Girlfriend failed her part 1 board exam twice and will possibly be dismissed from podiatry school with a lot of debt. What are our options?

[SuperPeanutbutter]

She failed her step 1 board exam twice now. She told me that she studied her best and the third time she's going to find a way to prepare even better, but getting dismissed from her school is a real possibility. She can be dismissed with $150-200k in student loans with no career. If she is dismissed, what are our options to somehow live a normal life with all of this debt? I personally have a good amount of student loans as well. I believe she has a biology degree and a good chemistry background. I'm assuming this is every medical student's worse nightmare apart from not getting into medical school/podiatry school. Do you know of anyone else that was in a similar situation where they had to somehow find a new career after not passing their boards? Sorry for all of the questions but as you can see this is a tough situation...

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[sad1980s]

I have no real advice other than mentioning this is my absolute worst fear. Far more scary than just not getting accepted. At this point you have to pray she passes her next attempt, don't even consider failure an option.

This is probably a questionable idea for most people but I know a dude who quit (idk if he failed, just know that he stopped) a Caribbean MD program and literally fled America. He now lives somewhere in China teaching and is ignoring his debt. I actually talked to him just recently, he has no plans to ever return but it probably helps he knew some Mandarin before he left and is Chinese-American.

 

[deleted480308]

Study, pray, income based repayment

 

[SuperPeanutbutter]

I have no real advice other than mentioning this is my absolute worst fear. Far more scary than just not getting accepted. At this point you have to pray she passes her next attempt, don't even consider failure an option.

This is probably a questionable idea for most people but I know a dude who quit (idk if he failed, just know that he stopped) a Caribbean MD program and literally fled America. He now lives somewhere in China teaching and is ignoring his debt. I actually talked to him just recently, he has no plans to ever return but it probably helps he knew some Mandarin before he left and is Chinese-American.

I've read about people who fled the country because of being in serious debt... but that's insane.

 

[Podstar]

She has to put max effort into the 3rd attempt. I know at my school if you fail twice you have basically half a year where your only responsibility is passing part 1. If she does not pass, unfortunately it’s get a job and y’all start making payments.

 

[SuperPeanutbutter]

Study, pray, income based repayment

If you do income based repayment for 20-25 years, are your student loans forgiven? I highly doubt we'd be able to pay this off in our lifetime.

 

[DexterMorganSK]

She failed her step 1 board exam twice now. She told me that she studied her best and the third time she's going to find a way to prepare even better, but getting dismissed from her school is a real possibility. She can be dismissed with $150-200k in student loans with no career. If she is dismissed, what are our options to somehow live a normal life with all of this debt? I personally have a good amount of student loans as well. I believe she has a biology degree and a good chemistry background. I'm assuming this is every medical student's worse nightmare apart from not getting into medical school/podiatry school. Do you know of anyone else that was in a similar situation where they had to somehow find a new career after not passing their boards? Sorry for all of the questions but as you can see this is a tough situation...

Sorry to hear about this. If there is no 3rd attempt, then Imo, its time to move on from the pod/medical field.

But, a few of my friends that failed out from the Caribbean medical schools (or couldn't match) went the nursing route and are doing "ok" now as a BSN.

 

[SuperPeanutbutter]

Sorry to hear about this. If there is no 3rd attempt, then Imo, its time to move on from the pod/medical field.

But, a few of my friends that failed out from the Caribbean medical schools (or couldn't match) went the nursing route and are doing "ok" now as a BSN.

How do you pay off that kind of debt while being a nurse? My hope is that we can somehow pay minimum payments for a couple of decades until it's possibly forgiven. Because making full payments for that many years basically prohibits you from living any kind of normal life...

 

[deleted480308]

If you do income based repayment for 20-25 years, are your student loans forgiven? I highly doubt we'd be able to pay this off in our lifetime.

You are certainly unlikely to pay that off

 

[Podstar]

If you do income based repayment for 20-25 years, are your student loans forgiven? I highly doubt we'd be able to pay this off in our lifetime.

How much do you like her? You can get out if that’s not the lifestyle you want.

 

[SuperPeanutbutter]

How much do you like her? You can get out if that’s not the lifestyle you want.

She's everything to me and we're in this together

 

[DexterMorganSK]

How do you pay off that kind of debt while being a nurse? My hope is that we can somehow pay minimum payments for a couple of decades until it's possibly forgiven. Because making full payments for that many years basically prohibits you from living any kind of normal life...

The way things are right now, I wouldn't count on any loans to be forgiven.

If all her loans are through FAFSA, then pay whatever you can now (if you want) or defer it until getting into another program or once she has a job.

Nurses are doing fine...a fresh grad RN in NYC make anywhere from 60-80K per year.

 

[SuperPeanutbutter]

The way things are right now, I wouldn't count on any loans to be forgiven.

If all her loans are through FAFSA, then pay whatever you can now (if you want) or defer it until getting into another program or once she has a job.

Nurses are doing fine...a fresh grad RN in NYC make anywhere from 60-80K per year.

I seriously thought student loans were forgiven after 20+ years of payments... I need to do some research

 

[CutsWithFury]

How do you pay off that kind of debt while being a nurse? My hope is that we can somehow pay minimum payments for a couple of decades until it's possibly forgiven. Because making full payments for that many years basically prohibits you from living any kind of normal life...

Nurses make more money or as much money as a first year podiatry associate for some podiatry practice. It’s time to wake up.

The 75-100k first year podiatry associate contracts are real

Lastly, break up with her a move on. Do not take on that debt.

Sent from my iPhone using SDN

 

[Weirdy]

Nursing is fine and and has a higher rate of return compared to the amount of schooling involved.

If she does not take this seriously, you need to get her to understand the gravity of the situation. Light a fire under her ass.
It is her job to discipline her study habits. There is NO excuse for not being able to pass a 2nd or 3rd time.

The concern you have right now should be just as heavy, if not heavier on her mind. Until she takes it seriously, accepts it, and pushes with everything she has- she will not pass and will not be able to recover to find a 2nd profession.

 

[GreenHousePub]

Time to really buckle down and study for the third time. It's time to change study habits if she put her max effort in with no results. This was my greatest fear when i was in school 13 years ago.

On the positive side I know of one successful lawsuit resulting in getting student loans dismissed from a guy with 400k plus and making 30k a year. She will never pay off her loans, but income based repayment can result in her paying nothing monthly but having that lingering debt for her life.

 

[GreenHousePub]

Nursing is fine and and has a higher rate of return compared to the amount of schooling involved.

If she does not take this seriously, you need to get her to understand the gravity of the situation. Light a fire under her ass.
It is her job to discipline her study habits. There is NO excuse for not being able to pass a 2nd or 3rd time.

The concern you have right now should be just as heavy, if not heavier on her mind. Until she takes it seriously, accepts it, and pushes with everything she has- she will not pass and will not be able to recover to find a 2nd profession.

From what I remember, Part II was even harder than Part I. This is bad news.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

Consider negotiating a LOA with the school to take the exam with re admission contingent on her passing. Get professional study help, and work as hard as humanely possible to pass. Lots on the line. Dont take the exam until she is totally prepared!

If this is not a viable option, then =>RN, Then =>CRNA, then=>$$$.

 

[Startingover123]

Consider negotiating a LOA with the school to take the exam with re admission contingent on her passing. Get professional study help, and work as hard as humanely possible to pass. Lots on the line. Dont take the exam until she is totally prepared!

If this is not a viable option, then =>RN, Then =>CRNA, then=>$$$.

Do you think Crna’s make more $$$ than most podiatrists?

 

[Angus Avagadro]

Do you think Crna’s make more $$$ than most podiatrists?

I never said they did. I suggested it as a good paying job to pay off her school loans. My good friend who is a DPM, is very successful. My wife and i are both overpriced specialists and if my friend dropped his checkbook in the parking lot, I'd burn mine.
Since you asked, I googled crna salary and avg is 160 to 220K per year. Not a bad gig.

 

[Startingover123]

I never said they did. I suggested it as a good paying job to pay off her school loans. My good friend who is a DPM, is very successful. My wife and i are both overpriced specialists and if my friend dropped his checkbook in the parking lot, I'd burn mine.
Since you asked, I googled crna salary and avg is 160 to 220K per year. Not a bad gig.

Totally a good job. I was genuinely asking what career has better earning potential. A few posts up said podiatrists can make 75k to 100 k which seems very low.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

Totally a good job. I was genuinely asking what career has better earning potential. A few posts up said podiatrists can make 75k to 100 k which seems very low.

You are correct. My friend is a country DPM, part owner in a surgery center. He works like a maniac, 60 to 80 hrs a week. I would hazard he makes about 4 or 5 times what you quoted.

 

[idknooneknowsme]

She failed her step 1 board exam twice now. She told me that she studied her best and the third time she's going to find a way to prepare even better, but getting dismissed from her school is a real possibility. She can be dismissed with $150-200k in student loans with no career. If she is dismissed, what are our options to somehow live a normal life with all of this debt? I personally have a good amount of student loans as well. I believe she has a biology degree and a good chemistry background. I'm assuming this is every medical student's worse nightmare apart from not getting into medical school/podiatry school. Do you know of anyone else that was in a similar situation where they had to somehow find a new career after not passing their boards? Sorry for all of the questions but as you can see this is a tough situation...

I am not even a podiatry student yet, but I listened to a podcast with Dr. Brad Schaeffer (that Dr. from my feet are killing me) and he mentions he failed his boards 2 times before passing on his third time. I guess she should not give up. If it doesn't work, then I wish best of luck

 

[wakaflocka88]

Just FYI, she still has APMLE Part 2 (a joke), APMLE Part 3 (total joke), ABFAS/ABPM in-training exams each year of residency (complete joke), the real deal ABFAS 2-part exam (____ joke), maybe ABPM (scam), and fluoroscopy exam.

If truly serious about studying, lock the phone away. Get off FB, IG, snapchat, whatever-chat. Period. Zero excuses to get distracted from the main goal. Like Captain America said...."whatever it takes."

 

[GreenHousePub]

I am not even a podiatry student yet, but I listened to a podcast with Dr. Brad Schaeffer (that Dr. from my feet are killing me) and he mentions he failed his boards 2 times before passing on his third time. I guess she should not give up. If it doesn't work, then I wish best of luck

If you watch the show you can definitely tell it is someone who needed three tries to pass boards.

 

[de Ribas]

If you watch the show you can definitely tell it is someone who needed three tries to pass boards.

If you watch the show you can definitely tell this guy is more successful than most other people. His participation in Titan Games shows that he is hard working and has a balanced view on life. Definitely is doing more good for podiatry than many others.

Better do what he does than only sit on SDN and bash on other people.

 

[CutsWithFury]

If you watch the show you can definitely tell this guy is more successful than most other people. His participation in Titan Games shows that he is hard working and has a balanced view on life. Definitely is doing more good for podiatry than many others.

Better do what he does than only sit on SDN and bash on other people.

Anybody can PROJECT their expertise if they are savvy enough with social media.

This is a problem


Sent from my iPhone using SDN

 

[xoxo111]

I’m so sorry to hear this! I would suggest, like others here, that she tries her LEVEL BEST to pass during her third attempt. Does her school offer reviews/tutoring so that she can pass her boards? The school should help her in some way by providing resources. Also, tell her to do a lot of practice questions! I’m in my second semester and I was struggling a lot in the beginning of my first semester, and then I started doing practice questions before my exams at the end of my semester and my grades picked up. Practice questions are the only way one can know what they REALLY know. Also, tell her to focus on high yield topics, all the courses in the second year, general anatomy, physio and biochem from first year. She should narrow down her weak areas. It’s very easy to waste time revising what you already know.

 

[SuperPeanutbutter]

Nursing is fine and and has a higher rate of return compared to the amount of schooling involved.

If she does not take this seriously, you need to get her to understand the gravity of the situation. Light a fire under her ass.
It is her job to discipline her study habits. There is NO excuse for not being able to pass a 2nd or 3rd time.

The concern you have right now should be just as heavy, if not heavier on her mind. Until she takes it seriously, accepts it, and pushes with everything she has- she will not pass and will not be able to recover to find a 2nd profession.

I know, I'm trying to really drive home the fact that her not passing will significantly change our lives for the worst. She of course knows all of this but I state it anyways. She's just beyond devastated to the point of feeling defeated. I'm trying to find ways how I can help her study. She'll basically have 5-6 months to study for it.

Time to really buckle down and study for the third time. It's time to change study habits if she put her max effort in with no results. This was my greatest fear when i was in school 13 years ago.

On the positive side I know of one successful lawsuit resulting in getting student loans dismissed from a guy with 400k plus and making 30k a year. She will never pay off her loans, but income based repayment can result in her paying nothing monthly but having that lingering debt for her life.

This really is a bigger nightmare compared to not getting accepted into the school. We're not really sure what to do if she doesn't pass. What do you do with all of that debt if she doesn't have a career to show for it? Honestly I don't know why this is never talked about in the news or school. There's a good number of people who don't get residencies every year and they now have a big mortgage with no house or job to show for it.

I’m so sorry to hear this! I would suggest, like others here, that she tries her LEVEL BEST to pass during her third attempt. Does her school offer reviews/tutoring so that she can pass her boards? The school should help her in some way by providing resources. Also, tell her to do a lot of practice questions! I’m in my second semester and I was struggling a lot in the beginning of my first semester, and then I started doing practice questions before my exams at the end of my semester and my grades picked up. Practice questions are the only way one can know what they REALLY know. Also, tell her to focus on high yield topics, all the courses in the second year, general anatomy, physio and biochem from first year. She should narrow down her weak areas. It’s very easy to waste time revising what you already know.

Yes it is very devastating and from what I understand there's a good portion of podiatry students who don't pass boards nationwide. I'm not sure how the statistics change on the second attempt but it's still insane. Almost like a dirty secret how so many students fail out with $150k+ in student loans. Please study hard or bow out early if you see that you aren't cut out for it. Better to be $50k in debt vs $200k

 

[DexterMorganSK]

There's a good number of people who don't get residencies every year
Yes it is very devastating and from what I understand there's a good portion of podiatry students who don't pass boards nationwide.

The first part is not true. Residency placement outcomes are 100% (if not the first time, then def after programs open unfilled spots).

Also, the first time pass rate for the APMLE is at least 90%+ throughout the 9 programs. I think BarryU was once in the 80s a few years back but picked up. If a student doesn't pass the exam on their 1st try, then they should really pass it on the 2nd attempt. At my program of 110 students, there were 8 that didn't pass the first time, and then 1 person didn't pass after the 2nd....this student was barely making it in classes and just passing so no one was surprised.