LORs and if I'm lucky, financial aid

[minnow00]

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Two questions:

First, I've been out of school now 3 years and have not had any contact with old profs. Most schools want LORs from academic sources. I've worked at a University for 2 years and plan on using my employers as LORs, who also happen to be profs and MDs and who, in my opinion, should be able to judge my ability to succeed in med school. Will this suffice? Has anyone had a similiar situation?

Second, if by chance I get accepted, I've got a question about finances. Because I'm working full time this year, I will make a decent salary. Is this going to hurt my ability to get loans in med school? Obviously, once in med school, my income will once again be reduced to nil. I plan to save up a little, but no way will it get me through a $30k year of school. Should I look into ways to reduce my total income, i.e. retirement accounts, etc. or should I just try to save as much as possible? Once again, anyone in a similiar situation?

Thanks in advance for the help!!

minnow 🙂 😕

 

[tBw]

1. depends on the school. Some of mine accepted employee letters in place of prof ones (and my employees were tenured faculty at 4 year schools) but some insisted on letters from profs who had taught me. It's hard to get past the admissions staff sometimes as I felt sure adcom members would have been more flexible - but in many cases I had to send exactly what they asked for.

2. Finances - yes, having an income is going to reduce your financial aid. You will probably still get some. It also depends on whether your parents are earning as schools require parental data too and so people like me don't do *so* badly as even though I have an income both of my parents are retired.

 

[labangel]

Once you get accepted, talk to the Financial Aid office...some schools will let you file what is called a professional judgment form, which will at least tell them that your income will stop the summer before you start. This will help a little by halving your income for that year, so they can then adjust your FAFSA. You'll still qualify for the standard 8500 in subsidized Stafford and the max for unsubsidized. (And, by lowering your income, you may end up qualifying for some leftover grant money.) This should completely cover you if you're going to your state school. And on the upside, the interest on student loans is extremely low right now. Hope this helps...financial aid can be a pain! Good luck! 🙂

 

[X]

Some schools want letters from prof in whose classes you were a student in because the theory is they can better judge your academic abilities. Although you will probably be able to use some from employers, you will most likely need letters from profs.

About financial aid, the schools will realize you won't have this income when you begin school. You will of course need to tell them specifically about this and they will be able to fix that problem.

Good luck

X

 

[tBw]

mmm...when I talked to financial aid this was the story they gave me:

The fact that your income in that year is only half a year is irrelevant as they go on the previous years taxes you filed! So for the first year you are not going on the income you had for half the year but the ENTIRE year from the year before. The 2nd year they will look and see you got half a years income, but it still counts as income ie they don't care whether it was half a year or a whole year, just the total amount you earned in the year, which is what is reflected on your income tax return.

 

[booradley]

LORs:
I graduated in 1994, so I had a similar situation. I got LORs from:
1. My employer (a Ph.D. scientist)
2. A prof from my senior year in college who was happy to help after meeting with him for an hour. I think he barely even remembered me, but was way cool about the whole thing. He gave me an unofficial copy of my LOR, and it was great!
3. I had to take a chem course to finish off my pre-reqs last spring, so I had that prof write me a rec too.

I have had no problems with these sources from any schools I applied to.

Financial Aid:
Again, I have been working for a long time with a nice income + a spouse who also earns quite well. We will be taking the max of federal unsubsidized loans for around $38,000 for the first year (assuming I get in). The unsubsidized loans do not depend on your former income. You just have to pay the interest accrued on them from the time the loan is taken out. It sucks, but at least interest rates are low.

I hope this helps, and good luck!

 

[labangel]

boy wonder--some schools are much more helpful with financial aid than others...my school let me alter my income, which changed my EFC, and I ended up with some grant money in the end. I was in the similar position as the OP of being out of school for 3 years.

When you go to interviews, you can get a sense of how helpful finanical aid will be. You might want to take this into account when you go to decide on a school. I know I interviewed at some schools with the "if you can't afford us, this is not the place for you" attitude. When I heard that, I knew I no longer wanted to go there (nor could I afford to)! Just ask $ questions when you go to interview, each school is a little different.

 

[tBw]

labangel - thanks for that - would you mind PMing me the schools you thought were helpful and unhelpful? I have been interviewing but every time I talk to financial aid I get those same lines regarding my income. The only place that even mildly deviated was Pritzker which said they no longer would want my parental financial data.