Married, Have Baby, & want to do Med School Together

[RoadRunner17]

Hi, I don't know a thing about MD/PhD programs, but I do know about having kids (I have 2, ages 9 and 12), and I also know a lot about money, because I worked on Wall St. for 20 years. So please let me give you a bit of a reality check about that subject.

The big problem here is that it's going to be practically impossible to raise a child decently and pay for everything she's going to need (including, BTW, HER future education) if you and your husband are both in school full-time for years on end. Even assuming you do get into a program with some sort of stipend, these are only a few thousand per year, which is not really enough for three people to live on. And as your daughter gets older, her financial needs will grow: you will have to buy clothes, books, toys, maybe pay for preschool, etc. What if she wants a bike, like all the other kids? Music lessons? As you can see, this adds up pretty quickly.

What will end up happening is that you'll borrow a lot of money. But don't forget that you'll be borrowing even more to finance med school (the average student borrows $150K). All those loans have to be repaid someday, and the monthly payments can really be staggering. If, for example, you ended up borrowing $300,000 total (could easily be more), even at 6% interest your payments would come to over $3000 per month. That's over $36,000 a year just in loan payments. Where are you going to come up with that kind of money and still afford food, clothing and shelter?

And don't forget, if you're in that kind of debt, it could be pretty hard to qualify for a mortgage some day--or even a car loan. You're going to be stuck in student-type poverty for most of your lives. And what if, God forbid, something goes wrong and one of you can't finish school? Even if you don't have the degree you were pursuing, you still have to pay back the loans.

I would suggest that you rethink your plans a bit. As others have already said, you should chart the most direct route to the degree you want so your years in school are minimized. But beyond that, I think you and your husband need to have a long talk about how you're going to work the economics. I don't want to tell you how to live your life, but I think it's going to be tough to hold everything together without at least one full-time income (or equivalent). Maybe that means you two alternate periods of work and school (one first, then the other), or some other arrangement, but I'm really concerned that the plans you have now would end up burying you in debt.

I really hope you are able to figure out a way to fulfill your dreams. Good luck.

Good post. OP should definitely consider this.

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[Simplify]

I agree with the post above. The OP definitely needs to think about the gravity of economics surrounding the situation. I am married with one child and pursuing a career in medicine, but...my wife has her degree. I paid her tuition for 4 years while working. Now she works full time to support our family. She only works 4 days a week, we have family-based childcare for the days where I am at school and she is at work. Even with her considerable salary, some months we end up just scraping by. And we don't have to pay for our childcare. Kids are expensive and, most importantly, time consuming. During the school year I help my wife with our child during the evening. We read books, play games, sing, etc. etc. until about 8:30-9pm when she goes to sleep. Then I start my homework. My point being this: if you think a 6 month old is a time commitment, wait until they get a little older. The time commitment doesn't diminish in my experience. Your child is the most important thing in the world for you and your husband. I think you two should reevaluate your plans and put your child first, but that's just me.