To Poor To [Re]Apply to Medical School

[DoctorDrewOutsidetheLines]

Dumpster diving is a forgotten art. I love freegans!

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[StudyLater]

View attachment 196357View attachment 196358
I've never tried to upload a photo on here but those are two hauls I brought back from dives. You are right that it might not always be practical. It is more time consuming than shopping but it's fun, it's free, and I like to think I am doing something small to eliminate food waste!

Awesome. Just sucks there's no meat!!

 

[DoctorDrewOutsidetheLines]

I pop in to say forget about SSI/SSDI as any sort of option.

People have stories about how easy it was to get/game the system but it's not.

2 year wait on average.

Depends on the person and the situation. Most aren't trying to game the system, they're trying to survive.

 

[BeMD13]

Awesome. Just sucks there's no meat!!

I got really daring and took a chicken once! It was the whole bird still frozen and I didn't get sick, but I was nervous all night long!!

That pic was before I cooked it. I burnt the skin because I was overly concerned!

 

[DoctorDrewOutsidetheLines]

Awesome. Just sucks there's no meat!!

Blossom is awesome.

@StudyLater

 

[spaingirl17]

Depending on the restaurant, you can make great money working as a server. I work two jobs, one as a medical assistant and one as a waitress. I make $5 more an hour on average as a waitress than I do as a MA. And many restaurants are very flexible with scheduling so it's definitely doable! You just have to be upfront about what you need. Best of luck to you!

 

[spaingirl17]

Oh and check out a site called budget bytes! It has so many cheap and healthy meal options that are also delicious! I got by on less than $100 for food a month using her recipes.

 

[StudyLater]

Blossom is awesome.

@StudyLater

Nooooooooo don't even joke about that.

 

[StudyLater]

I got really daring and took a chicken once! It was the whole bird still frozen and I didn't get sick, but I was nervous all night long!!View attachment 196367
That pic was before I cooked it. I burnt the skin because I was overly concerned!

I'd have done the same. Don't even mind a slightly burnt crust anyway.

 

[Pusheen]

Wow, this thread has gotten so intense. i'm pretty sure the OP and her partner don't have to resort to sex work, a divorce, or selling respective bodily fluids to apply to med school

Just get a part time night job at target or something and downsize your life and expenses like other people have mentioned. Plenty of pre-meds are in a similar financial situation and get by just fine with some smart shopping and budgeting

 

[TexasSurgeon]

I'm trying to figure out how to get enough money to apply to med school. Though I am a reapplicant in my "gap years" that lost out by applying too late, I'd like to focus on the costs of applying & reapplying.

Even with FAP covering app costs, I'm still missing:

• Money for a used car to travel to the hospitals, school, and back. ($5k+)
• All the deposits that come with moving. More if the school starts before the loan year requiring you to have money for months to survive. ($2k-$10k)
• Interview and retesting costs. (Assume $5-7k)
• Seat deposit. (Up to $2k)
• Health insurance gap to avoid huge tax penalty. How does that work? ($0?)

So on the low end, I'd have to have $15k to even have a chance at this point. I can't afford that, its taken me two years to save $4.5k. I'm 27.

Note that I'm working full-time and am married. I make $11/hr, partner makes $9/hr. No family assistance at all from anyone, because my close family has passed and my partner's family's extra money goes to his unemployed sister that just gave birth. We make too much for govt help but we're stuck eating beans and rice almost every day.We can't afford to do anything fun or even eat normal food.

On another note, how can I get recommendation letters again if I've been out of school so long? Its been a year since I last contacted those that gave me letters and I heard they had to be recent. How can they be if I've been out of school so long and they don't remember me?

So my questions are:

1. How in the world do people get money to cover everything to apply to medical school and move IF they don't have help from family or a rich partner?
   
2. How can you know what to do about recommendation letters if you can't afford to do anything and don't know when you'll have enough money to reapply? I thought three letters had to be from professors.

Hey, have you considered being a tutor for students as your second job? I know it sounds weird but I know people who tutor and get paid $27/hr. You would technically contact a company that would hire you as a tutor for X subject.

Or...you can tutor yourself individually. If you can tutor in a very well off part of town, you could make upwards of $30/hr. Rich doctor parents will shell out $$$ for their kids. I promise you that you'd have a good run doing this.

 

[Crayola227]

Depends on the person and the situation. Most aren't trying to game the system, they're trying to survive.

Exactly. What I meant was that very unwell people have to wait wait wait in abject poverty and homeless shelters and cars and couches while waiting for SSI (harder to get than SSDI) although SSDI is for people who have worked a certain amount and paid in credits so "easier" to get but your average 27 yo who has a bachelor's likely doesn't have enough credits and would have to go for SSI. Not to mention being married and her spouse's income I can almost guarantee are above the level where one would qualify.

SSI is for people who haven't paid enough in, $748/mo is maximum amount to ANYONE in the country.

The wait on that on average is 2 years.

There are caveats on getting an app fast-tracked, being completely blind, dialysis, cancer diagnoses, missing any 2 or your 4 limbs, etc.

I just meant before someone jumped in and said "but I know a cousin who go it in 5 months for her swollen toe pain" that those sorts of anecdotes are NOT the norm.

Do enough research and talk to people online and you'll see that SSI/SSDI shafts 90% of anyone applying, people good at playing games and legit sick alike.

 

[Crayola227]

I'm all for dumpster diving except be so careful you don't get a needle stick. Like, I would wear some protective gear and don't actually jump in the dumpster.

The problem with certain foods like chicken and the like is that some types of food poisoning have no flavor/smell and can't be cooked out, the formation of heat stable toxins. (do some microbio research).

So I would just do my homework about what I ate from the dumpster and be scientific about precautions.

 

[steeeeveo]

Chickpeas are both delicious and cheap. You can make a delicious soup with chickpeas, tomatoes, and vegetables of your choice. There's a bunch of recipes online.

Also, you must save your money. I know that's a tough concept in America, but cut all unnecessary costs. Cable, downgrade to a regular flip phone with no data, etc. Take a bus to all of your interviews. Bus fare is so cheap. Spend money on food and rent, and that's it. You can do fun things for cheap like watching a $1 rental movie, walking around the city, or going to a sports game in the nosebleeds for $10 a ticket. You can certainly make this work, you just have to be committed! Good luck!

 

[candbgirl]

So you had four interviews and no acceptances? Did you call and ask what happened or how you can improve your app? I'm thinking its your interviewing skills. It would be nuts to apply again until you figure that part out.

 

[Goro]

My local supermarket also has 30-50% off of some meats and fish just before they hit their "sell by" date. Catfish, tilapia and pork become very inexpensive that way.

View attachment 196357View attachment 196358
I've never tried to upload a photo on here but those are two hauls I brought back from dives. You are right that it might not always be practical. It is more time consuming than shopping but it's fun, it's free, and I like to think I am doing something small to eliminate food waste!

 

[occams_razor]

So you had four interviews and no acceptances? Did you call and ask what happened or how you can improve your app? I'm thinking its your interviewing skills. It would be nuts to apply again until you figure that part out.

agree with this advice. try to find out why you didn't get in and work on fixing those issues before re-applying. best of luck OP.

 

[StudyLater]

Wow, this thread has gotten so intense. i'm pretty sure the OP and her partner don't have to resort to sex work, a divorce, or selling respective bodily fluids to apply to med school

Just get a part time night job at target or something and downsize your life and expenses like other people have mentioned. Plenty of pre-meds are in a similar financial situation and get by just fine with some smart shopping and budgeting

But that would be so much less dramatic and interesting.

 

[StudyLater]

I'm all for dumpster diving except be so careful you don't get a needle stick. Like, I would wear some protective gear and don't actually jump in the dumpster.

This is jewish mom level paranoia. Although interesting aside: If you've seen the movie Mouth to Mouth, a kid dies dumpster diving after he backflips into a dumpster and lands on a sharp object.

The problem with certain foods like chicken and the like is that some types of food poisoning have no flavor/smell and can't be cooked out, the formation of heat stable toxins. (do some microbio research).

This is why I cook my chicken in a conc. NaOH bath before chowing down. On a totally unrelated note I've been getting these esophageal blisters which I need to discuss with my GI doc....

So I would just do my homework about what I ate from the dumpster and be scientific about precautions.

Way to support capitalism. You're part of the system. We live outside the system.

 

[Noomm]

This is jewish mom level paranoia..

Was it really necessary to inject your bit of racism into this thread?

 

[Goro]

To what are you referring to???

Was it really necessary to inject your bit of racism into this thread?

 

[Crayola227]

This is jewish mom level paranoia. Although interesting aside: If you've seen the movie Mouth to Mouth, a kid dies dumpster diving after he backflips into a dumpster and lands on a sharp object.



This is why I cook my chicken in a conc. NaOH bath before chowing down. On a totally unrelated note I've been getting these esophageal blisters which I need to discuss with my GI doc....



Way to support capitalism. You're part of the system. We live outside the system.

Dude, maybe I've spent enough time actually being homeless and actually dumpster diving to say be careful about needle sticks when you're digging through trash that isn't yours. The grocery store dumpsters the chronically homeless hang around also happen to be dumpsters where people may be tossing their dirty needles if they happen to be in the category of chronically homeless that have substance abuse problems. Tossing broken crack/meth pipes and needles and the like.

I hope you're joking with me, because I'm not all for capitalism or not eating still frozen chicken from the dumpster behind your local grocery store.

I'm just saying when I'm in the stomping grounds where there might be inappropriately tossed sharps I wear sturdy boots and gloves and just be careful digging.

While I may be an MD now, it wasn't long ago I was "outside" the system. In some ways I never will be truly inside the system but that's stories for another day.

 

[Crayola227]

To what are you referring to???

The comment "Jewish mom level of paranoia."

It's offensive but I shrugged it off and responded to the other points they made.

I can tolerate some offensive humor personally but I also respect someone pointed out they didn't like that comment.

 

[steelersfan1243]

Was it really necessary to inject your bit of racism into this thread?

The comment "Jewish mom level of paranoia."

It's offensive but I shrugged it off and responded to the other points they made.

I can tolerate some offensive humor personally but I also respect someone pointed out they didn't like that comment.

So an over caring mother is offensive now too?


and so begins the weekly URM thread....

 

[StudyLater]

I hope you're joking with me

I'm never really sure if I am.

The comment "Jewish mom level of paranoia."

It's offensive but I shrugged it off and responded to the other points they made.

I can tolerate some offensive humor personally but I also respect someone pointed out they didn't like that comment.

Definitively, it must be. For everyone. Everywhere.

Always appreciate your input though. It's actually a sound piece of advice.

So an over caring mother is offensive now too?


and so begins the weekly URM thread....

Ehehehem.....

On second thought, no. Not this time.

Are jewish people even URM?

 

[Goro]

More like thin-skinned Millennial thread. I grew up amongst plenty of Jewish mom's and if Jackie Mason and Joan Rivers can make a joke about, so can an SDNer.

Korean moms can get paranoid too. EDIT: The comedienne Margaret Cho has been pointing this out for only some 20 years.

I just received a pestering email by one of the loose cannons in this thread. S/he was ignorant of the fact that the Jewish mother has been a staple of American humor for close to a century, as have mothers of all nationalities and ethnicities.

So, I did the following:
Dx: loose cannon
Tx: apply Ignore function
You'll probably feel some slight pressure.

We now return you to you regularly scheduled SDN thread.

So an over caring mother is offensive now too?


and so begins the weekly URM thread....

 

[StudyLater]

More like thin-skinned Millennial thread. I grew up amongst plenty of Jewish mom's and if Jackie Mason and Joan Rivers can make a joke about, so can an SDNer.

Korean moms can get paranoid too.

Too soon since that @LizzyM tiger mom debacle....

Please apologize to the group as you have severely offended us all.

 

[Crayola227]

First, @StudyLater, yes, Jewish people are considered a minority in the US, they're less than 2% of the population. They are "over-represented" depending how you define that, an example is the medical profession where they make up more than 2%.

I'm not sure if you read the first page of this thread, where I'm clearly not part of some capitalist system telling people not to beg for food or go dumpster diving.

As I said previously, yes, @Goro , like Joan Rivers I can take a joke.

No, overcaring mothers are not offensive. Jews and Koreans are minorities. Bringing up a racial stereotype as a joke to dismiss someone's point is treading on bad ground. You could have joked "sounds like overprotective mom advice" and this wouldn't have had racial overtones. The minute you criticize someone's input as a product of race, or refer to a racial stereotype, you're making it about race.

Let's say I make a dead baby joke. Someone might say "hey that's not funny I had a dead baby I'm offended." I would probably say, yes, that's an offensive joke, sorry if it hurt your feelings. I might still make dead baby jokes, but I'm not going to act like they're anything other than mostly offensive and potentially humorous. Or I might say nothing because there's nothing for me to rebut on their point.

If we can all agree that was potentially offensive humor at the expense of a racial sterotype, then I have no problem with it.

I love Dave Chappelle's humor for example, but he never acts like "WTF you thin-skinned millenials there's nothing racial about this joke". He acknowledges it's racial, based on sterotypes good or bad, and potentially offensive.

 

[WarMedEagle]

My Jewish mom probably wouldn't be happy I'm on the Internet at this time of night.

 

[Crayola227]

I'm just a fan of calling it like it is.

I'm not against the joke "Jewish mom level of paranoia" I am against pretending like that isn't a potentially offensive joke based on a racial stereotype.

 

[StudyLater]

I'm not sure if you read the first page of this thread, where I'm clearly not part of some capitalist system telling people not to beg for food or go dumpster diving.

Yeah. That was the funny part.

I'm sure you want the workers of the world to unite just as much as I do.

I also wasn't going to make a point of saying that I actually am Jewish, with grandparents in the Holocaust, and other family in anti-Semitic pogroms, and my parent being first generation born in this country, with their own experiences of anti-Semitism here. I wasn't going to bring up all the ways that anti-Semitism have affected us as a family. I'm not just going off of their tales of anti-Semitism, I have plenty of those stories of my own in this country growing up. Being physically assaulted more than once because I have Jewish heritage for just one example.

Oy vey. Look at the way she blows things out of proportion. Mishuga!

I wasn't going to make a point that someone dismissed my admonishment of being careful when digging in someone else's trash because the greatest danger likely really is sharps or food poisoning (I didn't say don't do it, just be careful) as "Jewish mom level of paranoia," and that it hurt my feelings to have race brought in to dismiss my point, when I don't see why it's OK to bring racial stereotypes up about this, or what being Jewish has to do with it. This was something another poster pointed out was offensive and I was happy to let it go.

Right. Because it's a petty thing to get angry over. Some people like referencing culture. We have a lot of them in the US.

Also if you think that a lot of other jewish people don't dish it out just as good, you're missing out. It's a fun back and forth sometimes.

As I said previously, yes, @Goro , like Joan Rivers I can take a joke, and I wouldn't have written any of this, but since both you and @StudyLater wanted to respond and to defend this behavior and call it something else, and to criticize someone saying this is an inappropriate point to make, by saying that someone that doesn't think we should use racial stereotypes as jokes to dismiss people's points, and dismiss it all as being "thin-skinned millenial" and "are Jewish people even URM?" And someone else saying "so overcaring mothers are offensive?", I'm going to jump in to say you're missing the point.

I seriously didn't know if Jewish people are URMs. And it seems like you said they are ORM compared to their representation in the US population so....now I'm confused. And I definitely missed your point. Trust me. No seriously. You can take this one to the bank: I do not support the once-intended extermination of the jewish people by the 3rd reich. I promise you I don't.

How it escalated to that? Anyone's guess is as good as mine.

No, overcaring mothers are not offensive. Jews and Koreans are minorities. Bringing up a racial stereotype as a joke to dismiss someone's point is treading on bad ground. You could have joked "sounds like overprotective mom advice" and this wouldn't have had racial overtones. The minute you criticize someone's input as a product of race, or refer to a racial stereotype, you're making it about race. If you're called on that, ****ing own it rather than deflecting.

Maybe I'm poking fun at my own personal experience.

Let's say I make a dead baby joke. Someone might say "hey that's not funny I had a dead baby I'm offended." I would probably say, yes, that's an offensive joke, sorry if it hurt your feelings. I might still make dead baby jokes, but I'm not going to act like they're anything other than mostly offensive and potentially humorous. Or I might say nothing because there's nothing about their point for me to rebut.

I don't say things in passive conversation with the intent to argue for the validity of what I just said. It's not a substantive discussion where we can put forth data and discuss results. The knee-jerk response is wasted here.

My issue is when we sit and debate whether we're dealing with an inappropriate joke that is potentially offensive for bringing up a racial stereotype and insisting it's OK to dismiss someone's point.

Depends on the context. People's points are often dismissed when they're just not practical.

If we can all agree that was potentially offensive humor at the expense of a racial sterotype, then I have no problem with it.

I carry the blood of a few races, and I don't myself mind stereotypes about them. My identity is not rooted in my race. I don't take pride in my race. My race has nothing to do with me, actually.

I love Dave Chappelle's humor for example, but he never acts like "WTF you thin-skinned millenials there's nothing racial about this joke". He acknowledges it's racial, based on sterotypes good or bad, and potentially offensive.

Oh sorry I misunderstood you then. Do I understand some people are offended by nearly any comment that has to do with race? Absolutely.

 

[Crayola227]

@StudyLater

I like your response.

You quoted me before I edited my post down, kudos to you, you caught my knee jerk before I said "forget all that"

I see know we are just playing

I didn't really lose my cool until @Goro made a reference to "millenial-thin skinism" and even that was funny

 

[deleted480308]

@StudyLater

I like your response.

You quoted me before I edited my post down, kudos to you, you caught my knee jerk before I said "forget all that"

I see know we are just playing

I didn't really lose my cool until @Goro made a reference to "millenial-thin skinism" and even that was funny

Millennial's are thin skinned.....dear lord they are

 

[Noomm]

Millennial's are thin skinned.....dear lord they are

Yeah you should be allowed to be racist without people getting upset!

Get real, bro.

 

[wasteofspace323]

 

[steeeeveo]

 

[Noomm]

Funny how you were complaining so much about racism toward URMs, but now that there is racism against other races you dismiss it instantly and act as if it doesn't matter. Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

 

[steeeeveo]

Funny how you were complaining so much about racism toward URMs, but now that there is racism against other races you dismiss it instantly and act as if it doesn't matter. Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

 

[Spinach Dip]

 

[Long Way to Go]

 

[StudyLater]

Yeah you should be allowed to be racist without people getting upset!

Clearly that was Goro's point.

 

[cantankerous]

FAP still makes me laugh.

 

[tantacles]

Closing thread. Avoid flame wars. Use the ignore button.