Happiness vs huge debt

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CRAZYTERP

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I just ran across a statement in another thread regarding BU and have similar sentiments. Basically the poster said BU was one of their top choices, however, the price is out of this world and the cost of living in Boston is ridiculous as well.

Now I chose my undergrad univ bc it allowed me to go to school for really REALLY cheap and since I knew I would need to save money for grad school one day it was a no brainer. Now I wonder if I should make the oposite decision to go to school that is overly expensive just because I think and I pretty much know I will be happier there.

For instance if I got into BU and went there I would be looking at about $50K+ year and probably live in a shared apartment with at least one roommate. If I went to UMAB or MCV I would pay much less for school and be able to afford a nice place, maybe even a house for about half the price of living in Boston.

I know it sounds like I have answered my own question, but seriously, I do not think I will be nearly as happy living in Bmore or Richmond, especially if I know that I could have gone to Boston, my dream destination.

I worry that by going to a more expensive school to be happy may end up hurting me in the long run with debt. Does anyone have a take on this? I mean what would you do.

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Originally posted by CRAZYTERP
I just ran across a statement in another thread regarding BU and have similar sentiments. Basically the poster said BU was one of their top choices, however, the price is out of this world and the cost of living in Boston is ridiculous as well.

Now I chose my undergrad univ bc it allowed me to go to school for really REALLY cheap and since I knew I would need to save money for grad school one day it was a no brainer. Now I wonder if I should make the oposite decision to go to school that is overly expensive just because

I've worked with many doctors from several specialities, and I am yet to find one that advised me to choose a private school over my state school. Ivy league and top tier schools may give you a more enjoyable education and nicer facilities, but medical school is highly overrated. The general consensus from the MDs I've spoken to is that the residency makes you into the doctor you will be. If a more expensive school will help you get the residency you need, go for it.

I advise you to realistically sit down with a calculator and plan ahead. Use a compound interest formula and calculate how long it takes you to pay off your loan at a given school (tuition + living expenses) using an average physician salary in the specialty of your choice.

By doing that, I convinced myself to not apply to schools with >$35k/yr tuition, seeing that I want to be an FP (I am well off enough to not qualify for any financial aid, sucks to do debt free I guess):(

Good Luck!
 
I'm wondering how many of us will take out more money than we actually need just so that we can live happily and comfortably. I know that common sense is to get by with as little debt as possible but I just don't know if I can go from upper-middle class to poor. Its gonna be a really hard adjustment. I think that I may take out a little extra just so I don't have to feel that I am a pauper. I know I'll pay for it in the long run but hopefully I will be making enough that it won't matter. Just some thoughts.
 
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Originally posted by tryingagain
I'm wondering how many of us will take out more money than we actually need just so that we can live happily and comfortably. I know that common sense is to get by with as little debt as possible but I just don't know if I can go from upper-middle class to poor. Its gonna be a really hard adjustment. I think that I may take out a little extra just so I don't have to feel that I am a pauper. I know I'll pay for it in the long run but hopefully I will be making enough that it won't matter. Just some thoughts.

I thought student loans already take living expenses into account? You are borrowing for your entire 4 years of rent, food, automobile and tuition/book expenses aren't you??
 
I thought student loans already take living expenses into account? You are borrowing for your entire 4 years of rent, food, automobile and tuition/book expenses aren't you??

Yeah. To my knowledge, you get money for everything except credit card and car payments. But there's a "wise old saying" that they told us in a financial aid presentation at a med school I recently visited:

Live like a physician while you're a student, and you will live like a student while you're a physician.

I have the same problem (or, more accurately, HOPE to have the same problem) as the OP. I too went to the cheapest undergrad I could get my hands on. A little, albeit very good school that granted me a full scholarship, but unfortunately does not have a national reputation. It never used to bother me, but it quickly got annoying to have to explain to everyone at my interviews what and where my school was. I think I've decided that I will go where I feel the happiest, even if it does cost me $200,000. I think... :oops: :laugh:
 
I have had similar questions. Someone once told me that when you are accepted to medical school lenders line up wanting to give you money. I have no idea if there is any truth to that statement or not. My experience with finincial aid so far is that while they *say* it is for tuition and living expenses, it hardly covers living expenses after tuition and books.
I do not have the problem of going from upper middle class to poor as someone stated...we are already pretty darn poor. My concern is that unless there is plenty of financial aid available we may not be able to make it at all. I have two small children to care for.
Any idea on how much people are typically able to borrow and/or are there any grant programs/scholarships that people are abble to use?
Natalie
 
Originally posted by NatW
Any idea on how much people are typically able to borrow and/or are there any grant programs/scholarships that people are abble to use?
Natalie

As for Stafford loans, for med school you can get up to $38.5K. $8.5K subsidized, and $30K unsubsidized.

There are non-Stafford loans too, but Stafford loans tend to have lower interest rates, and for the subsidized part, the feds pay your interest while you're in school!
 
From http://www.amsa.org/resource/cardev/medsurveyresults.cfm



Below are the results for Boston University School of Medicine. As of January 6, 2003, 16 surveys have been completed for this school.

For each question, students were asked to rate their schools according to the following scale:

5=Excellent
4=Above Average
3=Average
2=Fair
1=Poor

Average values are shown for each question, and student comments are listed at the bottom of the page. Also, please realize that students were allowed to leave some questions blank. Therefore, "N/A" is used to indicate that there are no responses for that particular question. The standard deviation is shown in parentheses only for those questions for which there was more than one response.
Atmosphere Boston
Learning environment (for this question only: 1=competitive, 5=cooperative student body) 3.3 (1.2)
Opportunities to get involved in extracurricular activities and level of student involvement 4.6 (0.7)

Geography
Boston
Safety of the campus 2.6 (0.9)
Enjoyment of the area 3.9 (1.2)

Supportive Environment for:
Boston
Careers in primary care 3.8 (1.1)
Underrepresented ethnic minorities 3.1 (1.5)
Lesbian, gay, and bisexual students 3.4 (1.4)
Students with disabilities 2.6 (1.2)
Married students 3.8 (1.1)

Academics (Years 1 & 2):
Boston
Quality of teaching in years 1 and 2 3.3 (1.2)
Adequacy of curriculum in preparing you for USMLE Step 1 3.4 (1.3)
Hours per week in lectures for students in traditional curriculum (actual hours, not rated according to scale above) 27.7 (10.4)
Opportunities for patient interaction in the year 1 and 2 curriculum 3.7 (1.1)

Academics (Years 3 & 4):
Boston
Quality of teaching in years 3 and 4 4.5 (0.7)
Amount of responsibility given to students for patient care 4.5 (0.7)
Overall assessment of the clinical training at your school 4.6 (0.7)

Facilities
Boston
Adequacy of computer labs 3.4 (1.4)
Adequacy of libraries 2.7 (1.4)
Adequacy of study space 2.8 (1.3)

Administration
Boston
Helpfulness of administration, i.e. Dean of Students 3.2 (1.5)
Financial aid counseling 2.7 (1.5)
Administration's support/encouragement of student organizations 3.8 (1.3)
Student involvement in administrative decisions, i.e. admissions, curriculum, etc. 3.3 (1.2)

Opportunities
Boston
For research 4.2 (1.0)
To receive career guidance and mentoring 3.4 (1.2)
For experience with underserved populations 4.8 (0.4)

Overall satisfaction
Boston
Provide an overall rating of your school 3.9 (1.1)

Open Questions
What do you like best about your school?

* Boston University School of Medicine being in Boston
* being in boston
* It's located in Boston
* The clinical training in 3rd and 4th year are really very good. Also, in the first 2 years, I had a lot of exposure to patients that made the first 2 years more bearable.
* Amazing 3rd/4th year clinical experience Diversity of patient population in regards to disease and socio-econ status of patients.
* Although the facilities are poor (computers, library, general medical campus) the clinical training is amazing and if you excel, you can pick any residency you want. The school has a great reputation when it comes to residency selection.
* lots of student involvement in community activities
* Inner City setting, w/ great patient population to learn from. underserved, minority/immigrant patients. young inhospital pop. Great departments so options to go into any specialty is there.
* I feel that the clinical training I have received has been excellent, and I was very well-prepared for the USMLE I and II with minimal additional studying

What do you like least about your school?

Boston University School of Medicine
* the competitive atmosphere
* Administration, Expenses
* still honor/pass/no pass many students except from courses if they come through a boston ba/md or ma programs.
* The curriculum - not everybody takes the same course load yet everybody is graded on the same scale!
* The first 2 years. The lectures were not very helpful-- 80%+ were Slide presentations with the lecturer reading from them. Not a great teaching method, despite our gripes.
* COST
* Again, facilities are terrible, but will hopefully improve due to major complaints. As with most private schools, the cost is high but BU does little to help those who come from families above the poverty level. Expect $150K-$200K of debt.
* lots of red-tape
* Tuition is insane. You will have a mortgage by the end of med-school and won't have a house to show for it. Pt. exposure first two yrs is minimal but it's made up for during 3rd yr.
* The tuition

Please share any other thoughts you may have about your school.

Boston University School of Medicine
* Run like a business
* expensive, but a good school
* Don't come unless this is the only school that accepts you.
* Boston is a great city to learn medicine. The residents here are very smart, so my training as a 3rd and 4th year makes it ever so much more valuable. I think it's important to have great residents, because as a medical student, you spend most of your time with them, not the attendings (at least here at BU). If you needed help with something trivial and don't want to ask the attending since they're busy, the residents are right there for you.
* Why don't you collaborate with the AAMC study?! It's their Graduate Questionaire? They get more specific and I feel that if you two collaborated (from both the student's and school's side) EVERYBODY would benefit!
* GREAT CLINICAL YEARS VERY GOOD TEACHING
* With all that said, it is an amazing school when it comes to clinical preparedness.
 
I also am having a hard time deciding between cheap state school and more expensive out of state schools. If I go to the state school, I'll always want to tell people "I could have gone to..." Not sure if I can deal with that...

Interested in others opinions, even if I have heard them already...
 
Originally posted by Jacobim
If I go to the state school, I'll always want to tell people "I could have gone to..." Not sure if I can deal with that...

I hope that deep down you have more signifant reasons for choosing a private school education. Name recognition should be the least of your worries. Have you ever asked your doctor where they went to school? I've thought about asking mine, but realized that a) it takes nerve b) what would it accomplish
I'm sure doctors see thousands of patients without ever being asked that question. "

You can always go to "State School X", do your residency at Harvard and say that you "trained in your specialty at Harvard". That's an honest statement.;)
 
hi, sorry about my full mailbox CT! Anyway, I think it really depends on the school. In the case of UMAB vs. Harvard, I'd say Hah-vahd in a heartbeat, but with BU I'm not so sure. I love Boston, but the general perception I have of BU students (granted, somewhat from hearsay) is that they are the most unhappy med students in B-town. b/c there are a significant number of BA/MD students in the program, I've heard that there tends to be more competitiveness among students, which is not fun to deal with in med school. Also, just b/c you had a great interview experience and loved Boston doesn't mean that you're guarenteed a class of 150 fabulous and fun classmates with whom to enjoy Boston. Although BU is a solid school with a good reputation, I don't think it's reputation justifies picking the $200K debt over UMAB. I'd probably give the same advice for Tufts even though I go there, but I really do like our grading system and cooperative atmosphere and early clinical experience. Maryland has annoying letter grades, but B-more is a really underrated city and can be a nice place to live if you choose your housing carefully. I also doubt that going to UMAB would hinder any ambitions you might have to go into a competitive specialty as it is a top 50 school with a good reputation and excellent hospital. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about MCV/VCU to help you out there, sorry.. good luck in any case.
 
Originally posted by NatW
I have had similar questions. Someone once told me that when you are accepted to medical school lenders line up wanting to give you money. I have no idea if there is any truth to that statement or not. My experience with finincial aid so far is that while they *say* it is for tuition and living expenses, it hardly covers living expenses after tuition and books.
I do not have the problem of going from upper middle class to poor as someone stated...we are already pretty darn poor. My concern is that unless there is plenty of financial aid available we may not be able to make it at all. I have two small children to care for.
Any idea on how much people are typically able to borrow and/or are there any grant programs/scholarships that people are abble to use?
Natalie

Natalie,
You and your family could make it through medical school. Basically, you must be willing to get into debt. I also have a family and have calculated out that we would need to borrow about $35K a year on top of tuition, books and other school fees. If I were to go to my state school (University of Washington), then I anticipate coming out about $200K in debt, it may be somewhat less if my wife were to work part-time.

There are several ways that you can repay the debt. If you choose primary care (internal medicine, family practice, obstetrics/gynecology or pediatrics), then you could opt for an underserved community scholarship program. The program helps you repay your loans, typically for about four years while you serve in the community. The National Health Service Corp has this option:

http://nhsc.bhpr.hrsa.gov//

You could also apply to HPSP (military scholarship), where they pay one year of schooling for one year of service.

The other option is to pay it off over a long term (like buying a house).
 
Hi there! This might be slightly off-topic, but ... if you're admitted to medical school, do you have a chance to see what financial aid the school is offering you before you decide whether or not to attend?
 
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Originally posted by tryingagain
I'm wondering how many of us will take out more money than we actually need just so that we can live happily and comfortably. I know that common sense is to get by with as little debt as possible but I just don't know if I can go from upper-middle class to poor. Its gonna be a really hard adjustment. I think that I may take out a little extra just so I don't have to feel that I am a pauper. I know I'll pay for it in the long run but hopefully I will be making enough that it won't matter. Just some thoughts.

I feel the same way. I've been working full-time for the last five years or so and have to say that I've gotten used to getting a paycheck every two weeks and having disposable income. It'll be a huge change going back to living like a student again.

But the impression I get is that the school determines how much you can take out in loans (tuition + living expenses) and you really can't take out anything beyond that.... :confused:

Otherwise, what would stop me from taking out an extra $60K and buying a BMW? :D
 
Originally posted by chocolate-e
Hi there! This might be slightly off-topic, but ... if you're admitted to medical school, do you have a chance to see what financial aid the school is offering you before you decide whether or not to attend?

That's a really good question. Does anyone out there who is already in school know the answer?
 
You only live once, enjoy it.

Yes, if you attend the school that you want, you might be in a little more debt. But look, you will only go to medical school once, you don't want to regret a decision 15-20 years from now thinking about how much better your medical school experience could have been.

I don't come from a rich family but I was always taught to never let money be the main issue. Sure, it does play in some part, but don't let it make your life miserable.

My two cents: Take out loans, enjoy Boston. It sounds like Boston is an environment that you'd learn better in. Remember that medical school is hard and being happy at the school you attend's essential.

Good luck,

Focus
 
I'd agree with focus. I will not go to my state school if I get into my top choice (a private school). I have a similar situation as a previous poster...I've had to explain where my undergrad institution is EVERY time I'm at an interview. There is a part of me that wants to be at a big name school with great facilities in a fantastic city. Will I regret taking a chance if I did what I felt might make me the happiest at the time? Doubtful. Will I look back at playing it safe and wonder what would have happened if I took a chance? Very possibly. Money is a huge issue... but I'm not looking forward to the BMW and second house in the florida keys. I'm looking forward to being a doctor. I'll deal with the debt and look back at my life confident that I knowingly took a risk that I felt was worth it.
 
Originally posted by chocolate-e
Hi there! This might be slightly off-topic, but ... if you're admitted to medical school, do you have a chance to see what financial aid the school is offering you before you decide whether or not to attend?

Well you have until May 15 to decide? I think if you're diligent about filling out forms, they'll have estimates for you before that?
 
If you are choosing BU because that is where you want to live... take the above statement into consideration. Personally with your other choices... I would go with BU based on location. Look into private scholarship opps, especially if you are entering primary care. BU isn't a top ten or twenty school, so I wouldn't chose it for name recognition over UMB at least.

Of course, I am single, male, and most likely will not have a family unless i try REALLY hard ;). So longterm financial considerations aren't as important to me. But it is one perspective not often shared on this network... You only live once!
 
yeah, if you get all your forms in quickly you should be able to see your package before may 15.

i wrote this another thread...........

i'm in the same boat. i also got into a good school (univ of rochester) that i totally loved. the students were really happy and friendly, i couldn't find ANYTHING i would change with the curriculum, and i got a wonderful sence of the place. i really loved it. but, i also got into my state school. supposidely it's the best state school in my state, it's ranked in the top 50 for primary care but not for research. the students were happy there too but i didn't love the school.

i'm actually leaning twords the state school. i have talked to tons of physicians about this. every single one that i talked to said to go to my state school with the exception of one (and he dosen't have a family and very little living expenses). all the applicants i talk to say to go where i want but all the doctors say to go to the state school. i even called an alumnae from univ of rochester and he said it really didn't matter that he went there. he loved it, but he was sure that he would be in the exact same place if he had gone somewhere else.

it's really hard bc i feel like i worked so hard so i should 'reward' myself with the school of my dreams. but when i have a family, a huge debt, and my partner owes 80K less will i really be happy? will it really make any difference in 20 years? i guess for me, when i visualize my life in 20 years i see a nice little family, a dog, and a mini van.....and yes i'll be a doctor. but, i see that other stuff first. i think i'll be going to my state school...(but, i'm still waiting on my financial aid package).

:)
 
Hey all,

So I didn't go see BU, but I did go see Tufts, and although it is definitely not the school for me, I really respected the admissions officer's explanation of what taking out these loans will mean for us over the next 15 years. He handed out a chart that compared the average amounts we might expect to be paying each month based on whether we were looking at borrowing 30k per year or 60k per year (the cost of Tufts and I would imagine BU including housing). Anyway, he made it clear that in his opinion, leaving medical school with 240k debt would simply be an overwhemling. Say with interest we end up paying back double what we originally borrowed. We probably won't be able to start paying anything back until after our residencies are over. If we wanted to pay our loans back in a ten year period, we would be looking at paying say $2000 - $4000 a month depending on our personal situations. Now that is a ton of money a month unless you are thinking of entering a specialty that is going to pay a lot right from the start. We may think that we don't need much to live on now, but what about when we are 38 years old and still have this type of monthly payment. Who knows if we will be married, have young children, in other words, what the future holds.

Anyway, every school is different and I am just putting this out there to think about. I think for everyone choosing between schools with different costs, it would be a great idea to figure out exactly what the different debts would mean in terms of monthly payments over a certain time frame (10-15 years, whatever). It helped to make things a little clearer to me particularly since I went into this with the attitude that wherever I got in, I would just make it happen somehow financially without really thinking this plan through :p

Good luck everyone!

p.s. on another note, i live in boston. while boston is an absolutely fantastic place to live, i really didn't get a chance to appreciate it while i was in school because i simply didn't have the time. it is an expensive place to live, particilarly on a med school budget. it also tends to have long dreary, cold winters...not so pleasant. I truly believe that if you find a medical school where you fit in well with the people, regardless of the location, you will have a great time :D
 
bumping this...does anyone else have anything to say about more prestigious schools allowing you to secure better residencies? if you went to your state school (indiana in my case) would you have trouble specializing in any areas (ie something like otolaryngology) because you did not go to a more prestigious med school?
 
If you take a loan when do you have to start paying back and over what period of time?
Can you get loan for tuition+ living expenses?

what is the max amount?

I am new. I am starting to learn all this.

thanks
 
I found myself in this kind of situation. I could go to UM and pay a lot of money (out of loans) or go to a state school and make it a whole lot cheaper..I decided to go to the state school...get a job, and I went to the extreme and stayed at home with my parents...being a recent immigrant I did not want to push my luck...or get in debt too soon...

But for medical school, I really do not care...I will go where I get into, and take out the loans...Medicine is my dream and this is one of the sacrifices I have to make in order to achieve it.

Best of luck!
Karina
 
Federal subsidized Stafford loans max out at $8,500, and interest on these does not accrue until you finish your training. Unsubsidized stafford loans are another $30,000 I think, and the interest on these begins to accrue immediately but you don't have to start repayment until you finish your training. Each school will have (often on its Web page) a "budget", and you can borrow up to that budget, which includes tuition, fees, and living expenses for one person. Spouses and child care are generally NOT included.

There are also private loans available, but you usually have to start repaying those much sooner and of course interest begins compounding immediately.

I hope this helps!
 
Here are my .02 from the other side of med school...ie my husband just finished fellowship.

Medical School is ONLY 4 years...even if you aren't completely happy with the town, you will be studying anyway....

50,000$ a year plus expenses sounds like way too much money these days. Keep in mind that when you get out of residency, where you will more than likely ALSO accumulate more debt, you will be well over $200,000 in the hole. Though physicians do make more money than the 'average Joe', they also pay more in taxes.

We've been out for two years and we pay 42% tax on our income. Our loan payments are higher than our MORTGAGE...and we are basically still living paycheck to paycheck because of this.

Think it through.....4 years in Boston, or much more finacial breathing room post-training?

Kris
 
Can you take out more than the budget they set for you, if you utilize private lenders? Does the financial aid office call all the shots? Or can you contact private lenders directly?
 
for those of you who would choose private, i am just wondering if you have done the math on this stuff. similar figures are alluded to by a poster above, but i added up the loans i would need to take out for one particular school and even with a little bit of financial aid, it ended up that i would be paying around 3500-4000 a month for 10 years, that is a serious financial burden. are there any of you who plan on taking out huge loans? are you okay with this kind of debt? i understand that some state schools are pretty expensive too, but many can shave around 20K a year off of your loans.
 
Wow,
I wonder if any of you are California residents. It occurs to me that those with a choice of state schools vs. private HAVE A CHOICE, and you are fortunate. My situation feels harder because I have not yet been accepted or interviewed at my own state schools, as they are just as (even more) competitive than many of the private schools, ivy leagues, etc. For the honor of practicing medicine, I would take out as many loans as needed. However, to get into and attend a state school and avoid debt, I wouldn't give up that chance for anything.
 
Why is it that the average debt for most private schools is significantly lower than 4 times the yearly cost? For example, Case Western lists their yearly budget as $50000, but the average debt is only $105000. University of Pittsburgh lists their yearly budget at $52000, but the average debt is $107000. Does anyone know if these differences are skewed because of rich kids being able to pay everything and have no debt, or is it because schools generally award substantial amount of financial aid?
 
Originally posted by mws99
Why is it that the average debt for most private schools is significantly lower than 4 times the yearly cost? For example, Case Western lists their yearly budget as $50000, but the average debt is only $105000. University of Pittsburgh lists their yearly budget at $52000, but the average debt is $107000. Does anyone know if these differences are skewed because of rich kids being able to pay everything and have no debt, or is it because schools generally award substantial amount of financial aid?

it is highly variable from school to school i think. the top 10 and a few other schools offer very good financial aid with a lot of grant money. BUT i think that you are definitely right when you say that the average indebtedness is significantly lower due to affluent families paying for their children. two schools i interviewed at broke the debt in terms of the number of people that borrowed in groups of ten thousands. the number of people who did not need to borrow very much far exceeded the stated capacity of the school to hand out grant and scholarship money.
 
Originally posted by maybe
Wow,
I wonder if any of you are California residents...

I'm a California resident (Oakland native). I am definitely going out of state, I don't plan on specializing, and I don't mind the debt. Those who went out of state for undergraduate education understand that debt is a part of life. What people are not considering is that many of these private medical schools have grants from the institution itself...and they are not always need-based. You should look into specific schools that you have acceptances at. Also post specific questions in the allopathic forum. I decided at the beginning of this process that this extreme debt is what will lead me to happiness in my career...
 
Originally posted by mws99
Why is it that the average debt for most private schools is significantly lower than 4 times the yearly cost? For example, Case Western lists their yearly budget as $50000, but the average debt is only $105000. University of Pittsburgh lists their yearly budget at $52000, but the average debt is $107000. Does anyone know if these differences are skewed because of rich kids being able to pay everything and have no debt, or is it because schools generally award substantial amount of financial aid?

I think that there are a couple of reasons for this. First of all the average indebedness comes from tuition prices from a number of years ago. For example, if they said that the average indebtedness was from 2000, then that inclues years 1996-2000 when tuition was lower.

Secondly, I think schools sort of lie about this. The numbers the use are not accurate. Maybe they don't use unreported private loans, or something. They can probably find a way to justify it, but at best it is misleading.

For most students, to estimate average indebtedness, you should take their annual budget. multiply it by 4 and add $10000-$20000 for tuition and cost of living increases. Most people that I know are surviving on loans, not their parents or some scholarship.
 
You can always end up in Boston after you graduate. When you're a medical student, you won't have time to go running around and exploring the town in which you live anyways, because you'll be reading all of the time! ;)

Why didn't you apply to Tufts? It's reputation is on par with BU's, and it's cheaper and it's in Boston??

Anyways, if your choice were to go to a school with a fantastic reputation that will get you a top residency (like Stanford, Georgetown, Chicago, Yale), then I'd say go for the expensive school.

But BU??? They are a pricey school, but with no fantastic "rep" behind that price tag. Not that BU is a poor quality school, don't get me wrong, but it's not Harvard, so that higher tuition won't necessarily pay off in the long run; moreso than MCV's tuitition will.

Anyways, you can always move to Boston four years from now for your residency. Good luck! ;)


Originally posted by CRAZYTERP
I just ran across a statement in another thread regarding BU and have similar sentiments. Basically the poster said BU was one of their top choices, however, the price is out of this world and the cost of living in Boston is ridiculous as well.

Now I chose my undergrad univ bc it allowed me to go to school for really REALLY cheap and since I knew I would need to save money for grad school one day it was a no brainer. Now I wonder if I should make the oposite decision to go to school that is overly expensive just because I think and I pretty much know I will be happier there.

For instance if I got into BU and went there I would be looking at about $50K+ year and probably live in a shared apartment with at least one roommate. If I went to UMAB or MCV I would pay much less for school and be able to afford a nice place, maybe even a house for about half the price of living in Boston.

I know it sounds like I have answered my own question, but seriously, I do not think I will be nearly as happy living in Bmore or Richmond, especially if I know that I could have gone to Boston, my dream destination.

I worry that by going to a more expensive school to be happy may end up hurting me in the long run with debt. Does anyone have a take on this? I mean what would you do.
 
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