Credit check done from Med Schools!!

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teenmachinery1

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Hi guys, Georgetown does credit checks (like money credit not school credit) and mine sucks. Do you guys know of other schools that do this?

Also, isn't that ******ED?

thanks,

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I dont know which ones do credit checks but Im guessing quite a few. Medschools do credit checks for a reason. You need loans to pay for school especially if you are going to a private or out of state medschool where cost of attendence can easily be 60K plus.

If your Fin Aid doesnt cover your cost of attendance then you are going to need private loans. Bad credit = No loans. And no medschool is going to let you in if you dont have the means to pay.

Why is your credit bad anyway? Have you gotten an official credit report?
 
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I love how this ridiculously expensive application process is the reason my credit score is starting to dip...
 
Hi guys, Georgetown does credit checks (like money credit not school credit) and mine sucks. Do you guys know of other schools that do this?

Also, isn't that ******ED?

thanks,

I heard it's one of the very few schools who do this (if not the only one) because most of their students end up having to borrow private loans, since their tuition is so dam high.
 
Phospho, I sure hope that georgetown is one of the few schools that do this b/c my credit sucks.

I didn't have health insurance so i have like 3 things from the hospital on my credit report. -irony- i also have something from the library and a stupid macy's card.

look, it was stupid of me to get into this mess but I find it wholly and utterly unfair that medical schools can screen a candidate out b/c they have a bad credit report. Of course we have to pay for medical school but what am I going to do after medical school, not pay back my loans? jeeeez.
 
i'm matriculating to vcu this year and they also ask for a credit score report...although not during the applicant process. they only asked for it once accepted
 
Phospho, I sure hope that georgetown is one of the few schools that do this b/c my credit sucks.

I didn't have health insurance so i have like 3 things from the hospital on my credit report. -irony- i also have something from the library and a stupid macy's card.

look, it was stupid of me to get into this mess but I find it wholly and utterly unfair that medical schools can screen a candidate out b/c they have a bad credit report. Of course we have to pay for medical school but what am I going to do after medical school, not pay back my loans? jeeeez.

stop freaking out. I know quite a bit of people who are now MS1's and 2's at Georgetown, and at least one or two of them have really bad credit. I'm pretty sure that they don't rescind your acceptance if you have bad credit - but they force you to do some type of credit counceling, etc... unless you have really really bad credit, which in your case, you don't.

Also, are you 2013 or 2014? I've never heard of a school who does credit checks on people they haven't accepted yet.
 
From the medschool perspective, if you have bad credit now and cant manage your money to pay your bills now, they assume if they let you borrow $250,000 even with a doctor salary that you wont pay that either.

Even if a school doesnt tell you they do a credit check doesnt mean the dont do one. However, I dont think you need a credit check for federal loan but most if not all private loan require them.

Also there is a limit to the amount of federal loans you can get each year so the rest have to be cover with private loans. If you attend an expense school chances are that you will need to take out private loan.

I also though they only did credit checks once you have been accepted. But I guess it wouldnt make sense for them to accept you knowing that you couldnt afford to attend. That would be really cruel!!

I'm sorry about your credit. I know it tough but if you need private loan you probably can get them with a cosigner with good credit. Your parents maybe? Plus, you should apply to your state school if you like them. They are less expense so would probably wont need private loan.

And I agree with phospho. If you are a good applicant, I dont think bad credit will keep you out of medschool.
 
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Phospho, I sure hope that georgetown is one of the few schools that do this b/c my credit sucks.

I didn't have health insurance so i have like 3 things from the hospital on my credit report. -irony- i also have something from the library and a stupid macy's card.

look, it was stupid of me to get into this mess but I find it wholly and utterly unfair that medical schools can screen a candidate out b/c they have a bad credit report. Of course we have to pay for medical school but what am I going to do after medical school, not pay back my loans? jeeeez.

I feel your pain. There is generally a pretty big bias against people with bad credit scores. It's so easy to get some dings on it and it's hard to bring it up..but people who have never been challenged financially don't really understand and like to judge. Ironically, most of the people our age with bad credit are the ones who have had a lot more financial responsibility. Mine definitely took some hits over this last year off due to insanely high undergrad loan payments (Sallie May is like borrowing money from the mafia...$300/month! Good lord..and I had other loans). Of course my parents pushed me to take the lowest-paying but most medically related job possible, and don't help me at all with bills...oh well.

Long story short: I got in and got loans to finance my tuition + a hefty allowance for food, gas, rent, etc.
 
From the medschool perspective, if you have bad credit now and cant manage your money to pay your bills now, they assume if they let you borrow $250,000 even with a doctor salary that you wont pay that either.

Even if a school doesnt tell you they do a credit check doesnt mean the dont do one. However, I dont think you need a credit check for federal loan but most if not all private loan require them.

Also there is a limit to the amount of federal loans you can get each year so the rest have to be cover with private loans. If you attend an expense school chances are that you will need to take out private loan.

This is false. You can borrow up to the amount that your school budgets in federal loans. If you max out your Staffords, there are Grad plus loans which have a higher interest rate but are still federal.

The only reason to borrow private loans is to spend more than what your school has alloted per their budget.
 
This is false. You can borrow up to the amount that your school budgets in federal loans. If you max out your Staffords, there are Grad plus loans which have a higher interest rate but are still federal.

The only reason to borrow private loans is to spend more than what your school has alloted per their budget.

you are correct. In my previous post, I was talking about "private loans". What I was referring to was "grad plus loans".

At georgetown, the tuition is so high that COA cannot be met by the staffords, so you need to fill that gap with grad plus loans. It is the grad plus loans that require some good credit. However, you can always find a cosigner to help you push your application through.
 
i've heard this before too and although i understand it, i find it frustrating and discouraging. i know there are many reasons why med schools are interested in what your parents do but i can't help but think this is one of them. (financial reasons i mean.) sure, applicants who come from a family of doctors have seen the lifestyle firsthand. but just as importantly, they will also be able to pay the bills for medical school. i hate being stuck in this weird middle place where my parents arent really financially supportive, but not quite broke enough to qualify me for economic disadvantage either. i'm late on my credit cards this month* so i could submit my primary- with only four schools :( i'll have to keep adding them (and paying my bills) as i work.

i dont think my bad credit will keep me OUT of med school entirely but it does make me mad to know it could affect the outcome at some schools. i also hate thinking about how hard its going to be to get loans. although i thought i remembered hearing that a lot of medical students have to get their parents to co-sign with them in order to get approved. is this true? this might help me out. if i could convince them to do it . . .

*for the record, my credit card debt is all from a stupid, aimless few years in UG . . . they've been cut up long ago. now i'm just still digging out of the hole. but i plan to pay it all off before i start back to school . . . i'll defer a year if i have to!
 
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Ironically, most of the people our age with bad credit are the ones who have had a lot more financial responsibility.

Long story short: I got in and got loans to finance my tuition + a hefty allowance for food, gas, rent, etc.

exactly . . . a LOT of my credit card debt is from paying for books, groceries, stuff like that in undergrad when my parents lost interest in helping me out. i worked part time but it wasnt quite enough. not that it's totally their fault- i was really stupid about the credit cards but at the time i just thought it would be 4 years and then i'd get a job and pay it all off easily. i never imagined i'd end up in grad school instead, wanting to go to med school. and i'm convinced now that getting a masters degree is the most financially idiotic thing a person who's already in debt could ever do. :bang:
 
and yet another reason for me NOT to apply to georgetown. who else does it? anyone know?
 
Case does it too, but that's after you're in and more tied to the criminal background check than anything...
 
This is false. You can borrow up to the amount that your school budgets in federal loans. If you max out your Staffords, there are Grad plus loans which have a higher interest rate but are still federal.

The only reason to borrow private loans is to spend more than what your school has alloted per their budget.

I didnt know Grad Plus was still federal. Thanks for the info!!

Most private loans that allow repayment to begin after you finish school dont let you borrow over COA either. I guess private loans would be an option if you dont get enough fin aid to cover COA but if you people can get Grad Plus to fill in the gaps when are private loans really need? Does anyone know?
 
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I'm glad I saw this thread-I just did a free credit report to make sure everything of mine is ok which it is, but there is a random bank account in my name with a 10,000 dollar balance started 9 months before I was born... so strange! I'll have to call them tomorrow and see what's up:confused:
 
I didnt know Grad Plus was still federal. Thanks for the info!!

Most private loans that allow repayment to begin after you finish school dont let you borrow over COA either. I guess private loans would be an option if you dont get enough fin aid to cover COA but if you people can get Grad Plus to fill in the gaps when are private loans really need? Does anyone know?

No clue. IMO, private loans are one of the worst financial decisions you could make. They are not subject to the same repayment rules as Federal loans and the interest is obviously higher.

I guess if you were an international student or something and weren't eligible for Federal loans that might be the only option, but again I'm really not sure.
 
i've heard this before too and although i understand it, i find it frustrating and discouraging. i know there are many reasons why med schools are interested in what your parents do but i can't help but think this is one of them. (financial reasons i mean.) sure, applicants who come from a family of doctors have seen the lifestyle firsthand. but just as importantly, they will also be able to pay the bills for medical school. i hate being stuck in this weird middle place where my parents arent really financially supportive, but not quite broke enough to qualify me for economic disadvantage either. i'm late on my credit cards this month* so i could submit my primary- with only four schools :( i'll have to keep adding them (and paying my bills) as i work.

i dont think my bad credit will keep me OUT of med school entirely but it does make me mad to know it could affect the outcome at some schools. i also hate thinking about how hard its going to be to get loans. although i thought i remembered hearing that a lot of medical students have to get their parents to co-sign with them in order to get approved. is this true? this might help me out. if i could convince them to do it . . .

*for the record, my credit card debt is all from a stupid, aimless few years in UG . . . they've been cut up long ago. now i'm just still digging out of the hole. but i plan to pay it all off before i start back to school . . . i'll defer a year if i have to!

That's interesting... has anyone else heard of this?
 
No clue. IMO, private loans are one of the worst financial decisions you could make. They are not subject to the same repayment rules as Federal loans and the interest is obviously higher.

I guess if you were an international student or something and weren't eligible for Federal loans that might be the only option, but again I'm really not sure.

One of the programs I went through post undergrad wouldn't let me take out more than 1/2 the cost of attendance in federal loans, and my mom was supposed to take the rest out in her name. It was my decision to go back to school, so I had to get a private loan to pay off the extra. It sucks now, especially since I was unemployed for 3 months and had to use my credit card to pay for things like gas, but that's life, I suppose. I should have it all paid off by February or so of next year, assuming I can get my credit card balance back down before I schedule interviews.
 
One of the programs I went through post undergrad wouldn't let me take out more than 1/2 the cost of attendance in federal loans, and my mom was supposed to take the rest out in her name. It was my decision to go back to school, so I had to get a private loan to pay off the extra. It sucks now, especially since I was unemployed for 3 months and had to use my credit card to pay for things like gas, but that's life, I suppose. I should have it all paid off by February or so of next year, assuming I can get my credit card balance back down before I schedule interviews.

was it a graduate program or a post bac?
 
That's interesting... has anyone else heard of this?

It's not true, unless you go to an expensive school (e.g. Case, Gtown, etc...)where you need to take out grad plus loans (or sometimes even private loans), AND your credit is either nonexistent or just simply sucks. But I guess it really varies from one person to another.

But, my point is that most med students don't have to deal with this.
 
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