FULL ride to medschool for primary care vs. Pay own way and specilize?

[njcaldwell]

I have this option, it is very intriguing and I want some input. Would you go to medschool (get paid 50,000 a year to cover tuitions rent etc) to go into primary care, or pay on own and then specilize. I dont even know what kind of medicine I want to go into... Id hate to pass this up then relize later on I wanted to do primary care and have missed out.

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[Law2Doc]

I have this option, it is very intriguing and I want some input. Would you go to medschool (get paid 50,000 a year to cover tuitions rent etc) to go into primary care, or pay on own and then specilize. I dont even know what kind of medicine I want to go into... Id hate to pass this up then relize later on I wanted to do primary care and have missed out.

The problem is that 90% or so of all med students will CHANGE THEIR MINDS about what they actually want to go into. So to lock in on a small number of specialties so early is often going to be a mistake in retrospect.

 

[lord_jeebus]

Probably not a good idea.

What specialties does it lock you into?

What are the penalties if you specialize?

 

[PeripateticMD]

What if I know I already know I want to specialize in a primary care specialty? Primary care is specializing, you have family med, peds, ob/gyn...

 

[Gabujabu]

I agree with Law2Doc. These programs are for those who KNOW they want to go into primary care. These programs have stiff penalties for those who decide later on that they want a non-primary care specialty. You cite a financial reason to do this: having the cost of medical school paid for. However, it can be looked at financially from another perspective as well. Let's say you forego going to radiology for family medicine due to this contract. The difference in lifetime incomes can be $3 million or more. Of course you could later do the residency you want after fulfilling the contract, but that's a whole mess to deal with and a whole lotta residency.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Dont take the money : It will limit your options

How would that limit your options?

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Primary care is specializing, you have family med, peds, ob/gyn...

Yeah, but they are all boring as hell. Note to mention OB/GYN is about as digusting a specialty as you can pick and you'll pay through the nose for malpractice insurance.

 

[PeripateticMD]

Few things (because I've looked into a bunch of these things):

1. you can sometimes pay these back if you don't go through with it. So it's the same amount of money lost.

2. if you don't have debt doesn't that widen the options?? you can do pretty much anything you want after residency.

3. there are usually a bunch of residency options with scholarships.

does it tie you into a certain time committment??

 

[random-dude]

This scholarship means that you have to go into Family/Peds/InternalMed/OB. If there is no penalty for switching than take the money, and if you do switch then you are just like everyone else in terms of debt.

Your options are limited in the short term if you take the scholarship....meaning that if you fall in love with surgery/psych/anything else you are not allowed to pursue it without financial penalties.

In the long term you can do whatever you want but keep in mind that the only thing worse than residency is two residencies!

 

[HumbleMD]

The penalties are pretty stiff for backing out, usually (although we don't know the details of this scholarship). For example, the U.S. corps program will pay for most of the cost if you sign a contract to do primary care. However, if you just wait, accrue debt, and then sign up after the fact, they'll pay back most of your loans. I had definitely thought about it, but realize now that it's better to keep my options open, and then I could get the loans paid for if I indeed want to go into primary care.

 

[NonTradMed]

Is there a penelty for backing out later? Is it possible to have your loans forgiven if you decide later to do primary care (rather than now)?

If there's no penelty to back out, take the scholarship and then back out if you find out your life's true calling as a plastic surgeon. If there is a penelty, I think it's better to NOT take the offer. Med students change their minds all the time about residency and it isn't until rotations time that you actually get to truly experience the different areas of medicine available to you.

And I'd like to mention that there are loan forgiveness programs for primary care bound students so it's still possible to have your cake and eat it too!

 

[MedStudentWanna]

This scholarship means that you have to go into Family/Peds/InternalMed/OB. If there is no penalty for switching than take the money, and if you do switch then you are just like everyone else in terms of debt.

Your options are limited in the short term if you take the scholarship....meaning that if you fall in love with surgery/psych/anything else you are not allowed to pursue it without financial penalties.

Actually, many of these scholarship programs consider psych primary care as well.

 

[DrBowtie]

You can get in one of these programs at virtually any stage in the game. I wouldn't lock myself in.

 

[MJB]

If I were to get into my psuedo-state school, I would be looking at a program like this...partly because of my age...

It would be VERY tempting to know I would not only not be taking loans, but also drawing a "salary" during MS.
Plus, the state I'd be agreeing to work for includes EM as a Primary Care specialty.

 

[lilnoelle]

I've been dealing with this very question lately.

I've looked into programs that will pay for loans after the fact and its NOTHING like what I'd get if I make the commitment now. I.e. the NHSC will pay up to $30K a year for service (commitment 2 years, will continue paying as long as you have loans). Well, with the $400K worth of loans (including interest) I will have once I graduate loans, $30K will ONLY be covering my annual interest.
My current program (state program, not NHSC) is paying around ~55K a year and if I stick with it, I will only have ~$100K in loans when I leave residency.
But then again.... I do have an interest in surgery and psychiatry, anesthesiology, and a few other "lifestyle" specialties. I'd hate to get to the end and decide that I'm missing out on the field I love because I have to go into primary care. Granted, I could always do a fellowship when my commitment is done, but what if what I love is not something I can get into with a fellowship. (surgery, anesthesiology, etc).
So, I'm going back and forth but I think at the end of the day (well, at the end of next week, actually) I'll end up swallowing my fear and cancelling my contract. I'm really quite frightened of those loans, but I don't want to get to the end and regret that I can't do what I really want.

 

[LIDO]

Loans are loans and most students going through medical school will have them.....that is life....we deal with it.

It is really not that aweful of a situation if you take a minute to calculate things out. Go on a financial website and get a rough estimate for how much money you will have to pay back each month along with interest according to a certain loan period.

With school loans having a much lower interest rate than numerous other investments it is often very advisable to take a longer repayment plan.....twenty years or such . So for example......a total debt of 200,000 with an interest rate of 8.0 (which is higher than most school loans and almost equiv. to private loans......hsbc is offering approx 9.0 at this time) and paid back over 20 years is monthly payment of roughly 1,600 dollars.

This may seem like a lot.....and for many it is.....but 19,000 dollars a year from your salary will not break the bank.......BESIDES if you were to repay this above amount in ten years the monthly payment would be roughly 2,500 dollars......the point of this story is: take the extra 1,000 dollars a month and instead of paying of that 6.0 or 8.0 percent loan....invest into a higher yield return (low to medium risk investment......just get an FA to do this for you ).....even if that return has only a few points on the loan.....you will still come out positive and actually reduce your debt. This also allows you to be flexible if short on cash some months.......

Somethin' to consider ......do medicine.....spend a decade in school and make sure you specialize in exactly what you want....you deserve it.....don't strap yourself in and crumble that chance.......k.....bed time.

 

[Psyche Estrelle]

Good question. I think I would personally take the money. I wouldn't mind doing primary care and I'm definitely all for starting my life with no debt. :> That's obviously just me, though

 

[niccage3]

I think that if you reach the point where you don't want to do primary care as opposed to another field you are going to feel far worse not being able to do it than being in a field you love with $200,000 in debt that no offense but so many people in medical school come out with and pay off without starving... however, if you know you want to do primary care or a low paying field I would make a choice to go to state school as opposed to a private school if you have that choice

 

[Mayday]

I've already done the whole doing a job that I hate because it pays the bills thing. I'm going to school to become a doctor, I wouldn't be happy being in family practice. Thus I would take loans and doing something I love over no loans and doing something I would hate any day.

 

[tacrum43]

I have this option, it is very intriguing and I want some input. Would you go to medschool (get paid 50,000 a year to cover tuitions rent etc) to go into primary care, or pay on own and then specilize. I dont even know what kind of medicine I want to go into... Id hate to pass this up then relize later on I wanted to do primary care and have missed out.

I would personally rather take out loans so that I could have a choice (especially since I'm pretty sure I don't want to do primary care). However, I'm also pretty sure some merit scholarship money will be coming your way anyhow, so you may not have to worry.

 

[BuckeyeForBass]

Somethin' to consider ......do medicine.....spend a decade in school and make sure you specialize in exactly what you want....you deserve it.....don't strap yourself in and crumble that chance.......k.....bed time.

I've thought and thought about this ... and this seems like the most logical choice. If you do decide to to PC, there will be opportunity for repayment help later on.