is it possible to...

[H0mersimps0n]

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be in a FP or do Internal Medicine when you graduate with $250,000 in debt?

$50,000 undergrad and $200,000 medical school.

Funny how DO schools encourage FP and IM in rural settings where need is highest but financial feasibility is smallest...

I mean I'm not there yet but looking and planning ahead the numbers just don't seem to work out...

I know people say do what you want/love no matter what, but I'm not living in a card board box and eating M&C after enduring these 4 years of hell (well not hell but working my A#$ off)...


anyone?

 

[ckent]

If fp or im is what you want to do, you certainly can afford to do it. You can defer your loans during residency and then you can make payments on your loans as an attending. It's not all that much different then buying a house, except you don't get a house after you finish paying it off. If you are making ~140,000 though, you can afford a 300,000 "house" or big loan. The one catch is that your actual first house will be a dinky 100,000 townhouse since you have to pay off your student loans. Also, try to live as frugally as you can as a student so that you won't have to live as a student as an attending.

 

[VitaminK]

Great question and reply. I had the very same concerns but could never get any straight answers. I also will have about $250,000 in loans by the time I get out and was scared about being able to pay them back and still survive in FP. I don't mind living frugally during residency but I want to be able to afford the nicer things in life afterwards.