How much debt are you graduating with?

[dartmed]

This is something that I have been thinking about lately...how much debt are you guys graduating with?

A friend - 300,000 (BU)
Another - 450,000 (Tufts)

I need to think about this as we are going to compounded with interest starting day 1 of med school.

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[punkedoutriffs]

Are those numbers for med school debt or just undergrad?

 

[MedPR]

This is something that I have been thinking about lately...how much debt are you guys graduating with?

A friend - 300,000 (BU)
Another - 450,000 (Tufts)

I need to think about this as we are going to compounded with interest starting day 1 of med school.

I hope those two friends aren't going into medical school with that much debt...

 

[dartmed]

I hope those two friends aren't going into medical school with that much debt...

the BU one just for med.
Tufts one both undergrad and med.

I meant med debt

 

[def1]

This is something that I have been thinking about lately...how much debt are you guys graduating with?

A friend - 300,000 (BU)
Another - 450,000 (Tufts)

I need to think about this as we are going to compounded with interest starting day 1 of med school.

Thats an insane amount of debt. I hope they are going into derm or something.

Current debt for all of undergrad - 3.5k

 

[Fivo]

brb moving to Texas for 2 years before I apply to medical school

 

[dartmed]

Thats an insane amount of debt. I hope they are going into derm or something.

Current debt for all of undergrad - 3.5k

Peds.

 

[wizedw]

Got lucky for undergrad so I'll be going in to med school with 0 debt. So probs around 260-280k if I do not get any financial aid for med school!

 

[Anathema]

This is something that I have been thinking about lately...how much debt are you guys graduating with?

A friend - 300,000 (BU)
Another - 450,000 (Tufts)

I need to think about this as we are going to compounded with interest starting day 1 of med school.

That doesn't even make any sense. That's an astronomical amount to be having after undergrad.

My parents are helping out with my undergrad debt but my girlfriend has no debt which is fantastic.

 

[Spinach Dip]

60K after undergrad and my MS degree.

Not ideal, but still better than a lot of people...

 

[dartmed]

That doesn't even make any sense. That's an astronomical amount to be having after undergrad.

My parents are helping out with my undergrad debt but my girlfriend has no debt which is fantastic.

Undergrad - 200k (NW)
Med - 250k (tufts)
BU - 300k (including living)

 

[def1]

Undergrad - 200k (NW)
Med - 250k (tufts)
BU - 300k (including living)

How much were they taking out for living expenses. 300k seems unnecessary.

 

[dartmed]

How much were they taking out for living expenses. 300k seems unnecessary.

50 k for living for 4 yrs. reasonable for boston actually

 

[def1]

50 k for living for 4 yrs. reasonable for boston actually

How do they feel about the debt? I'd feel extremely pressured having all that debt over my head.

 

[MedPR]

brb moving to Texas for 2 years before I apply to medical school

Yea no joke.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using SDN Mobile

 

[Anathema]

I would have switched to actuarial sciences and gone out swinging if my debt was ever that high. As someone mentioned before, they better be shooting for the big boy pants in med school.

 

[dartmed]

How do they feel about the debt? I'd feel extremely pressured having all that debt over my head.

Relaxed thinking that they will pay it off. If we do the math, it will take them at least or close to a decade....living on 4000 a month until then (if we assume they get 10,000 a month after taxes...which is kind of high for peds)

 

[dartmed]

Yea no joke.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using SDN Mobile

my state school's offer is sounding more and more appealing. it's in the top 60...and i would graduate with very little debt that i could clear out after two months (less than 5000)

 

[circulus vitios]

Undergrad - 200k (NW)
Med - 250k (tufts)
BU - 300k (including living)

Is this real life? You paid $200,000 for a bachelors degree?

 

[mapandterritory]

Oh my, I can't imagine graduating with $200k of debt before med school...

Most of my undergrad tuition is covered by scholarships. Although my family is covering the rest, I will pay them back.

 

[Anathema]

This is where I'm grateful I didn't do well enough in high school to warrant going into an Ivy League or "top tier" undergrad because my parents would have sent my acceptance letter in. I'm much more comfortable having spent my time at a flagship school even if it was OOS.

 

[dartmed]

Is this real life? You paid $200,000 for a bachelors degree?

HELL NO. It's a friend of mine. I went to a state school that gave me a full ride.

 

[dartmed]

This is where I'm grateful I didn't do well enough in high school to warrant going into an Ivy League or "top tier" undergrad because my parents would have sent my acceptance letter in. I'm much more comfortable having spent my time at a flagship school even if it was OOS.

Right after I got my acceptance to an ivy league.

My dad: so how u gonna pay for that?
Me: you are.
dad: [laughs] i earn less than the tuition that i would have to pay.

state school it is!

 

[Sophocles]

my state school's offer is sounding more and more appealing. it's in the top 60...and i would graduate with very little debt that i could clear out after two months (less than 5000)

Is this undergrad or med school? 5000??

 

[ScholarStud]

Are you taking out private loans? I was under the impression that students are limited in the amount they can borrow from the gov.

 

[Bluto385]

~$25000 after undergrad + ~$100,000 for med school = $125,000 before interest after all is said and done

 

[Sophocles]

Ivy league schools also have huge endowments and can provide great financial aid packages. I go to an Ivy, but I am graduating with around 5k in debt.

What?? What medical school has students graduating with less than $5000?

 

[Sophocles]

Undergrad. No way I would ever graduate med school with that little debt.

Ok, great. I was a little confused...

 

[RomanTaylor]

0 for undergrad, 0 for med school if accepted.

 

[Sophocles]

0 for undergrad, 0 for med school if accepted.

Whoa there hard charger, the military isn't free. It's just a different means of payment.

 

[RomanTaylor]

Already gave them 6 years, so undergrad is very free. And I will owe them time, not money for medical school, so the answer stands.

 

[IncognitoGuy]

0 for undergrad - thankfully. If I stay in-state, I'll be looking at ~120k, 140k which is certainly a lot better than many other numbers I've heard tossed around.

 

[Sophocles]

Already gave them 6 years, so undergrad is very free. And I will owe them time, not money for medical school, so the answer stands.

Not trying to be argumentative but the question was debt and you wrote 0-not true. You're debt will be at least the four years if HPSP/HSCP and more if you do the military school or a pretty long residency. So my objection stands.

 

[RomanTaylor]

So it's a question of which value the OP was looking to measure. I think it's obvious that it is currency, not time.

 

[Bluto385]

Already gave them 6 years, so undergrad is very free. And I will owe them time, not money for medical school, so the answer stands.

Unless you go into something along the lines of peds/IM, you will be losing out in terms of relatively lower wages during your payback years. And that's not to reduce the value of your service to your country, but financially it is generally less lucrative than the debt route.

 

[La Presse]

I should've joined the military...

 

[Sophocles]

Unless you go into something along the lines of peds/IM, you will be losing out in terms of relatively lower wages during your payback years. And that's not to reduce the value of your service to your country, but financially it is generally less lucrative than the debt route.

Time=money. You're not getting a full-ride scholarship, you are paying with a different currency. The reason why I keep bringing this up is because your statement is a bit deceptive. If you fail out or are kicked out or whatever is it still free? People on here shouldn't be thinking that you don't owe anything-that's simply false.

Since I have covered this,I won't continue to

 

[Sophocles]

I should've joined the military...

I hope you're joking...

 

[RomanTaylor]

Who cares? I will have zero debt, and the military does not pay its officers shabbily. If you think that practicing medicine with no debt at an O-3 pay level is a loss, then you see the world through different lens than I do.

 

[Bluto385]

Who cares? I will have zero debt, and the military does not pay its officers shabbily. If you think that practicing medicine with no debt at an O-3 pay level is a loss, then you see the world through different lens than I do.

No one said it was a loss. It is certainly comfortable. But relative to the civilian attending counterpart, it is generally drastically lower. Primary care is certainly an exception to that rule, and if that's what you're going into, godspeed.

 

[RomanTaylor]

Time=money. You're not getting a full-ride scholarship, you are paying with a different currency. The reason why I keep bringing this up is because your statement is a bit deceptive. If you fail out or are kicked out or whatever is it still free? People on here shouldn't be thinking that you don't owe anything-that's simply false.

Since I have covered this,I won't continue to

No one goes into medical school planning on failing out, but I would reckon it would be as financially damaging as flunking out while taking on loans to pay for it.

And I didn't say I wouldn't owe anything, but no one is going to be looking for a loan payment from me. No debt.

 

[Anathema]

No one said it was a loss. It is certainly comfortable. But relative to the civilian attending counterpart, it is generally drastically lower. Primary care is certainly an exception to that rule, and if that's what you're going into, godspeed.

Aww come on, what's with the primary care hate?

 

[xroc]

Who cares? I will have zero debt, and the military does not pay its officers shabbily. If you think that practicing medicine with no debt at an O-3 pay level is a loss, then you see the world through different lens than I do.

I don't think he's saying it's a loss, but it doesn't seem like you have a clear understanding of what opportunity cost means.

 

[RomanTaylor]

No one said it was a loss. It is certainly comfortable. But relative to the civilian attending counterpart, it is generally drastically lower. Primary care is certainly an exception to that rule, and if that's what you're going into, godspeed.

It's only an issue if you are going into medicine to become rich. I am not, because I never was rich, and I am ok with never being rich.

I don't care for debt, though, so this is a win for me.

 

[RomanTaylor]

I don't think he's saying it's a loss, but it doesn't seem like you have a clear understanding of what opportunity cost means.

No, I have a clear understanding. I have a different value system than y'all, apparently. I don't foresee myself laminating on the amount of money I could be making, especially since I will be comfortable, my family won't want for anything, and I will be practicing what I love. After I retire, I will open up my own little practice somewhere small and continue doing what I love...with zero debt.

 

[Bluto385]

Aww come on, what's with the primary care hate?

None on this end. I'm actually leaning towards PC over any particular specialization at the moment. But what I said still stands.

 

[Sophocles]

No, I have a clear understanding. I have a different value system than y'all, apparently. I don't foresee myself laminating on the amount of money I could be making, especially since I will be comfortable, my family won't want for anything, and I will be practicing what I love. After I retire, I will open up my own little practice somewhere small and continue doing what I love...with zero debt.

Relax man. I don't think that you understand what we are saying. No one is arguing whether or not you will live a good and happy life with your family. Simply put you are not acknowledging that the military route isn't free (no debt). There is a debt and you choose to ignore it. But whatever, it's fine. People reading this understand what we are both saying. Good luck to you on your interviews and application.

 

[RomanTaylor]

No, I believe I addressed the money vs time measurement of value, mate. As I said before, the discussion was clearly focused on money, not time. No need to be overly clever, I am no military recruiter. But I am not taking out loans for undergrad, and won't be for medical school.

And good luck on your journey as well.

 

[xroc]

No, I have a clear understanding. I have a different value system than y'all, apparently. I don't foresee myself laminating on the amount of money I could be making, especially since I will be comfortable, my family won't want for anything, and I will be practicing what I love. After I retire, I will open up my own little practice somewhere small and continue doing what I love...with zero debt.

I completely understand what you are saying but to say that time does not equal money is just a false statement in the real world.

Officer's pay (which I'm not by any means downgrading) is what, perhaps 80k a year (I'm not saying that this is not enough to be happy, but just evaluating it from an economic perspective)

A PCP will earn, let's say 180k a year (100k per year more than officer pay)

After taxes in each scenario, say that difference is only 60k per year.

Assuming you live the same lifestyle, even if you are 200k in debt coming out of med school, you are coming out ahead after 3 years (and significantly more each year after that)

Again, this is not to say that you are not going to be happy with your decision - it's just that opportunity cost must always be factored. I.E. - being forced into pathway A does not allow you to pursue pathway B, therefore you lose X amount of $ (money lost, whether in the form of loans/debt towards education or from the opportunity cost is the same in the end)

 

[Sophocles]

I completely understand what you are saying but to say that time does not equal money is just a false statement in the real world.

Officer's pay (which I'm not by any means downgrading) is what, perhaps 80k a year (I'm not saying that this is not enough to be happy, but just evaluating it from an economic perspective)

A PCP will earn, let's say 180k a year (100k per year more than officer pay)

After taxes in each scenario, say that difference is only 60k per year.

Assuming you live the same lifestyle, even if you are 200k in debt coming out of med school, you are coming out ahead after 3 years (and significantly more each year after that)

Again, this is not to say that you are not going to be happy with your decision - it's just that opportunity cost must always be factored. I.E. - being forced into pathway A does not allow you to pursue pathway B, therefore you lose X amount of $ (money lost, whether in the form of loans/debt towards education or from the opportunity cost is the same in the end)

+1

I completely agree with your overall theme, I think you might have fumbled the numbers and some might attack you for that. Ergo, I just wanted to interject without taking the credibility away from your posts.

Officers as attendings will make over 100k, obviously the specialty will dictate how much more. But the main point is that the military is extremely competitive for primary care specialties because of this. Now, if we consider deployments, GMO tours, and the salary of specialties (let's say surgeons), no one can say that the military is worth more or that one will pay less by joining the military. It's a multi-pronged process that most students fail to realize and the whole process is so convoluted, and absent of any transparency that students don't even bother to figure out the real details. Hence, why I'm writing this.