How much $$ is considered a lot of debt?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
60k is less than the cost of attendence for ONE YEAR at many medical schools. What do you think?
 
60K is like nothing.. Pshhh I will have 100K at the very least just for Pharm School + residency and that is in state...can't imagine you med students after med school + residency, especially if you're going out of state. 60K should be cake, dude.

EDIT: and my figures include some tuition reimbursement and working part time LOL
 
I heard that ranking doesn't really matter for practice. I have a full ride undergrad. So (assuming i get accepted of course), d'you think i should go to a med school in my state of residence (in the 20s in both practice and research) which costs only 15,000 in state or go for the "prestigious" colleges like Duke, UPenn, etc...
 
coolcucumber91 said:
I heard that ranking doesn't really matter for practice. I have a full ride undergrad. So (assuming i get accepted of course), d'you think i should go to a med school in my state of residence (in the 20s in both practice and research) which costs only 15,000 in state or go for the "prestigious" colleges like Duke, UPenn, etc...
Click to expand...

You're getting waaaaaaaay too far ahead of yourself.

Just concentrate on what you can accomplish right now and everything will become clearer later on. It's easy to get carried away and think ahead, but it doesn't do too much good.

Now, going full ride for undergrad does give you more financial room to pick a more expensive med school.
 
coolcucumber91 said:
I heard that ranking doesn't really matter for practice. I have a full ride undergrad. So (assuming i get accepted of course), d'you think i should go to a med school in my state of residence (in the 20s in both practice and research) which costs only 15,000 in state or go for the "prestigious" colleges like Duke, UPenn, etc...
Click to expand...
15k plus living expenses. So like 30-35k a year.
 
coolcucumber91 said:
After residency (so all the costs of undergrad, med school, and residency possibly??). Is $60,000 a lot or good?
Click to expand...

Some people say that there is no such thing as a dumb question. Congratulations, you proved them wrong!
 
Any debt is a lot of debt. These days rising college freshman lackadaisically agree to take on 50k debt a year for undergrad. I guess it varies from person to person, but taking on that kind of debt is way too much for me.
 
Cost of attendence to an OOS school can easily go up to 70k/yr. Do your math.
 
coolcucumber91 said:
I heard that ranking doesn't really matter for practice. I have a full ride undergrad. So (assuming i get accepted of course), d'you think i should go to a med school in my state of residence (in the 20s in both practice and research) which costs only 15,000 in state or go for the "prestigious" colleges like Duke, UPenn, etc...
Click to expand...

Ranking does not matter. Correct.

My roommate and I will finish with about $120,000 in debt combined. We were very frugal and at a state school.
 
Also, what exactly is "good" financial aid? People say all the time that "School X has great aid". My two aid packages are very similar and I don't know if they are "good" or not.
 
youknowsounds said:
Also, what exactly is "good" financial aid? People say all the time that "School X has great aid". My two aid packages are very similar and I don't know if they are "good" or not.
Click to expand...

I guess "good" is kind of subjective. If the school is covering over 50% of tuition, I would rate that as good in my opinion. Or if the total tuition cost is less than 10K/yr., that'd be good as well. Others may completely disagree.
 
coolcucumber91 said:
I heard that ranking doesn't really matter for practice. I have a full ride undergrad. So (assuming i get accepted of course), d'you think i should go to a med school in my state of residence (in the 20s in both practice and research) which costs only 15,000 in state or go for the "prestigious" colleges like Duke, UPenn, etc...
Click to expand...

Definitely go to your state institution. Debt = bad.
 
Completely subjective. I think 60K is a lot of debt, but I also think that the amount of debt I'm going to go into (65K for the first year, with a shot of getting it lowered 15K or so in future years) is astronomical and want to be rid of it asap.
 
youknowsounds said:
Also, what exactly is "good" financial aid? People say all the time that "School X has great aid". My two aid packages are very similar and I don't know if they are "good" or not.
Click to expand...

When I've heard this before, its usually because the recipient of a "good" financial aid package has received grants or other funding sources he/she is not expected to pay back. Although IMO subsidized federal loans are great because the money is borrowed for free for several years 🙂
 
Anything under $150k can be considered "good".
150-200k can be considered average.
Over 200k can be considered "a lot".
 
Vadoff said:
Anything under $150k can be considered "good".
150-200k can be considered average.
Over 200k can be considered "a lot".
Click to expand...

👍

Agree with this, pretty simple rule of thumb.

Subtract $50k from each category if you're planning on going into primary care (ie: over $150k is "a lot" if you're going into family medicine or peds).
 
Then again, if you're going into primary care and have debt from school, you're doing something wrong. There are so many programs begging to pay your loans off if you work for them for 3-5 years that you'd be a fool to not search them out.
 
MilkmanAl said:
Then again, if you're going into primary care and have debt from school, you're doing something wrong. There are so many programs begging to pay your loans off if you work for them for 3-5 years that you'd be a fool to not search them out.
Click to expand...

While I agree that there are such programs, you can actually still make good money in primary care if you look for it.
 
MilkmanAl said:
Then again, if you're going into primary care and have debt from school, you're doing something wrong. There are so many programs begging to pay your loans off if you work for them for 3-5 years that you'd be a fool to not search them out.
Click to expand...
Are you talking about programs in schools or programs after residency? Cause I'll go to any school that will help me with debt if I go primary care.
 
so lets say you got into a top ten med school and into your state med school. so would you choose the state school because of the cost of going to an out of state school (if you were going do something other than primary care)?
 
Last edited:
SoulinNeed said:
Are you talking about programs in schools or programs after residency? Cause I'll go to any school that will help me with debt if I go primary care.
Click to expand...
Both, but I mostly meant state- and hospital-run programs. If you call around, you'll be amazed how easy it is to get your education paid for.
 
MilkmanAl said:
Then again, if you're going into primary care and have debt from school, you're doing something wrong. There are so many programs begging to pay your loans off if you work for them for 3-5 years that you'd be a fool to not search them out.
Click to expand...

Many of these programs also send you to rural Kentucky.... If you have a family, that might not be the most appealing thing.
 
Many of them do, yes, but there are also plenty that let you stay in metro areas. The only 2 hospitals in Kansas City I cold-called had loan forgiveness programs for primary care physicians.
 
I know in Louisiana, about 90% or something of all parishes (counties) are considered rural, so you could live/practice in a suburb type area fairly close to a city and have it still be considered rural. They mentioned this at my state school interview when talking about the rural track.

Rural doesn't have to be bad or far away from a big city, it just depends on what the definition of "rural" is.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

C
How much of a disadvantage am I if I don't take aamc preview?
Replies
2
Views
729
chillstill
C
2026PreMed
  • Locked
How much of a Big Deal is it to just have clinical volunteer hours instead of Clinical employement hours
Replies
3
Views
1K
chilly_md
chilly_md
Anthodite
How bad is a W in calculus?
Replies
6
Views
637
LizzyM
LizzyM
A
How much does a mediocre LOR affect an application?
Replies
2
Views
941
asterok
A
D
Is medical school debt like, real?
Replies
9
Views
2K
Laradd
L
Top