Have TV/movie characters never heard of student loans?

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Medwell

Medwell

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Somewhat off-topic, but I've noticed an interesting about some characters on TV and in the movies that are interested in attending medical school.
For example, Carla (the nurse from Scrubs) once said something like: "A lady in the grocery store had a heart attack... the man saved her, and that's when I knew I wanted to be a doctor. Unfortunately, the tooth fairy didn't leave $180,000 under my pillow, so I become a nurse instead."
Or what about Ben Campbell from the movie 21? As far as I remember, he was interviewing a scholarship to Harvard Medical School. His quote is something along the lines of "I've wanted to attend Harvard since I was a little kid - unfortunately, my family is struggling and I don't have the money to go, so I really need this scholarship."

There may be more examples of this in the media. What does everyone think of this concept? I was under the impression that the vast majority of people take out big loans for medical school. Where do they suppose JD/Elliot/Turk got the money? Do the writers of these scripts believe that everyone who attends medical school is rich (i.e. have $180,000 lying around) beforehand? Thanks in advance for your replies.
 
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If they had real world loopholes, then I guess they wouldn't have plots. 🙂

I agree with you, though. I went, "Huh?" at both of those examples the first time I saw them.
 
Ghandi and J.D. (insert woman's name)- Both have student loans they talked about being broke residents several times

Elliot (Barbie)- Had her school paid for by her father, but he cut her off after she wouldn't go OBGYN
 
Poliscidoc said:
Ghandi and J.D. (insert woman's name)- Both have student loans they talked about being broke residents several times

Elliot (Barbie)- Had her school paid for by her father, but he cut her off after she wouldn't go OBGYN
Click to expand...
Hmm. I haven't watched too much of the show yet, so I guess I didn't pick up on those. But yeah, that actually makes the Carla deal make even less sense! haha.
 
And Todd Quinlan (The Todd) went to school in the Caribbean, so he probably didn't have to worry as much about education-related costs.

Finally, Dr. Jan Itor didn't go to medical school at all, so he really has it the best out of all of them.
 
A lot of people don't relish the idea of being $180,000 in debt and use this as a reason to say they can't afford it.
 
Medwell said:
Somewhat off-topic, but I've noticed an interesting about some characters on TV and in the movies that are interested in attending medical school.
For example, Carla (the nurse from Scrubs) once said something like: "A lady in the grocery store had a heart attack... the man saved her, and that's when I knew I wanted to be a doctor. Unfortunately, the tooth fairy didn't leave $180,000 under my pillow, so I become a nurse instead."
Or what about Ben Campbell from the movie 21? As far as I remember, he was interviewing a scholarship to Harvard Medical School. His quote is something along the lines of "I've wanted to attend Harvard since I was a little kid - unfortunately, my family is struggling and I don't have the money to go, so I really need this scholarship."

There may be more examples of this in the media. What does everyone think of this concept? I was under the impression that the vast majority of people take out big loans for medical school. Where do they suppose JD/Elliot/Turk got the money? Do the writers of these scripts believe that everyone who attends medical school is rich (i.e. have $180,000 lying around) beforehand? Thanks in advance for your replies.
Click to expand...

To be fair, that movie was many, many shades of stupid--not least by de-Asianizing the main characters... but that's another story...

I think they realize the audience is not stupid enough to believe we're all rich kids who applied to become doctors... in Scrubs it's for (admittedly weak) comedic value and in 21 it's for plot purposes.
 
theVster said:
To be fair, that movie was many, many shades of stupid--not least by de-Asianizing the main characters... but that's another story...
Click to expand...

What do you call white American person wit Ph.D. in a physics anda math?
 
If you don't have a credit score, or you have bad credit, and your parents can't cosign on some of these loans, nor are they lending you any financial support, you're taking out scary private loans with variable interest rates, and bad ones, at that, to fill in for the expenses that your stafford and plus loans won't cover. And a lot of people already have hefty amounts of debt from undergrad, depending on where they went. So yeah, the thought of this enormous extra debt combined with unfamiliarity of the kind of financial security that comes with being a physician can intimidate a lot of people who are considering medicine.
 
That kid in 21 said he needed $300,000 for Harvard Medical School. I'm not sure what their tuition is, but that seems a bit much.

At least some shows/movies let people know that becoming a doctor isn't a cheap or easy thing.
 
I am a fan of Nip/Tuck, but I grow weary of everyone on that show saying " I want to be a plastic surgeon" as if they were to fall asleep and wake up one.
 
Poliscidoc said:
Ghandi and J.D. (insert woman's name)- Both have student loans they talked about being broke residents several times

Elliot (Barbie)- Had her school paid for by her father, but he cut her off after she wouldn't go OBGYN
Click to expand...

Dang you beat me to it. And yes 21 was way to dramatized if you ever read the book ("Bringing Down the House") it's way different from the movie and way better.

And in House all of the drs are out of residency so they could theoretically have their loans paid off by then since they were old enough to have been practicing a while before they took the fellowship with House.
 
Medwell said:
There may be more examples of this in the media. What does everyone think of this concept? I was under the impression that the vast majority of people take out big loans for medical school. Where do they suppose JD/Elliot/Turk got the money? Do the writers of these scripts believe that everyone who attends medical school is rich (i.e. have $180,000 lying around) beforehand? Thanks in advance for your replies.
Click to expand...

There's one particular episode of Scrubs in the early seasons where the Turk/JD plot line revolves around the things they have to do because they're so deep in debt. Like steal fruit cups and toilet paper from the hospital. They also take on graveyard shifts. They also drive a beater.

Keep in mind, they're also residents living together. Besides being best friends, money could also have been a factor there. There's actually an episode in one of the middle seasons where Eliot and JD finish their residencies and start getting their legit salaries. I think they noticeably start living bigger there.
 
MonsterHospital said:
If you don't have a credit score, or you have bad credit, and your parents can't cosign on some of these loans, nor are they lending you any financial support, you're taking out scary private loans with variable interest rates, and bad ones, at that, to fill in for the expenses that your stafford and plus loans won't cover. And a lot of people already have hefty amounts of debt from undergrad, depending on where they went. So yeah, the thought of this enormous extra debt combined with unfamiliarity of the kind of financial security that comes with being a physician can intimidate a lot of people who are considering medicine.
Click to expand...
I have no credit score and taking huge undergrad loans without parents cosigning anything, the only thing I signed was promissory note saying I will pay federal gov. back when I graduate.

EN
 
Sorry I couldn't find a better clip. JD says that he is 130K in debt. The show never says where he went to med school, but since this episode aired in 2002, its probably not that far off. Current debt for class of 2009 is 150K, so class of 2000 (this episode is in 2nd year) could have been 130K.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNlK91r8AoI[/YOUTUBE]
 
House got kicked out of 2 medical schools before he received his M.D.
So that's about at least 1+ year tuition (assuming each at least kept his first semester's tuition)

I guess that's why he constantly borrows money from Wilson. And steals his meals from the cafeteria.
 
Pff, House makes a ton of money doing what he does. He's just a miser.
 
Turk's brother paid for his education. The episode where his brother comes and stays with him for a few days and kind of takes over all of his stuff. Turk tries to rebel, but then his brother reminds him that he paid for his schooling, and Turk quickly shut up lol.

I think D.L. Hughley played Turk's brother.
 
vitaebellaa said:
House got kicked out of 2 medical schools before he received his M.D.
So that's about at least 1+ year tuition (assuming each at least kept his first semester's tuition)

I guess that's why he constantly borrows money from Wilson. And steals his meals from the cafeteria.
Click to expand...
He also says he continues to borrow money in increasing amounts to see where Wilsons cutoff is.( The episode where he buys his bike.)
 
All this has made me think about getting loans next year...

Does anyone know if having a mortgage hurts my student loan chances? Other than my mortgage I plan to have no debt when entering med school and I have a 700+ credit score. Anyone know if I'd be expected to offload my mortgage (sell my house) to get med school loans?
 
armybound said:
That kid in 21 said he needed $300,000 for Harvard Medical School. I'm not sure what their tuition is, but that seems a bit much.
Click to expand...

It's 45k tuition + 3k in health fees + 3k in books + 19k in living expenses and additional fees (so ~70k all in all). 70k x 4 = 280k.
He may have wanted a car or additional headroom too, so that could easily have raised the cost to 300k.
 
I thought JD desrcribes how him and Turk went to the same undergrad, med school, and got into the same residency program on the first episode, I can't remember but it was something like St. Mary's, i'll look it up.

EDIT* Couldn't find it lol
 
eablackwell,
The only way having mortgage can hurt you is if you rent it out to others or make profit out of it in any way. If this is where you live then there won't be any problems. That's what I was told by Fafsa when I called and asked few years ago.

EN
 
Shinobiz11 said:
I thought JD desrcribes how him and Turk went to the same undergrad, med school, and got into the same residency program on the first episode, I can't remember but it was something like St. Mary's, i'll look it up.

EDIT* Couldn't find it lol
Click to expand...
You're right that they went to the same college, med school, etc. but they never actually mention the names of specific schools. Ever.
 
Electronegative said:
Actually they never mention the name of med school, but they do say that they went to College of William & Mary for undergrad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_College_of_William_%26_Mary_alumni#Fictional_people

EN
Click to expand...
Uh oh, I've been bested!

I know they never specifically mentioned it so I had to look it up. Turns out it was revealed in the episode with the flashback about Turk's frat/frat brothers. Apparently there were posters in that scene of William & Mary.

The more you know!
 
eablackwell said:
All this has made me think about getting loans next year...

Does anyone know if having a mortgage hurts my student loan chances? Other than my mortgage I plan to have no debt when entering med school and I have a 700+ credit score. Anyone know if I'd be expected to offload my mortgage (sell my house) to get med school loans?
Click to expand...

There is no credit check involved in getting federal direct loans...maybe even the plus loans (if you need them). Even if there was a credit check, you would not be expected to sell your house.
 
Yea there are things called loans... but being in debt for years is not something everyone wants to do or can reasonably do. Some people want to go into primary care. If you want to be a pediatrician you will make a quarter of the salary that a cardiologist would make... being hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt is not for everyone.

I chose to go to a public university where I will graduate without ever taking out a loan instead of an ivy which would require 60,000 dollars in loans per year. I know I want to be a doctor and the thought of tacking on med school debt to that... no thanks! This is not to say I think everyone should chose public universities... I know certain careers like in business require making connections and to do that a well known school like Columbia or Stern are far more capable of providing such connections.

Some people want families and that's another huge financial commitment. Pregnant women older than 35 have to start worrying about birth defects, so early in a women's career, they would probably start having children. These are huge financial burdens and the lifestyle that comes with that is not for everyone.

Sorry about my rant. But it bothers me when people say oh just take out a loan no big deal. It is a big deal and requires actual thought...
 
In Starstruck, the main character's brother is apparently a resident, as he has a cheap car and makes a comment about having to pay back loans on 7 years worth of med school. Not sure where they came up with 7 years (unless he's out of residency, and the smart writers thought you didn't get paid for residency), but there ya go.
 
Electronegative said:
eablackwell,
The only way having mortgage can hurt you is if you rent it out to others or make profit out of it in any way. If this is where you live then there won't be any problems. That's what I was told by Fafsa when I called and asked few years ago.

EN
Click to expand...

Thanks. There is no med school around where I currently live, so I will likely have to rent it out, unless my husband can afford to foot the bill for where he is living, where I'm living, and the mortgage. I just doubt we can actually sell the house and be in the clear, since our house has nearly halved in value over the past 8 years.

I guess I'll cross that bridge if and when I get there 🙂
 
Carla is from the Dominican Republic, so if she never became a citizen maybe she never qualified for federal loans? If you also don't have a co-signer then private loans are also out of the question.

Turk and JD for sure have loans, they talk about it explicitly in the episode where they steal stuff from the hospital I think.

The bigger plot hole when it comes to Carla is when she tells JD that she feels inferior because she "didn't go to college" like he did (the episode where he tells her to call him Dr. Dorian). I wasn't aware nurses didn't have to go to college 😛
 
Blame it on TV writers not very familiar with the nature or costs of getting a medical education. I believe one of the characters on Gray's Anatomy has a PhD from Berkeley and an MD from Stanford and is in her early thirties as a cardiothoracic surgery resident. I don't think the writers realize that Stanford and Berkeley don't offer an MD/PhD program together, since if you're that young with both degrees, you probably did an MD/PhD program. I think it was also mentioned she graduated first in her Stanford Med class and I don't think they rank...
 
LuciusVorenus said:
The bigger plot hole when it comes to Carla is when she tells JD that she feels inferior because she "didn't go to college" like he did (the episode where he tells her to call him Dr. Dorian). I wasn't aware nurses didn't have to go to college 😛
Click to expand...

Well, you can become an RN with an associate's degree, so she could've meant that she didn't get a 4 year degree like him. Then he went on and did medical school on top of it.
 
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