Insane Amount Of Debt?

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Guarino3

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Hi everyone. I am a HS junior and am fairly new here. I don't mean to invade your space, but I need someone's opinion who is already in medical school. I am now in the final stretch of my college search and I found a school I absolutley love, Johns Hopkins. It is not because of its great medical school (although that is appealing), but because of its great History and Chemistry departments. Anyway, back to my point, I want to apply ED since it is my first choice I would LOVE to go there, but I am not sure if the debt I would incur would be too much to ever pay back, especially since I plan on going to medical school. My parents are able to give me around $50,000 overall for my education and I need to take care of the rest. So I pretty much will take on $100,000 in debt for any private undergrad. Is this just way too much considering I will take on another $150,000 or so for medical school? The reason I am not totally dismissing a private college for a [much] cheaper state school is because I really don't want to look at college as just a stepping stone, but as an experience in and of itself. I realize that one can be successful anywhere, but do the connections one makes at a top school help in the long run? Thanks a lot for the advice and I promise not to become one of those really annoying HS students asking "what classes I need to take my senior year to become the top nuerosurgeon in the nation." Well, thanks again.

--Mike--

[edit]: To the mods, I didn't realize posting the same thread in the allo and pre-allo forums was against TOS, sorry, but please don't close this thread, I really need all the opinions I can get. I promise I won't do it again.
 
Hi,

There are quite a few of us around that finish up with more than $200,000 debt. It causes stress and plays a big role in making future career decisions, but it's doable. If you really like Hopkins then go for it!

Good luck.
 
Thanks for the post. In what ways does it affect future carear decisions (if you don't mind me asking)?
 
Well,
Paying off debt is a pain in the butt, but lets be honest, although docs aren't making what they used to, if you work hard paying off debt is very doable.
As far as future decisions are concerned. Try and think of a critical decision in life that isn't made with the knowledge of how it will affect you financially. Now, being in high school, it may be difficult to look that far ahead, but it consumes your decision making process. For instance, no doubt you are looking to have a family someday, how will your financial strains affect your relationships? There are many more examples. But seriously, medicine is fantastic, you will make a lot of money, and more importantly do something that positively affects all kinds of people. Go for Hopkins!
 
If you have a lot of debt you will have large payments. You will, therefore, need to select a career path that will make it possible for you to support your family and pay off your loans. If you're a family doc making $120,000 and you have 3 kids, it's going to be VERY tough to make it. You will probably need to pick a procedure oriented specialty. If you're interested in doing a masters degree in public health or something, the time and cost may be just too much. So, your financial situation will be a large factor in the decisions you make. BUT, as said above, medicine is a great field and you will be able to handle the loans.
 
I had the same concerns coming out of high school. I held a few acceptances to prestigious private schools, but in the end chose my state school mainly for money reasons. I also liked my state school. Incidentally, I did well, had fun, gained some research experience, and graduated with zero debt. Now that I'm done with medical school (private, ranked school), I am grateful for the zero debt out of college, because I managed to acquire nearly 100K of med school debt. Ugh.

JHU is a prestigious school, but I think that you're smart to consider your cheaper alternatives. College is what you make of it, and if you are looking for an "experience" rather than just a stepping stone to med school, then I bet you will have that "experience" no matter where you go to college. One experience you don't want is the one that one of my classmates has... 150K from undergrad, plus 130K debt from med school. 280,000 dollars.... Not a happy thought.
 
I have to agree with Celiac Plexus. Seriously consider going to your local state school, especially if it has a decent/medium reputation. I live in Canada, where medical school is supposed to be subsidized, but I live in Ontario and the tuitions are reaching 20k per year for meds. If I had not attended my local undergrad school, I would have had 1.75 times as much debt (about 100K CDn = 70K)

THe other thing is that you may be able to score a higher GPA with less work at your local school. One weakness of the medical admission system is they generallly do not fully correct for the differences between schools and especially programs (i.e. engineers get the shaft). Of course you will need to do well on the MCAT, but that remains the case at JHU.

Tough call!
 
As an alumni of Hopkins, I know many of my classmates had debts around $20-50K after graduating. These individuals probably had some parental help through school, but I know it was minimal (room and board at most.) A lot of the financial aid was through the school and loans. I know many were happy about their education and are now in business or graduate school, but the thought of having $50K in debt and $100K in med school loans is a bit overwhelming.

That being said, my decision for undergrad came down to Hopkins, an Ivy, and a state school. Essentially, I wanted to attend the Ivy, but due to random circumstances, my parents didn't want me going to it. So, they told me either my state school or Hopkins, but they wouldn't pay for the Ivy. I ended up at Hopkins. I really enjoyed my time there and don't regret my decision to go there. However, I'm very appreciative of not having extenuating loans going into med school.

If you have questions about the school itself, I am more than happy to answer them. But a decision about money is up to you.
 
IMHO, I have to say I would go with the cheaper public school. It may not be as prestigious as Hopkins, but you'll save lots of $$$, and in the long run you'll most likely be glad you did. I don't know what public school you're thinking about (U of Maryland?), but I'm sure you'll receive an excellent education wherever you go that will more than prepare you for a medical education. I too struggled with your same question in high school, and opted to go to a state school in CA (UCSD). Granted, most CA public schools are great in their own right, but nevertheless I had the grades/scores to get into ivy league. For me it was partly a geographic thing at the time, but in hindsight I am SO glad that I stayed in CA. The debt load I am acquiring in medical school right now is astronomical, and our school's tuition keeps going up and up (as I'm sure most peoples' schools are). I have to honestly agree with the poster who mentioned that you may potentially consider specialties based on the money you'll make in them, NOT because you're a greedy person, but mainly because of your debt load. For example, I was seriously giving thought to going into pediatrics before I came here. Now that I'm faced with the cold hard reality of having over $200K in debt, I've seriously been reconsidering that. I don't want to be finishing payments on my school loans in 20 years, right when I'll be getting near the point of having to pay for my future children's college.

The other thing to consider is this: sure, Hopkin's carries some prestige with it, but in reality, how will this benefit you? As long as it's a decent state school, it won't affect your chances of getting into medical school. Once you're in medical school, nobody gives a rat's ass where you went to college (hell, for that matter, once you're a practicing physician, nobody really cares where you went to medical school either, but instead where you did your residency at). My point here is that wherever you practice medicine, where you went to college will be insignificant. It's not going to help you to either get into an existing practice (again, here they'll probably want to know where you went to residency) or establish your own. If you want to go the academic route, it matters more where you either went to medical school or residency, but NOT college. In the end, it would be to your benefit to save yourself the debt and go to the public school. It might hurt your pride a little now knowing that you may have been able to go to a better school, but I honestly believe that in 10 years from now you'll look back and realize that saving yourself the money was worth it....

my 2 cents...
 
There are a lot of very good points made here. If you REALLY want to go to Hopkins, then it is "doable." However, If your major reason for picking JHU is just to help getting into med school then it is definitely not worth the $ compared to a good state school.
 
I look at it this way: you can go to a local jr college for your first two years and then transfer to a cheap state school (making A's all the way) and then get a 36+ on your MCAT and it wont make a bit of difference where you went to undergrad. Med schools basically look at grades and MCAT scores. If you got a 1500+ on your SAT and can go to JH or an ivy league school, then you will probably do well enough on your MCAT to attend whatever med school you want. Again though, residency programs look at your grades and board scores, so if you make good grades and score 230+ on your boards you can get a good residency (the pinnacle of all your education).

That being said, I wouldn't go to an ivy league school for any major other than business or pre-law (exceptions abound, but in general). The connections you gain and the prestige of the school will open doors otherwise closed.

In conclusion, if you're smart you'll end up on top wherever you attend college (e.g. Gates, Einstein, Will Hunting, etc.).
 
Here's something else to think about: your life is going to change a lot between now (HS junior) and then (college grad). You might decide that you don't want to go to med school, but you want to do a PhD in history. Even with only $50,000 debt, that will not be a realistic option.

Having to pay off a huge debt is a burden, emotionally and practically. It will limit every practical decision that you make. Recognize your exceptional good fortune (your parents are helping you out), and do not sink yourself deep into debt before you have a concrete means of paying it back within the next few years.
 
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