How much to have saved before med school?

[carson16666]

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I'm applying for EY 2026, and I'm probably going to have around $5k saved up by the time I start. I could have more (like $10-15k) if I kept working, but I really want to travel and do other fun stuff before I'm locked in for like 10 years. My parents won't pay anything.

How much do people normally have saved? I'm getting wildly different answers based on google searches. Thanks.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

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[LizzyM]

I know someone who had 1 million dollars but also had a career in sports/entertainment and could bank that kind of money before starting med school. For mere mortals, it is best to have a cushion in case of a financial problem (e.g. an essential items needs an expensive repair or replacement, you have a big health insurance co-pay due to an illness or injury, etc). The other advice is to pay down any credit card balances and get your credit rating as high as possible to make yourself an attractive borrower.

 

[AJS59]

I'm applying for EY 2026, and I'm probably going to have around $5k saved up by the time I start. I could have more (like $10-15k) if I kept working, but I really want to travel and do other fun stuff before I'm locked in for like 10 years. My parents won't pay anything.

How much do people normally have saved? I'm getting wildly different answers based on google searches. Thanks.

Largely it's a drop in the bucket. I think coming into med school I had roughly 20kish saved (with about 15 additional K rolled into a Roth IRA that I'm still leaving untapped for tax reasons) due to having a gap year job that payed decently well and with an outrageously low cost of living. The money was enough for me to mostly make my way through M1 year, but only to pay for rent and food.

In general, I'd say that the amount you have saved up is normal, dare I say even good. If I was in your shoes, I'd try keeping the money as is an emergency rainy day fund (+ pay down debts as Lizzy identified, given the government's destruction of gradplus loans). As for more work, I highly recommend going to go travel, I did a 2 week backpacking trip last year on the AT (so relatively cheap) and am so happy I did that.

 

[carson16666]

Awesome, thanks everyone. I suppose I'll just save what I can and try to have fun before starting school. I'm already into credit cards as a hobby, so I guess my credit score will be useful now lol