simple tuition question

[Fermi]

I was looking at my school's 4-year budget for the first time today. I'd obviously looked at the M1 figures before, but I was surprised to find they had indicated the following:

M2-3 semesters
M3-3 semesters
M4-2 semesters

Is this the standard for med school? Do they include the summer after M2 (first summer of rotations) as the third semester in M2? If so, I'm really an idiot for thinking they still charged you for 2 semesters during clinical years. Is this they way it generally goes (i.e. you pay for 10 semesters total)?

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[AJM]

Yeah, that's pretty standard. The summer after your 2nd year is when most school's start clinics -- that's when you're officially considered a 3rd year (except the people who charge you tuition still consider you a 2nd year), and clinics go all year round. So they charge you for enrolling in the summer semester during your clinical years.

 

[kd]

My school (East Tennessee) charges higher tuition for 3rd year, because that year is 12 months in length rather than 10.

 

[Firebird]

So do you not get any summer vacation during the last two years of med school?

If that's the case, what if you plan a vacation?

 

[AJM]

Originally posted by Firebird:
•So do you not get any summer vacation during the last two years of med school?

If that's the case, what if you plan a vacation?•

The only summer vacation you get in med school is the summer after your first year. When you're in clinics, you can schedule in a vacation month here and there, depending on how much vacation time a school allows you to take. Every school is different in how much vacation you can take and when you can take it. Usually your third year (starting the summer after your 2nd year) is the most limited, because there are core clerkships that you have to take which don't usually leave room for much vacation time. Your 4th year will be somewhat more flexible, again depending on the school you go to. Also, most schools give all clinical students a winter break for a few weeks, and many give a "summer break", usually one week long.

 

[kris]

That sucks, doesn't it?

My husband is program chair for a conference in mid-July of my 3rd year. Get this: it's going to be in Vienna!!!!

Unless I get very lucky, I don't think I'll be able to go. It appears the one week break usually occurs during the last week of June at my school.

Oh, that sucks. Sigh. Vienna...

 

[Fermi]

Getting back to my original question, I just looked at Northwestern's web site, and they say the following:

"Please note that it is the policy of the Medical School to routinely charge students for only 12 quarters of tuition to complete their degree; typically, no tuition is charged in the Winter and Spring Quarters of the senior year."

So they basically don't get charged for their summer rotations. I wonder if this is common? Just goes to show, you should look very closely at the numbers if you are comparing schools based on finances. This one little detail makes a difference of about $21,000.

Update: I just looked at Harvard's site and they only charge for 8 semesters as well, but Stanford does charge extra for M3-M4 years. I guess my school does reduce the per-semester tuition for M3-M4, which is sort of an equalizing factor.