Scholarship offer for deferred admission. Thoughts?

Started by throwaway95
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throwaway95

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Hi everyone, I've been having a hard time coming to a decision on a situation offered to me, and would appreciate to hear thoughts on the situation from others.

I applied and was accepted to a top-10 school in this past admissions cycle, and as my school year will begin in August, I received an offer from the admissions committee. Due to over-enrollment of students, I was offered a large scholarship (~$100k) to defer my admission to next year (guaranteed seat).

Here is my pro-con list from mulling it over for a little while:

Pros:

I am relatively young (traditional applicant) and I don't have any impending circumstances that makes one year of my time out of medical school a large sacrifice/loss.
Additionally, I received very little financial aid from my school, so ~100k would significantly relieve my debt stress (I would be looking to loan ~$170k for my education for 4 years, so this scholarship would reduce it to ~$60-70k in loans).

Cons:

I understand the opportunity cost of taking a year off medical school would also be a year I do not make a physician's salary (100k now vs. one year physician salary later).
My decision on this offer must be immediate, and as a result, I do not have any concrete plans for what I would do with this year if I took a gap year. I am very interested in pursuing a career in surgery so my first idea is to look for research opportunities to gain some basic research experience (all my prior research experience is translational). However, I don't know if this is worth a year of my time, as I am interested in doing research in medical school anyways. If I were to take a year off, I would this time to be formative in my experiences, but I do not have any concrete plans and will not have any definite plan by the time I have to submit my decision on this offer.

I would love to hear some insights from you guys, especially since I am sure I have not thought about all of the benefits or consequences of this situation. Thanks guys.
 
I wouldn't take it. Even with interest you are talking about maybe $150kish worth of money forgiven....but you'll lose more than that in the year of salary you miss out
 
Assuming you have a way to support yourself for the next year, I would take the year off and enjoy it. Surgery is a grueling track and you will make plenty of money on the backend whether or not you start this year or next year. Enjoy one more year off and low-pressure before you start at least 10 years of pressure-cooker training. Not everything boils down to dollars and cents.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
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sb247 said:
I wouldn't take it. Even with interest you are talking about maybe $150kish worth of money forgiven....but you'll lose more than that in the year of salary you miss out
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Not necessarily. Remember that they don't have to pay taxes on that 150kish. They will have to pay taxes on their salary. So, lets say that you make 250k immediately after residency, your take home after federal income tax will be 166k (never mind state/local income tax). As a benefit, you will get a year completely free in your 20s. You will not have to worry about what you are doing next year and be able to spend the year doing literally whatever you want.

For most people it is worth 16k+ to have that time. As someone who did something different, but for essentially the same reasons, I would strongly consider taking the scholarship.
 
Which school was this? (If you tell us, people applying this cycle would be aware that this particular school will not be accepting as many students because the deferred ones will fill up some slots)

(If you're not comfortable revealing the exact school, wha state or region is it in?
 
ChrisMack390 said:
THIS. You get a relaxed year, a bunch of cash, some new connections, and a boost to your residency app.
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Yah, it's a totally awesome deal.

The way I see it, this is the situation:

"Hey guys, a medical school I have already been admitted to is offering to write me a check for a 100,000 dollars if I just do nothing for a year"

The answer is "Yessir, where do I sign????"
 
That chopping sound you hear off in the distance is that of an Admission dean losing his/her head!


throwaway95 said:
Hi everyone, I've been having a hard time coming to a decision on a situation offered to me, and would appreciate to hear thoughts on the situation from others.

I applied and was accepted to a top-10 school in this past admissions cycle, and as my school year will begin in August, I received an offer from the admissions committee. Due to over-enrollment of students, I was offered a large scholarship (~$100k) to defer my admission to next year (guaranteed seat).
Click to expand...
 
Money…

Having less debt when you graduate gives you much more freedom…you won't shy away from certain locations you really want to do residency in etc because of higher costs etc…your lifestyle can be much better so it's worth much more than the $150K.
 
As residency apps get more competitive, some people are using research years to up their game. Those research years pay $25K (not enough to live and cover growing interest) and you usually pay your school a $1K or so fee to keep yourself enrolled (so you don't to make loan payments during that year)......
You have the chance of having that research year, except getting paid $100K + interest to do it
 
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Take the money. If you want to find a full time research job, by all means go from it. If I was in your position, I'd travel. Spend time with close family, friends. Visit relatives you haven't seen in a while because come next August, your plate will be full. Enjoy your time off, depending on your life goals..this may be your last full year of "ME" time.
 
Goro said:
That chopping sound you hear off in the distance is that of an Admission dean losing his/her head!
Click to expand...
Hmmm...so at which top 10 have we seen no movement? Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, U of Washington, and Penn are the only "top 10's" I don't recall gyngyn mentioning in his updates. Should we be expecting one of these deans to not have his job next year? 😵
 
Overbooking a class is usually detrimental to an Admissions dean's job viability.

Toutie said:
Hmmm...so at which top 10 have we seen no movement? Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, U of Washington, and Penn are the only "top 10's" I don't recall gyngyn mentioning in his updates. Should we be expecting one of these deans to not have his job next year? 😵
Click to expand...
 
Incis0r said:
A medical school would punish an Admissions Dean for doing a good job attracting candidates?
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I have followed the fate of admissions deans after such a gaffe. The "transition" is usually done quietly in a year or so (public executions are so medieval! See: Stanford). Overbooking to the degree that cash awards are necessary is a serious miscalculation.
 
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Toutie said:
Hmmm...so at which top 10 have we seen no movement? Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, U of Washington, and Penn are the only "top 10's" I don't recall gyngyn mentioning in his updates. Should we be expecting one of these deans to not have his job next year? 😵
Click to expand...
JHU has had a healthy amount of movement so you can remove them from the list, as well
 
This is the most amazing thing ever..... I would go travel the world if I was you for 3+ months and then come back and get some lab work before med school. My god you lucky SOB
 
Take the money. Don't worry about the potential cost to your bottom line. If you're 21, that means completing residency around 30-31. If you only paid the minimums while a resident and then started paying around $1500-2000/month once you were full-time, you'd have them paid off before your 35th birthday. Don't forget that approx 50% of new hires now either get a signing bonus or loan forgiveness packages (regardless of practice), so you could be paid off sooner. This isn't even counting if you end up moonlighting at all. And finally, you'll probably work in some capacity until your 65-70. One year of "lost income" is the grand scheme is only 3% of your total earnings.

Long story short, take the $$$$
 
TAKE THE MONEY. You are not only being given a large sum of money that will free up your career path, you are being given an entire year during which you can rest assured that a fantastic opportunity (medical school!) awaits you. Move to another country to teach English or god, even just work in a cafe! Travel the world! Spend time with family and friends. Get a cool internship in a totally different field. The possibilities are endless, and I am so excited for you.
 
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100% take the scholarship. Even if you take the money away, you are getting the opportunity to have an entire year with (presumably, since you're young) little responsibility and a GUARANTEED spot in medical school next year. When else are you going to have the opportunity to have a relatively stress-free year in your life, where you have an awesome opportunity waiting for you afterwards? If you are able to, take money out of the equation and see what you decide.
 
Take the damn money and get a job as a bartender on the beach in the Bahamas for a year. WTF are you still doing here?
 
This is an amazing opportunity! it is a rare gift to have the freedom of the gap year with the security of knowing you are in. Enjoy your time and do something meaningful and enjoyable without having to worry about admissions.
 
Toutie said:
Hmmm...so at which top 10 have we seen no movement? Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, U of Washington, and Penn are the only "top 10's" I don't recall gyngyn mentioning in his updates. Should we be expecting one of these deans to not have his job next year? 😵
Click to expand...
Duke hasn't seen any movement.
 
mimelim said:
Not necessarily. Remember that they don't have to pay taxes on that 150kish. They will have to pay taxes on their salary. So, lets say that you make 250k immediately after residency, your take home after federal income tax will be 166k (never mind state/local income tax). As a benefit, you will get a year completely free in your 20s. You will not have to worry about what you are doing next year and be able to spend the year doing literally whatever you want.

For most people it is worth 16k+ to have that time. As someone who did something different, but for essentially the same reasons, I would strongly consider taking the scholarship.
Click to expand...

In addition to this you will also earn salary if you keep a job during your gap year, so if your job pays more than 16k/year (even the crappiest jobs pay that much) you could end up making a net profit.
 
I got the same offer, and declined, as I ran the numbers, and deferring the MD salary for 1 year more does not make up for the scholarship dollars. Remember, not $100K upfront, but $25K over 4 years. Doing NPV calcs helps, but the balance of the tuition due will keep going up.

This is about the third year that I am aware of that U of Michigan has had to make this offer due to overenrollment. My Brother is now an M3, and declined the offer too 2 years ago under a previous Director (same Dean then as now).

I already took 2.5 years off, so ready to go now, but may be a different story if you are straight out of undergrad, and have a plan to be productive over the extra gap year.
 
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gyngyn said:
I have followed the fate of admissions deans after such a gaffe. The "transition" is usually done quietly in a year or so (public executions are so medieval! See: Stanford). Overbooking to the degree that cash awards are necessary is a serious miscalculation.
Click to expand...
This is about the third year that I am aware of that U of Michigan has had to make this offer due to overenrollment. My Brother is now an M3, and declined the offer too 2 years ago under a previous Director (same Dean then as now).
 
You have wonderful advice in this thread. Take the money, enjoy yourself, and get them to find you a job if you want one!

LizzyM said:
Take the money but ask the school to help you find a lab position (if that's what you want) on its campus.
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TBV said:
Take the damn money and get a job as a bartender on the beach in the Bahamas for a year. WTF are you still doing here?
Click to expand...
toast said:
This is an amazing opportunity! it is a rare gift to have the freedom of the gap year with the security of knowing you are in. Enjoy your time and do something meaningful and enjoyable without having to worry about admissions.
Click to expand...
 
If you don't take the offer, you're going to look back when your a resident in your late twenties wishing you had that free year to do whatever you want. Also, congratulations on the acceptance!


I'm curious as to just how many of these offers this school has had to make.
 
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Rainbow Zebra said:
This is about the third year that I am aware of that U of Michigan has had to make this offer due to overenrollment. My Brother is now an M3, and declined the offer too 2 years ago under a previous Director (same Dean then as now).
Click to expand...
Yes, often the lieutenant is fired.
I'm watching this one closely.
 
I wish I had one more gap year. I'm excited to begin school but I keep hearing this nagging voice in the back of my head saying "your life is now on hold until further notice". So, just make sure that you feel fulfilled before this medical journey, if a year off will help you get closer to that, then I would heavily recommend it.
 
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gyngyn said:
Yes, often the lieutenant is fired.
I'm watching this one closely.
Click to expand...

Making the same mistake three times now is kind of amazing in and of itself. Did anything happen in terms of firings the first two times they did this?

I can see how it might happen to some extent. They take so much of their class from those who went to undergrad there or those who are MI residents(a number of these are also slightly lower stat apps) that it really just doesnt leave enough space for the OOS apps. It's obviously really hard to get yourself to actually say no to a number of these ridiculously strong OOS apps but when they dont a mess like this is bound to happen sooner or later where they accept too many people. Something's gotta give, I just have no idea what though and if it means perhaps being a bit more conservative with how many people they accept from their UG or if they handle IS applications a little differently.

I do kind of wonder how they go about choosing who to give this scholarship offer to, if it's simply first come first serve or if there's more to it.
 
GrapesofRath said:
Making the same mistake three times now is kind of amazing in and of itself. Did anything happen in terms of firings the first two times they did this?

I can see how it might happen to some extent. They take so much of their class from those who went to undergrad there or those who are MI residents(a number of these are also slightly lower stat apps) that it really just doesnt leave enough space for the OOS apps. It's obviously really hard to get yourself to actually say no to a number of these ridiculously strong OOS apps but when they dont a mess like this is bound to happen sooner or later where they accept too many people. Something's gotta give, I just have no idea what though and if it means perhaps being a bit more conservative with how many people they accept from their UG or if they handle IS applications a little differently.

I do kind of wonder how they go about choosing who to give this scholarship offer to, if it's simply first come first serve or if there's more to it.
Click to expand...
First come, first served to those who were offered the scholarship, though I'm sure they review it. Not sure how many people they made this offer to, though there was an earlier email to everyone admitted about 2 months ago asking if anyone wanted details on how to apply for a one year deferral.
 
efle said:
But hasnt Michigan been accepting people off waitlist? Why would they be accepting people off waitlist if theyre over enrolled?
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I was accepted off the waitlist, but I'm the only one reporting this in years, and I'm a special snowflake (have strong connections to University and Medical School).
 
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