Any Other Option To Pay For Med School If You Can't/don't Want To Use Loans?

[Omashu]

HI,

Last night my friend and I were talking/freaking out about applying to medical school. I was the usual, what if my grades are not good enough, my MCAT diagnostic test s**cked. But she told me a fear of hers that I wasn't even aware of.
She told me that her religion does not condone taking out loans because of the interest you owe. She has been thinking about this for a while, has gone to her family, but no one has a solution for her. She's got I think a 3.9 GPA, president of a club, she's good person - she's got all the qualities I believe a doctor should have. I care about my friend a lot, I know that if she took out the loans it would be a larger weight on her mind than the average person.

She's going to aim for scholarships, but there is no guarantee...

Has anyone been in this dilemma? What did you do? Does anyone have any ideas? Are there any other options?

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[TexasTriathlete]

 

[jyland]

If unable to get an institutional scholarship, then her best bet would be armed forces or primary care scholarships. However, the vast majority of us will face student loans, and in the end we will pay them. If she wants to go to medical school and become a doctor for the right reasons, she needs to look past the materialistic means of getting there.

 

[SAvoodoo]

HI,

Last night my friend and I were talking/freaking out about applying to medical school. I was the usual, what if my grades are not good enough, my MCAT diagnostic test s**cked. But she told me a fear of hers that I wasn't even aware of.
She told me that her religion does not condone taking out loans because of the interest you owe. She has been thinking about this for a while, has gone to her family, but no one has a solution for her. She's got I think a 3.9 GPA, president of a club, she's good person - she's got all the qualities I believe a doctor should have. I care about my friend a lot, I know that if she took out the loans it would be a larger weight on her mind than the average person.

She's going to aim for scholarships, but there is no guarantee...

Has anyone been in this dilemma? What did you do? Does anyone have any ideas? Are there any other options?

a quick google search brought up Muslims being against loans/interest (apparently it's called riba). i don't know if that's what she is but i found a few different banks that work with Muslims to give loans that do not include this, thereby making it acceptable according to the religion. i don't know if she's Muslim or not, my point is that if there are options such as this I would venture to guess that there are possibilities for her as well. best of luck to her

 

[TexasTriathlete]

There are banks that will give muslims loans without interest?

Where do I sign up?

 

[SAvoodoo]

There are banks that will give muslims loans without interest?

Where do I sign up?

i'd start at a mosque and go from there

 

[167649]

HI,

Last night my friend and I were talking/freaking out about applying to medical school. I was the usual, what if my grades are not good enough, my MCAT diagnostic test s**cked. But she told me a fear of hers that I wasn't even aware of.
She told me that her religion does not condone taking out loans because of the interest you owe. She has been thinking about this for a while, has gone to her family, but no one has a solution for her. She's got I think a 3.9 GPA, president of a club, she's good person - she's got all the qualities I believe a doctor should have. I care about my friend a lot, I know that if she took out the loans it would be a larger weight on her mind than the average person.

She's going to aim for scholarships, but there is no guarantee...

Has anyone been in this dilemma? What did you do? Does anyone have any ideas? Are there any other options?

Go to The Bellagio, and go all in on Red 30.

 

[Powdermonkey]

Seriously. I can be muslim if I dont have to pay interest.

 

[Toohotinvegas33]

There are banks that will give muslims loans without interest?

Where do I sign up?

You will have to give up beer and white women

Ill take the interest

 

[spicedmanna]

HI,

Last night my friend and I were talking/freaking out about applying to medical school...

She told me that her religion does not condone taking out loans because of the interest you owe....

She's going to aim for scholarships, but there is no guarantee...

Has anyone been in this dilemma? What did you do? Does anyone have any ideas? Are there any other options?

What the heck? What sect or religion is that? I'm not judging. I'm just curious. I've never heard of such a thing before. Are you sure she's not pulling your chain? Even if this were true, wouldn't it be possible for her to get some kind of reprieve from the rule by a religious authority of the sect, given the nature of what she is going after? It's not like a personal loan; it's an education loan for the expressed purpose of funding education for medical school. It's the standard and expected way to do it in our country, due to the unrealistic expense of attending one.

Anyway, there are competitive, time repayment scholarships available with the PHS or with some states, where you agree to practice primary care for the PHS or in an underserved area in that state. You may wish to consider those. Secondly, as already mentioned, you can consider HPSP, where you agree to serve 1 year in a branch of the armed forces as a military physician for each year of financial support. You'd have to be interested in military medicine, though, and not mind the commitment to serve as an officer in a branch of the military for 4 years, or so.

Still, I think loans offer the best option, as it will give you the most flexibility. Maybe there is a loophole in that after you finish, you can sign up to work with a hospital in an underserved area that will pay off all of your loans?

 

[slim78]

I would ask her to speak with other members of her religion that are doctors. Ask them how they financed THEIR education. Chances are, they had to take out loans. But speaking to them about this might make her feel better.

 

[167649]

a quick google search brought up Muslims being against loans/interest (apparently it's called riba). i don't know if that's what she is but i found a few different banks that work with Muslims to give loans that do not include this, thereby making it acceptable according to the religion. i don't know if she's Muslim or not, my point is that if there are options such as this I would venture to guess that there are possibilities for her as well. best of luck to her

In all seriousness, if this is real than it is your (OP) best bet. Almost everyone who is not on a full scholarship has loans of some kind.

 

[scpod]

....Does anyone have any ideas? Are there any other options?

Cash, check, Mastercard, Visa, Discover....I don't know too many schools that take Diner's Club Carte Blanche, though. I'd use the Visa; I could really rack up the airline miles with that one .

 

[SAvoodoo]

You will have to give up beer and white women

Ill take the interest

this is the truth!

seriously though, just go to google and type in "muslim loan" and a bunch of stuff comes up. talking to members of the church would also be beneficial imho

/i'm going to try to do the same thing only through the church of powerball...

 

[TexasTriathlete]

Isn't a credit card basically a loan?

 

[slim78]

Isn't a credit card basically a loan?

Yes. And to have a credit limit that high would imply you have paid off enough loans in the past to establish an AWESOME credit score/history.

 

[SAvoodoo]

Isn't a credit card basically a loan?

yea but there's no interest unless you're late on the payment. my question is about how they'd go about buying a house/car...i have to assume it's the same no interest loan/mortgage

 

[Omashu]

Yes, my friend is muslim. Thanks for googling the "Muslim Loan" for me ...I should've/could've done that. I will tell her to read this thread. You've all gave great advice. She should speak with other doctor's who are muslim. I don't know about the military...but yes that would be another option.

Someone brought up a good point ... I do think her parents own a house...therefore how did they get the money to do this? Do they have any credit cards? I am going to ask her these questions...because the truth is she will have to do something.

I mean if it was that important for her parents to purchase a home. No one should judge her if its her goal to become a doctor.

As a side note: She's got a younger brother...who also wants to become a doctor. I don't want to be a judgemental non-muslim but I hope there not bypassing her and putting their money down on their son rather than her because she's female. She has not implied this but...I just hope not.

Also, I don't think she's making this up...

 

[Omashu]

Cash, check, Mastercard, Visa, Discover....I don't know too many schools that take Diner's Club Carte Blanche, though. I'd use the Visa; I could really rack up the airline miles with that one .

funny...

 

[JaggerPlate]

"You could ***** yourself out to a thousand fat chicks for 50 bucks ... or 50 really fat chicks for 1,000 bucks. What? Fat chicks need love too ... but they've got to pay."

 

[Toohotinvegas33]

"You could ***** yourself out to a thousand fat chicks for 50 bucks ... or 50 really fat chicks for 1,000 bucks. What? Fat chicks need love too ... but they've got to pay."

And that might be enough to cover your first year.

 

[LauraDO]

"You could ***** yourself out to a thousand fat chicks for 50 bucks ... or 50 really fat chicks for 1,000 bucks. What? Fat chicks need love too ... but they've got to pay."

Jaggerplate??? is that you? or is it secretly your alterego Jaggerflake?

 

[physicsnerd42]

HI,

Last night my friend and I were talking/freaking out about applying to medical school. I was the usual, what if my grades are not good enough, my MCAT diagnostic test s**cked. But she told me a fear of hers that I wasn't even aware of.
She told me that her religion does not condone taking out loans because of the interest you owe. She has been thinking about this for a while, has gone to her family, but no one has a solution for her. She's got I think a 3.9 GPA, president of a club, she's good person - she's got all the qualities I believe a doctor should have. I care about my friend a lot, I know that if she took out the loans it would be a larger weight on her mind than the average person.

She's going to aim for scholarships, but there is no guarantee...

Has anyone been in this dilemma? What did you do? Does anyone have any ideas? Are there any other options?

She could try for MD/PhD or one of the fully-funded DO/PhD programs...

 

[ViolinCello]

She could try for MD/PhD or one of the fully-funded DO/PhD programs...

I didn't think they were any fully funded DO/PhD programs like the MSTP route that the allopathic schools have. Anyone?

 

[kami333]

I didn't think they were any fully funded DO/PhD programs like the MSTP route that the allopathic schools have. Anyone?

I've read that UMDNJ does but I don't think I've seen confirmation.