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- Feb 26, 2003
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I will FINALLY start med school in Aug. I have a problem that will affect my career and personal life that I hope someone can assist me in finding a solution. The med school I will attend offers a service based loan which is quite attractive. The school pays for your tuition and pays the student $1500/month for each academic month. For each year the school subsidizes the student has to serve in a small to midsize town and also you have to go into Peds, IM, or EM. I plan to go into EM. I applied for it but I haven't heard anything as of late. I also applied for residency so hopefully I will receive it. My plan was to take the loan for two years and since I applied for residency I will be charged resident fees in my last two years of med school. The budget for a non-resident is about 50K/year. I come from humbled beginnings and I cannot fathom the thought of paying 200K in educational debt. I am also considering doing the loan for the full term of med school. I am not that attached to my family and I am pretty much a free spirit so I am thinking why not. There are two things that are holding me back from doing it: One, my girlfriend of seven years who will more than likely become my wife one day is back home. She is really close to her family and is not that keen on moving a thousand miles away from home. Two, the possible affects it will have on my career. I would like to become an EM physician and work in a hospital in a suburb of a large city. If I work in one of these towns for four years and then when my commitment is done and I chose to move to a larger city or a suburb of that city, do you think I would have a hard time finding employment? Would prospective employers look down on that? My plan is to work in the town and on my off days maintain and/or improve my skills by working in a nearby (mid size large city) I am sure you know that a medical education in quite expensive and this could alleviate a lot of debt for me, but this a major decision and I want to make sure I make the best decision I can possibly make. What would you do? How would me working in a small town affect my future employment? Would I be relegated to working in low volume ED's?