I didn't graduate too long ago and I definitely can't flaunt my age or experience. And it's been around 9 months since I last worked as a dentist. I did nothing ever since and was fully content with that....until I received a letter from my loan holder. I NEED to start working within the next two weeks to prepare for the end of my grace period and enter loan repayment, which totals $4000/month. ( my private loans have an interest of 9% ! I used up all of my deferment/forbearance limits too. I have to start making the payments no matter what)
I've been emailing and faxing my resumes in response to online and newspaper ads looking for dentists. I'm not getting any replies that lead to an employment. If I keep up this pace of mass sending resumes, I'm worried that I would easily exhaust all the sources of dental employment in the city.
Leaving NYC is not an option. I don't have a driver's license and I have family issues.
Given recent changes in the law, I can't declare bankruptcy on my loans. Also, I don't fit the criteria for receiving unemployment claims or welfare.
Am I pretty screwed? Any advice?
I'm assuming you did your GPR locally. and that didn't lead to any networking for you?
forgive me for being rude but you might want to consider going back to the school you graduated from (columbia or nyu) and completing mock interviews and asking for lead assistance. you may be "coming off" the wrong way. And I most certainly would not mention any "family issues" or other such "distractions" when you say you want to stay in the city.
You sound like you're restricting what you're willing to do too much. You dont have a drivers license? Tough. get one. you may be a "doctor" but right now, you're just like any other unemployed person. there are PLENTY of places you can work without a drivers license too. Mass transit can easily take you to jersey, upstate ny, connecticut, etc on a daily basis. You're really in no position to be choosy. and LOADS of people make that commute daily.
as for being fully content with doing nothing previously? well really what in the world did you expect to happen? I'm in NYC too. I can name a handful of practices off the top of my head that are desperate for dentists. They sure as hell aren't on park ave. you will most likely end up in a medicaid based practice or an hmo staff model...but thats the situation you've put yourself in. and frankly, it sounds like the experience of all the difficult cases is exactly what you need.
You dont really sound all that interested in improving your skills or I'd suggest applying for more advanced education to push back your repayment schedule and strengthen your resume.
and did you not consolidate your loans? I know how much it costs to go to nyu and columbia and I realize its really expensive....if you have family issues that restrict you from going out of the city and area recent grad, I would assume you went to one of the two. There's no reason that even with NYU prices, you should be paying back 48,000 a year. consolidate, drop your interest, put yourself on a 30 yr loan. 4 yrs at NYU + 1 yr GPR + interest still puts you in at under 500k even if you lived in manhattan the whole time...paying 4k a month on a standard 10 yr schedule basically means you were living it up and managed to put yourself under a lot more than necessary. First thing to do is call the lender and renogiate your terms.
there really is no reason for you to be paying 9% unless you just didnt make any effort to change that. specially these days. I've seen people drop from 16% foreign/international student private loans to 4% and under with basic consolidation and a little negotiating.
Meanwhile, if you're not living for free with said family in a home you all own, then you need to consider moving out to queens. if you cant afford manhattan, then you cant afford it, period.
and when you say the responses you get dont lead to employment, have you explicity asked why? did you attend any working trials? were you found lacking in skills for a certain procedure? did the staff or patients just not like you? or are your expectations for the kind of place you should be working at right now just too high?
definitely a situation you need to go speak to your graduating dental school about AND your GPR director. even nyu, the most money hungry blood sucking school I can imagine, would make an effort to help you out.
