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I am currently a post-baccalaureate student finishing up with the last of my prereqs. I will be applying to medical school the next cycle. It can be tough paying for post-bacc, so I just wrote a semi-blog about how I came to make the decision to use this route to pay for my classes. I can't be the only one in this situation. This is just the beginning of my story, if anyone has any questions feel free to respond to my post or PM me!
It was the night before Christmas…. I mean, it was at night. I was up late, unable to sleep as usual. I had just graduated with my undergraduate degree in the social sciences. I should have felt proud, joyous… complete. Yet I had a feeling of emptiness inside. I was back in my hometown living with my mom, with few job prospects. I was laying on my mattress which sat atop the old, mold smelling hard-wood floor in my bedroom. My room was the only safe place in the house. Although the wet smell of molding wood would occasionally drift into my nose, it was much better than what awaited me everyday when I woke up.
As soon as I open the door of my room, the smell of urine hit me like a ton of bricks. The stained, scratched hard wood floor throughout the rest of the house was drenched in urine from my family's incontinent dog. A few years back I had torn out all of the carpet in the house during a fit of temporary insanity, because I couldn’t stand the thought of walking on a soggy, piss filled carpet.
Anyways, my laptop sat on my stomach as thoughts flooded my mind. I was definitely not feeling the whole “law school” thing anymore. It was a viable option for me, but it wasn't what I truly wanted to do in life, ever. I have wanted to be a doctor since I was four years old, but I never believed that I was smart enough. Medical school is so competitive. What makes me, of all people think I would get in?
At the same time, I had just graduated and if I wanted to pursue my lifelong dream of going to medical school, it was now or never. I obsessively researched what I would have to do to get into medical school late into the night, and finally reached a decision. I was going to pursue medical school and I was going to give it my all. I may get rejected, but I didn't want to live with the regret of not trying out of fear of failure.
I realized that since I didn’t have any science classes, I would need to do a post-bacc. In fact, I had never taken a "BCPM" (or whatever) class in my life. Well, since 7th grade. Literally. Unfortunately, there weren’t many “career changer” post-bacc options for me in my area. I quickly realized from SDN that community college wasn't an option if I wanted to be a competitive applicant.
The only options I had were to do a formal post-bacc at a no name University X, a more well known University Y or an informal post-bacc well known University Z. The two formal post-baccs had major set-backs: the cost. University X and Y are both about $50,000 for their year long program, and I would receive no financial aid. Additionally, I would have to get loans through a private institution as I had already graduated with a bachelor’s degree. University Z on the other hand, allows you to take your time, pay for classes by the unit as you go, and there is no tuition. Since I had no idea whether I would even be able to handle a science class, it would have made no sense to gamble $50,000 worth of money that I don't have.
So the choice that I made is blatantly obvious- the informal post-bacc at University Z made the most sense. But even this option had its far share of problems. I would have to move to one of the most expensive areas in the country, where individuals pay upwards of $2500 a month to rent a tiny studio apartment. And although the classes were not too expensive, I still would need to figure out a way to pay for them. Ideally, I did not want to add to the $60,000 debt that I had already accrued from undergrad. I was going to have to start paying back that 60k in 6 months. The clock was ticking.
So there I was at 2am with a plan: go to University Z, but no way to execute that plan. I mentally went through all of my options, and realized that I did not have many options at all. In fact, I had only two.
My first option was fairly long and complicated. It consisted of me getting a full time job in my hometown to save enough to move to the $$$$ area and pay for my first class. After I saved this initial amount, I would have to find a job close to where I needed to live for the post-bacc. Considering the cost of rent in that area, I would have to live pretty far from the campus to find something affordable. I would have to work a full 40 hours a week, and would likely make $20 an hour if I was lucky (useless undergrad degree). I would only be able to take one class a semester due to financial/time constrictions. Considering I had to take around ten classes (not even including the labs), I was looking at a very, very long time ahead of me. I did not think this choice would be a practical, economically feasible situation.
My other option was rather simple, in my *possibly* somewhat out-there mind. I actually have no idea why this idea came to me so readily... its quite strange looking back on it as I had never done something like this. My other option was to become an escort. This way I could start my post-bacc right away, take as many classes as I wanted a semester, have a lot of free time to study, afford to pay for my classes and rent without having to take out additional loans, all while still having enough money to pay back my hefty monthly undergraduate loan payment. To me, it wasn’t a tough decision at all. That night, my decision to become an escort was made just as impulsively as my decision to pursue medical school. I don't regret either decision. That very same night I emailed a few escorting agencies and things took off from there.
It was the night before Christmas…. I mean, it was at night. I was up late, unable to sleep as usual. I had just graduated with my undergraduate degree in the social sciences. I should have felt proud, joyous… complete. Yet I had a feeling of emptiness inside. I was back in my hometown living with my mom, with few job prospects. I was laying on my mattress which sat atop the old, mold smelling hard-wood floor in my bedroom. My room was the only safe place in the house. Although the wet smell of molding wood would occasionally drift into my nose, it was much better than what awaited me everyday when I woke up.
As soon as I open the door of my room, the smell of urine hit me like a ton of bricks. The stained, scratched hard wood floor throughout the rest of the house was drenched in urine from my family's incontinent dog. A few years back I had torn out all of the carpet in the house during a fit of temporary insanity, because I couldn’t stand the thought of walking on a soggy, piss filled carpet.
Anyways, my laptop sat on my stomach as thoughts flooded my mind. I was definitely not feeling the whole “law school” thing anymore. It was a viable option for me, but it wasn't what I truly wanted to do in life, ever. I have wanted to be a doctor since I was four years old, but I never believed that I was smart enough. Medical school is so competitive. What makes me, of all people think I would get in?
At the same time, I had just graduated and if I wanted to pursue my lifelong dream of going to medical school, it was now or never. I obsessively researched what I would have to do to get into medical school late into the night, and finally reached a decision. I was going to pursue medical school and I was going to give it my all. I may get rejected, but I didn't want to live with the regret of not trying out of fear of failure.
I realized that since I didn’t have any science classes, I would need to do a post-bacc. In fact, I had never taken a "BCPM" (or whatever) class in my life. Well, since 7th grade. Literally. Unfortunately, there weren’t many “career changer” post-bacc options for me in my area. I quickly realized from SDN that community college wasn't an option if I wanted to be a competitive applicant.
The only options I had were to do a formal post-bacc at a no name University X, a more well known University Y or an informal post-bacc well known University Z. The two formal post-baccs had major set-backs: the cost. University X and Y are both about $50,000 for their year long program, and I would receive no financial aid. Additionally, I would have to get loans through a private institution as I had already graduated with a bachelor’s degree. University Z on the other hand, allows you to take your time, pay for classes by the unit as you go, and there is no tuition. Since I had no idea whether I would even be able to handle a science class, it would have made no sense to gamble $50,000 worth of money that I don't have.
So the choice that I made is blatantly obvious- the informal post-bacc at University Z made the most sense. But even this option had its far share of problems. I would have to move to one of the most expensive areas in the country, where individuals pay upwards of $2500 a month to rent a tiny studio apartment. And although the classes were not too expensive, I still would need to figure out a way to pay for them. Ideally, I did not want to add to the $60,000 debt that I had already accrued from undergrad. I was going to have to start paying back that 60k in 6 months. The clock was ticking.
So there I was at 2am with a plan: go to University Z, but no way to execute that plan. I mentally went through all of my options, and realized that I did not have many options at all. In fact, I had only two.
My first option was fairly long and complicated. It consisted of me getting a full time job in my hometown to save enough to move to the $$$$ area and pay for my first class. After I saved this initial amount, I would have to find a job close to where I needed to live for the post-bacc. Considering the cost of rent in that area, I would have to live pretty far from the campus to find something affordable. I would have to work a full 40 hours a week, and would likely make $20 an hour if I was lucky (useless undergrad degree). I would only be able to take one class a semester due to financial/time constrictions. Considering I had to take around ten classes (not even including the labs), I was looking at a very, very long time ahead of me. I did not think this choice would be a practical, economically feasible situation.
My other option was rather simple, in my *possibly* somewhat out-there mind. I actually have no idea why this idea came to me so readily... its quite strange looking back on it as I had never done something like this. My other option was to become an escort. This way I could start my post-bacc right away, take as many classes as I wanted a semester, have a lot of free time to study, afford to pay for my classes and rent without having to take out additional loans, all while still having enough money to pay back my hefty monthly undergraduate loan payment. To me, it wasn’t a tough decision at all. That night, my decision to become an escort was made just as impulsively as my decision to pursue medical school. I don't regret either decision. That very same night I emailed a few escorting agencies and things took off from there.
