Medical school debt

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Medicine193

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I do not have a great understanding of the effects of school debt and how I should factor this into where I should matriculate. If school 1's tuition would be about 30k less per year than school 2 due to scholarship, but I feel that school 2 is more aligned with my career goals and can significantly better prepare me to reach them, should I still attend school 1?

Most seem to say that debt is an important factor in their decision making and school 1 is the obvious choice. But personally, after residency I just want a small apartment and a car that works, I don't really care for my salary and am fine paying it to debt. Do you believe the effect of this debt difference should dominate my school preference? Thank you.

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There are a lot of circumstances in which people would choose school 2. What are the schools?
 
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Too vague; what are the schools, costs of attendance, and your career goals?
 
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I do not have a great understanding of the effects of school debt and how I should factor this into where I should matriculate. If school 1's tuition would be about 30k less per year than school 2 due to scholarship, but I feel that school 2 is more aligned with my career goals and can significantly better prepare me to reach them, should I still attend school 1?

Most seem to say that debt is an important factor in their decision making and school 1 is the obvious choice. But personally, after residency I just want a small apartment and a car that works, I don't really care for my salary and am fine paying it to debt. Do you believe the effect of this debt difference should dominate my school preference? Thank you.
Depends on how you see yourself after medical school.

If you plan on going into a field that pays a ton and school2 can offer you a better opportunity at that career, go with that. If you dont know what youre interested in, go with school1
 
Depends on how you see yourself after medical school.

If you plan on going into a field that pays a ton and school2 can offer you a better opportunity at that career, go with that. If you dont know what youre interested in, go with school1
Broad advice but not really accurate. Expensive, high-ranked school will often be the better choice for someone with an interest in lower-paying academic medicine. On the other hand, someone interested in EM, fairly high-paying but only moderately competitive, probably doesn't need to worry that much about prestige.
 
Broad advice but not really accurate. Expensive, high-ranked school will often be the better choice for someone with an interest in lower-paying academic medicine. On the other hand, someone interested in EM, fairly high-paying but only moderately competitive, probably doesn't need to worry that much about prestige.
Oh I agree with the prestige part I just mean if school 2 has more matches for lets say ortho and an overall higher step1/2 score, and you want to match ortho, maybe that school would be a better fit since you'll have (possibly) resources that previous students had to match that specialty(whether it be better professors, more research for X specialty, an affiliated residency program with X specialty etc)
 
I do not have a great understanding of the effects of school debt and how I should factor this into where I should matriculate. If school 1's tuition would be about 30k less per year than school 2 due to scholarship, but I feel that school 2 is more aligned with my career goals and can significantly better prepare me to reach them, should I still attend school 1?

Most seem to say that debt is an important factor in their decision making and school 1 is the obvious choice. But personally, after residency I just want a small apartment and a car that works, I don't really care for my salary and am fine paying it to debt. Do you believe the effect of this debt difference should dominate my school preference? Thank you.

Run the math. Student loans are between 5.5% and 6% simple annual interest. Assume no interest payments till residency for both schools and then calculate your interest payment during the first month of residency. Assume 65k pay and subtract the interest payment of the first month and then subtract estimated taxes on that amount for each school to have an understanding of the lifestyle you can live (note: if you have a spouse and your spouse takes you over 150k you should probably calculate the taxes owed before subtracting the interest). Then, you can compare your monthly income for each school in residency. If you are really keen, you can assume some level of payment during residency and then do the same for salary as an attending (120K is probably a good starting point). Then, think about lifestyle on the two incomes and the difference in quality of life and career aspirations between the two schools. You can also examine loan repayment schemes that are income based to see if these are more or less (probably less cost during residency, but a lot more cost over the life of the loan).

In other words, do the due diligence on the differential economic cost of the two choices reasonably factoring in non-financial value from your perspective.
 
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There are a lot of circumstances in which people would choose school 2. What are the schools?

Too vague; what are the schools, costs of attendance, and your career goals?

Depends on how you see yourself after medical school.

If you plan on going into a field that pays a ton and school2 can offer you a better opportunity at that career, go with that. If you dont know what youre interested in, go with school1
Thank you for the replies. I apologize for providing minimal information.

Professionally, I am planning on going into primary care and improving healthcare access (obtaining MPH at the school I attend). The more expensive school is significantly stronger in public health.

Run the math. Student loans are between 5.5% and 6% simple annual interest. Assume no interest payments till residency for both schools and then calculate your interest payment during the first month of residency. Assume 65k pay and subtract the interest payment of the first month and then subtract estimated taxes on that amount for each school to have an understanding of the lifestyle you can live (note: if you have a spouse and your spouse takes you over 150k you should probably calculate the taxes owed before subtracting the interest). Then, you can compare your monthly income for each school in residency. If you are really keen, you can assume some level of payment during residency and then do the same for salary as an attending (120K is probably a good starting point). Then, think about lifestyle on the two incomes and the difference in quality of life and career aspirations between the two schools. You can also examine loan repayment schemes that are income based to see if these are more or less (probably less cost during residency, but a lot more cost over the life of the loan).

In other words, do the due diligence on the differential economic cost of the two choices reasonably factoring in non-financial value from your perspective.
The cost of attendance difference would probably be near 35k per year. From your model, I feel perfectly comfortable living with the debt payments when projected.

Thank you all for your assistance.
 
Run the math. Student loans are between 5.5% and 6% simple annual interest. Assume no interest payments till residency for both schools and then calculate your interest payment during the first month of residency. Assume 65k pay and subtract the interest payment of the first month and then subtract estimated taxes on that amount for each school to have an understanding of the lifestyle you can live (note: if you have a spouse and your spouse takes you over 150k you should probably calculate the taxes owed before subtracting the interest). Then, you can compare your monthly income for each school in residency. If you are really keen, you can assume some level of payment during residency and then do the same for salary as an attending (120K is probably a good starting point). Then, think about lifestyle on the two incomes and the difference in quality of life and career aspirations between the two schools. You can also examine loan repayment schemes that are income based to see if these are more or less (probably less cost during residency, but a lot more cost over the life of the loan).

In other words, do the due diligence on the differential economic cost of the two choices reasonably factoring in non-financial value from your perspective.
Don't most residents go onto income-based repayment and make very small payments? And don't the vast majority of MDs make more than 120k even in primary care?

Professionally, I am planning on going into primary care and improving healthcare access (obtaining MPH at the school I attend). The more expensive school is significantly stronger in public health.
You gotta name names to get good advice. Is "significantly stronger" UCSF/Hopkins vs your state school? Your state school vs brand new school?

The cost of attendance difference would probably be near 35k per year. From your model, I feel perfectly comfortable living with the debt payments when projected.
What are the actual total debt amounts you'd be entering residency with via each? Does the better place provide funding for your MPH year? Does the other place not?
 
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Thank you for the replies. I apologize for providing minimal information.

Professionally, I am planning on going into primary care and improving healthcare access (obtaining MPH at the school I attend). The more expensive school is significantly stronger in public health.


The cost of attendance difference would probably be near 35k per year. From your model, I feel perfectly comfortable living with the debt payments when projected.

Thank you all for your assistance.

If you are planning on primary care you should 100% go to the cheaper school. All the public health things you can do easier and cheaper as an attending. You're looking at losing well over $150,000 after interest. You can get public health experience for far cheaper. For instance if I wanted an MPH right now I could pretty much go anywhere I wanted and get one. I have the financial means and the credentials and the time since I am no longer in school. Some will try to argue about saving time but they are wrong and short sighted. You have to pay back that $150,000+. That's means you have to spend all those hours working for NOTHING. I can guarantee you, you could go back to school and get mutltiple degrees in the amount of time it would take paying off that debt in primary care.
 
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