Life after undergrad

[doctorcalifornia]

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Does anyone know about all of the costs and fees after undergrad trying to get into med school?

I have a distant cousin that just graduated from the University of Chicago with a BS in biology. She eventually wants to become a doctor. However, she's been out of school for an entire year now, just working and paying her loans back. She hasn't taken the MCAT yet because she wants to enroll in one of the classes (that she cannot afford so she started a gofundme) to ensure that she scores high. She appears to be struggling financially.

Can anyone with experience tell me about life after undergrad? From a financial stand point.
Factor in: the cost of the MCAT, study materials for the MCAT, flying to interviews, loans, filling out med school applications, room and board and whatever else I'm missing

Also, do undergrad loans continue in med school? How do you pay them?

 

[Atmosphere123]

I was in a similar situation as your cousin. I was out of undergrad for 2 years before applying and I was working in social services so I was making very little money. Applying to medical school was much more expensive than I expected and it was a struggle to make it happen.
MCAT: $275 just to register. I pushed my date back a 2 times because I needed more time to prepare which added around $100. I think this is pretty common..
MCAT study materials: $200-$2000. If you want to just buy a set of study guides and study yourself, then it will be on the low end of that range. If you want to take a class it will probably cost at least $1000 but probably closer to $2000. There was no way I could afford that so I just studied on my own and did fine. However, the MCAT is changing next year so effective study guides might be hard to come by.
Application Fees: $1000-$2250 depending on how many schools you apply to. I could only afford to apply to 9 schools and I spent around $1500. Most applicants go for around 14-16 schools. Each school has 2 applications, a primary and a secondary. The primary costs $160 for the first school and $65 for each additional school. The secondary applications cost between $75-$125 each. If your cousin is struggling financially, she can apply for a fee waiver but it can be very difficult to get one... I wasn't eligible because my parents make a middle class income.
Travel: ~$500 per school. This is a very rough estimate. Some schools are close, some are far away. Some schedule your interview over a month ahead of time so you can get a cheap flight, some schools schedule interviews only a week ahead of time. Many schools offer you the opportunity to stay with a current medical student which can save you money. I've heard good things about student hosts but I preferred to stay in a hostel or with friends. This cost is also heavily dependent on the number of schools your cousin actually gets an interview at. Medical school admissions is extremely competitive with many schools accepting less than 10% of people that apply. I scored at 32 on the MCAT (~85th percentile), I have a 3.8, some decent work experience and I'm ethnically Hispanic. I got interviews at 4/9 schools.
In sum, it is difficult to precisely account for cost of medical school admissions but I would save up at least a couple thousand dollars.
Hope this helps! Best of luck to your cousin!
*Undergrad loans go into forbearance in medical school.

 

[PL198]

holy crap people do more for the MCAT than just buying a review book?

 

[Winged Scapula]

Closing as cross posted in Pre Allo.