4th years, new grads!! speak up!!

[jupiterOD]

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Can 4th year OD students and current new grads talk about their experiences with job prospects and student loans, most of these schools cost 30k plus just for tuition! Id love to hear how much debt everyone is graduating with and what job offers they've had, etc... Why is it so hard to find information like this!

 

[4Eyes]

Hi there, I posted in a somewhat similar thread some time back (it was asking more about job prospects). Here's the link to that, but I'll add to my response:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=7347261&postcount=3

It's still hard to get things going. What makes it harder is the fact that my husband hasn't found a job in this city. So that's kind of skewing our perspective a bit.

As for the student debt, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little sick just thinking about it. Mine is around 170k INCLUDING my undergrad loans. The first two years, I took out more money than average for living expenses b/c my husband was a full-time student too and couldn't work very much. The last year and a half or so, we took out less b/c he was working full time. We went all over the place for the last two-thirds of my clinical rotations, and that was more expensive than just staying put, but I learned a lot. Our rent was relatively cheap, and we were good about keeping our spending to a minimum...EXCEPT we went in phases where we ate out too much. Some nights I just didn't feel I could afford the time to cook. Food adds up though (and quick), so if you can find any ways to cut corners and still eat well enough....

Let me know if I can offer any additional insight.