Does anyone here think that taking a few years--around two years--off before med school to save money would be a good plan? I know that correlates to a loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars in loss salary post residency, but I anticipated working for a year or two in a non-medical field to explore an interest and wondered if, in a financial sense, this is a reasonable option. In terms of salary, approximate about 40K-50K.
Working before Med School to Save Money
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I think it should be okay to take some time to gain some money for medical school. It would be especially good since you have to be careful about financial aid. There might be problems with the payout (I have been on financial aid for a year, for my masters, so I am not an expert).
Maybe take a course or two during this time so your academics skills do not become rusty when you start applying. Hope this helps somewhat.
Maybe take a course or two during this time so your academics skills do not become rusty when you start applying. Hope this helps somewhat.
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It actually doesn't correlate to a loss of "hundreds of thousands" of dollars in post residency salary. Money now is worth a lot more than getting money a decade from now. So you have to decrease it to net present value. So it's a smaller loss than you think. You would make a BIG dent in that "lost money" with $50k plus less debt. So no, nothing financially foolish about this plan. Lots of folks come to medicine having already earned decent money, and found it a benefit. But you may need to take a basic finance course if you really think that six digits a decade from now is worth the same as getting six digits today. Because if you believe that you are going to fall for every scam out there, and it won't matter how much you earn.
When I said it correlates to a lost, I meant only in terms of loss years of employment as a physician. I don't assume that I can save all of my salary during the year or two interim but hopefully I could save enough for to pay for housing for at least a year of med school. Given the relative cheap costs of Texas med schools and low cost of living in Texas, this may be a good idea, and one I follow through to the end.
Would medical schools care about the employment not being medically related though? Could it negatively affect me or would it make me appear as a more interesting applicant?
Would medical schools care about the employment not being medically related though? Could it negatively affect me or would it make me appear as a more interesting applicant?
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Will they be mad that you worked in a non health care field? I don't believe so, no. (though you may want to do a little volunteering or shadowing again before you apply)
Will it make you a more interesting applicant? That depends on the job. (specifically how cool the job is, cool jobs=interesting people to interview)
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I wrote this story before on SDN but...
A friend of mine who was very qualified to get into medical school for one strange reason or another really wanted to work as the person handling baggages for airplanes (the guy who unloads / loads all of them). So he did that after his college career.
Even though he didn't expect it to be so, every single interviewer asked about his job and he said it always provided an avenue for him to begin relating a bit about himself. Furthermore, people remembered him as the baggage guy and he stood out in that way as opposed to the horde of people who do research or what not after med school. He eventually got into a top 20 school.
Summary: do whatever you want as long as you have a good reason. It's all about how you spin it.
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I don't agree with this advice at all. Do you know people who make life path/happiness-type decisions based on present value calculations? That seems symptomatic of an unhealthy fixation on money.
OP, if you're not sure what you want to do, then explore alternatives for that reason, not for money reasons. The amount you're gonna save, unless you're living at home, is not going to be life changing. Almost no one works before med school SIMPLY to save money, that should tell you something.
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This is a very old post but again I disagree...
Many people work before med school to save money on top of strengthening their applications. Furthermore, with the cost of applications (eg primary and secondary), transcripts, flying to interviews (I live in Hawaii so I'd need to be flying all over the country), affording deposits (which can range from a $100 to a couple thousand), on top of having money for relocation fees.. it's a big deal to have the money or credit score to afford the financial obligations of applying and getting into medical school.
Money shouldn't be an issue since after medical school, if one has the ULTIMATE DISCIPLINE TO JUST RENT A ROOM and/or STUDIO and not be materialistic, student loans can be paid off in 5 years or so. That's usually the issue though, once people get their MD and into their residency, they want to buy houses or cars or go shopping and live that luxury life. Just live minimally and paying student loan debt shouldn't be a problem.
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