better than resurrecting a thread from the dead.
 
I'd like to think the OP tried to get into medical school but after three attempts and a shattered self-esteem turned to booze and pills, eventually wandering the streets of Seattle turning tricks to support his Black Tar heroin habit where he has become "Sheon, the Crazy Guy at the Greyhound Station" and is a part of the local color.

A lot can happen in seven years.
 
I'd like to think the OP tried to get into medical school but after three attempts and a shattered self-esteem turned to booze and pills, eventually wandering the streets of Seattle turning tricks to support his Black Tar heroin habit where he has become "Sheon, the Crazy Guy at the Greyhound Station" and is a part of the local color.

A lot can happen in seven years.

"Location: Brooklyn, NY" :idea:

brooklyn.jpg


Brooklyn Brawler, MD?
 
The original post was typed on an IBM PS2 with a mind-blowing 5 megabyte hard drive and the optional 15 inch color monitor.


this was posted on a computer with a whopping 30 gb hard drive, 256 mb of ram, 17 inch crt monitor, 1.4ghz pentium 4

2016 comes... someone is going to laugh and say this was posted with a 500gb, intel i7, 23 inch monitor, 8 gb of ram computer.
 
Okay folks, we're done here. See you in 2020.
 
Yikes. I am a surgery resident now, and I'll probably be a chief when this thread comes around again.
 
Yikes. I am a surgery resident now, and I'll probably be a chief when this thread comes around again.

For sure. Lets have a reunion on this thread 6 years from now to see where we all are.

Btw, Prowler im impressed by your dedication to sdn :thumbup:
 
For sure. Lets have a reunion on this thread 6 years from now to see where we all are.

Btw, Prowler im impressed by your dedication to sdn :thumbup:
The sad thing is that I know exactly what specs the computer had when I posted that last post, because I'm still using it now.
 
LOL.

You know the funnier thing is when the OP posted in this thread it was 1999, the day and age when there was not necessarily high speed internet for everyone. I remember in 1999 was when I first got on the internet and I had a dial up modem where internet affected phone call ability so I couldn't be online without it affecting my parents ability to call people.

That was a day and age before facebook, before myspace, before friendster, when a lot of people were just getting on the internet and AOL chatrooms and instant messenger were a big deal.

Oh and don't forget back then AMCAS was not even computerized but a paper form and only 500 characters for activities.

DAYUM, we've come along way in 12 years.

my family eventually got a second phone line... that was truly living the high life.
 
Apparently, based on his post history, OP posted regularly up until 5 years ago, and his account's most recent activity is 2 years ago!

Maybe one day we'll hear all the details of his journey.
 
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