To keep 5K for dental school or travel with it?

[yaya97]

Would you keep the 5K for school or would you use it to travel before school starts?

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[DentalNucleicAcid]

5k won't really do much for you for dental school expenses. Enjoy yourself with it make it count though and fly/room cheap. Someone mentioned workaway.info here before, might be worth looking into.

 

[thenextcarnegie]

Travel. Learn new things, meet new people, and experience various cultures. You won't regret it. Dental school is a very very stressful time so learn to enjoy the memories and moments now!

 

[Screwtape]

Really depends on how rich you are, but since you are asking this question I’m assuming you are paying for school all with loans. If that’s the case you shouldn’t be spending $5k to travel... how about a cool trip for half of that? Or even better, spend that slowly during school making your life better in some way. For example one nice meal a month, more expensive groceries, weekend getaway when things are looking bleak.

 

[doc toothache]

Naaah. There is more where that came from.

 

[yaya97]

Really depends on how rich you are, but since you are asking this question I’m assuming you are paying for school all with loans. If that’s the case you shouldn’t be spending $5k to travel... how about a cool trip for half of that? Or even better, spend that slowly during school making your life better in some way. For example one nice meal a month, more expensive groceries, weekend getaway when things are looking bleak.

Yeah as of right now I'm paying with loans. I just thought to myself that 5k in the grand scheme of things won't make that much difference in my loans. Although, your thoughts on using it as a way to make my life better during school is a unique suggestion I didn't think about but I kind of like a lot!

 

[Life of Pablo]

Personally, I would travel. Yes, $5,000 is a lot of money and could (maybe even should) be used for loans, but you realistically won't be able to do much traveling for at least the next 4 years. A lot of current dental students even recommend traveling before dental school. Take this opportunity to go and explore somewhere you've never been before. You got a massive scholarship to Penn, so I would use this money towards a trip as a reward/last hoorah before starting dental school.

 

[tle95]

TRAVEL!! Enjoy life before dental school starts! That is the choice that I also made!

 

[ourmrsreynolds]

Well unless your parents are still supporting you, you should really consider putting some of that money away or investing it so you have something in case of an emergency. You don't need to spend all $5,000 on a trip.

 

[a_hildy]

I'd put that money straight into a liquid balanced mutual fund and watch it grow ~5-7% annually. Worst comes to worst, you can take money out of it as it is a liquid account.

 

[itscoldoutside2018]

I'd use some of it to travel now. Then save the rest in case there is a dental mission trip or you want to go somewhere during break

 

[reddevilhusky]

This is just me personally but I’m doing a lot of traveling before dental school. I feel like this is the last time I’ll have basically minimal responsibilites and the ability to travel for long periods of time. I know personally I’d regret not doing anything and saving that money for living expenses or other things during dental school. To me experiences and seeing places are super important and I value them more than what I’d give up by spending the money.

 

[setdoc7]

Some of the cryptos are pretty low now. You could by some now, cash out when it doubles, and do both.....save 5k and travel with 5k.

 

[Trave_]

I traveled Europe for 2.5 months with about 5k - although I had places to stay for free for half of my trip. Live it up! After dental school you won't have as much free time as you do now, at least for a very long time.

 

[Faux]

I'd put that money straight into a liquid balanced mutual fund and watch it grow ~5-7% annually. Worst comes to worst, you can take money out of it as it is a liquid account.

Some of the cryptos are pretty low now. You could by some now, cash out when it doubles, and do both.....save 5k and travel with 5k.

I'd put it into crypto to be honest. Look into it, gauge how you feel about it. I put $5,000 into it so far 3 weeks ago and have $11k so far. I'm considering holding my investment now until the end of the year because it seems to be incredibly promising.


Traveling is big too. Try and do both in my opinion. But please look into investing. If I put in 5k this time last year, I'd live extremely comfortable. If I put in 5k in November, my school would have been payed off by now. Now past performance is not an indicator for the future, but I read enough to want to take that chance.

 

[Jaa_]

Travel! That's what I'm doing right now and it's awesome. You could definitely get a few solid trips out of 5k.

 

[SweetMelonPreDent]

I'd put it into crypto to be honest. Look into it, gauge how you feel about it. I put $5,000 into it so far 3 weeks ago and have $11k so far. I'm considering holding my investment now until the end of the year because it seems to be incredibly promising.


Traveling is big too. Try and do both in my opinion. But please look into investing. If I put in 5k this time last year, I'd live extremely comfortable. If I put in 5k in November, my school would have been payed off by now. Now past performance is not an indicator for the future, but I read enough to want to take that chance.

HODL till after you graduate. Pay off school debt. lmao

 

[Incis0r]

I traveled Europe for 2.5 months with about 5k - although I had places to stay for free for half of my trip. Live it up! After dental school you won't have as much free time as you do now, at least for a very long time.

$5K for 2.5 months = very impressive. Did you use couchsurfing?

Which countries?

Would you keep the 5K for school or would you use it to travel before school starts?

I like what the other guy said about using it to make your life better, but I also think a nice trip is in order.

 

[Trave_]

$5K for 2.5 months = very impressive. Did you use couchsurfing?

Which countries?

I stayed in friends’ homes for about a month and a half (Copenhagen, Paris/Fontainebleau, Brussels, Amsterdam), then Airbnb’d and used hostels. Cooked our own food in Airbnb’s and only ate out for quick cheap food and the occasional nice restaurant. The following month was backpacking - Barcelona > Croatia (Split/Dubrovnik) > Munich > Amsterdam > Florence > Venice > Budapest > Paris. Feel free to message me for tips!

 

[yaya97]

I stayed in friends’ homes for about a month and a half (Copenhagen, Paris/Fontainebleau, Brussels, Amsterdam), then Airbnb’d and used hostels. Cooked our own food in Airbnb’s and only ate out for quick cheap food and the occasional nice restaurant. The following month was backpacking - Barcelona > Croatia (Split/Dubrovnik) > Munich > Amsterdam > Florence > Venice > Budapest > Paris. Feel free to message me for tips!

Traveled through Europe last year and def spent wayyyy more than 5K for wayyyy less than 2 months. lol I really like everyone's comments. I think I'm going to end up splitting the amount in half and traveling with half and keeping the other. Thinking about going to somewhere in Asia. I was looking the other day and southeast Asia is so affordable!

 

[Jaa_]

Traveled through Europe last year and def spent wayyyy more than 5K for wayyyy less than 2 months. lol I really like everyone's comments. I think I'm going to end up splitting the amount in half and traveling with half and keeping the other. Thinking about going to somewhere in Asia. I was looking the other day and southeast Asia is so affordable!

Thailand is so cheap. Look for off season flights. Germany in January only cost me 450 and I'm looking at a R/t to Amsterdam in May for like 350.

 

[753698]

I mean the 5k invested over the span of your dental school years could possibly save you a month or 2 in loan repayments, so that's something to think about.

Plus when you're a dentist and you own your own practice, you will be able to travel comfortably without having to worry about every penny you spend. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Incis0r]

Traveled through Europe last year and def spent wayyyy more than 5K for wayyyy less than 2 months. lol I really like everyone's comments. I think I'm going to end up splitting the amount in half and traveling with half and keeping the other. Thinking about going to somewhere in Asia. I was looking the other day and southeast Asia is so affordable!

I went backpacking in Thailand and had an absolute blast. 100% recommend. Great country, amazing amazing amazing people. Very cheap.

I met tons of other travelers during my journey, enjoyed the ultimate street food experience, rented a motorbike with a German and a Norweigan to explore an island I was staying on, went whitewater rafting, trekking, snorkeling, ziplining on the longest zip line in the country, fed/bathed elephants, mountain biked, and saw amazing temples.

Stay in hostels. Made a lot of friends there (for some reason, I was one of the few Americans in all the hostels I stayed at. Mostly Europeans and Aussies) and it was so cheap at $5-7/night (this was during high season too!).

I made a post about it on a travel forum. PM me if you want the link. Covers everything I did in detail along with my budget etc.

 

[GlowDrop]

You can spend a little bit, but bear in mind you're going to need a little bit of money to move to school and survive until loans come in. It's not instant. You'll probably need to save enough for a month or two of living.

 

[jLaws]

I would buy 4 years worth of all the household items/non perishable foods for the entirety of dental school in bulk at the biggest discount I could find. Not exactly fun but probably the best return on your money.

 

[ChewyDrop]

Do you know dew way

 

[Medin2017]

Thailand is so cheap. Look for off season flights. Germany in January only cost me 450 and I'm looking at a R/t to Amsterdam in May for like 350.

round trip?

 

[Jaa_]

round trip?

yup!