Officially withdrew my acceptance. Extremely disappointed that I could not attend due to financial reasons.
I ran the numbers for different combinations of the following: multiple 0% APR credit cards with balance transfers, personal loans, taking out max loans in medical school to pay off the former two options, joining the military with a medical waiver, working 60-80 hours a week after anatomy, living in my car, commuting a long way to New Orleans. Long story short, the numbers just don’t work. The only way they do is if 1) you have significant savings 2) you have significant family support 3) you have a career that allows you to take three months off and then allows you to come back after anatomy to work remotely and pays $30+/hour 4) some combination of 1-3
It’s important to note that the conversations I had with ACLP administration and previous students reflected very highly of the program — they were responsive, helpful, and kind.
So...a warning to future applicants: please don’t apply to this program if you or your family don’t have at least $10,000 of liquid assets to put towards tuition on day one. “This program does not qualify for traditional student loans” doesn’t do justice to the difficulties you will face. You’ll basically be throwing away your application fee. If you are lucky enough to be accepted, while you try to find a way to pay for the program and eventually realize that you won’t be able to without taking on insurmountable debt that will suffocate you in medical school, you’ll constantly be reminded of why medical school classes are so heavily biased in favor of students with high socioeconomic backgrounds.
If you can afford it though, this truly is the best premed post-bacc program in the country. The risk vs. reward ratio is unmatched.
Thanks again for everyone’s support