To save or not to save for med school during gap year

[dhb10]

Hi,

I am planning on taking one gap year before medical school and I am trying to decide what I want to do. I would really like to do cool experiences like Fulbright, volunteering abroad, or moving to a new city in the states to have a new experience. However, my family is low income so I would essentially be going to medical school broke. What makes it worst, is that my dream is to go to NYC for medical school (although not guaranteed) , which is an expensive city to live in. Would it make more sense to work and live at home during my gap year to have some savings before medical school or do people generally feel like living off of solely loans and financial aid would work, especially in a city like NYC?

Thanks in advance for you help!

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[RangerBob]

Most students, unless they come from really well-off families, are solely living off loans. It should work in NYC because the school should be giving you enough to make it work, assuming you try to find an affordable place (sharing a place helps, sharing a bedroom helps even more).

Everyone has different opinions, but I'm of the opinion that if you're going to spend four years of your life working and studying hard (followed by another 3-7...), you should have some kind of experience before you go. Volunteering abroad, Fulbright, living in a new city, all sound like great things. Just ask yourself if this is the last full year you have to do whatever you want, what would you do? Experience life the way you want to. Because you probably won't ever get this kind of time off again. Take advantage of that.

Just make sure that you do have some money saved up--you have to move, pay a security deposit and rent, and a couple other things like groceries for a week or two before your financial aid is dispersed.

 

[dhb10]

That's great advice -- thank you for you reply RangerBob

 

[spleencakes]

Do a bit of both! You'll be stuck in school and then residency, so you should definitely enjoy your time off. I'm a bit more on the conservative side so I focused more on the saving part, but I had fun too. I spent my gap year saving up most of my income. It wasn't a super impressive amount, but interest adds up over time, and I personally didn't want to deal with that. (Also, although it's too early to even know, I'm probably going primary care with like 300,000 in loans...so I'm more on the saving side)