mylittlethrowaway
New Member
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2019
- Messages
- 5
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Thank you for taking the time to check out my post. I just want to start with a little bit about me and how I’ve ended up in my current situation. I’m 25. I grew up in a pretty dysfunctional home in the rural midwest. My father was an abusive drug addict and my mom was often absent working multiple jobs to keep our house afloat. When it came time for college, I tried to get as far away as possible and ended up choosing to go to an expensive out of state university. I didn’t care at the time because anything was better than home. I picked up a hefty amount of debt (150k) over four years and some post bacc work. I didn’t have much guidance during this period of my life and only began to realize the financial predicament I was in as I approached the end of undergrad. I don’t blame anyone but myself for this current situation that I’m in and am not looking for any sympathy. I just want to make the right decisions going forward so that I can set myself up for success in the future.
I understand that some will say walk away from medicine now because it’s not financially worth it at this point. I’m not willing to do that. I can’t see myself doing anything else and have fought to damn hard to get here. So here I am debating on what my next move will be. I’ve been fortunate enough to have been accepted to several DO schools and put my first deposit down a couple of days ago on the cheapest program with the best resources. It's still going to be around 70k a year including COL. I’m still waiting to hear back from my state MD program which is significantly cheaper (In the mid-30s). I interviewed a month or so ago and should hear back around Feb/March.
I've considered several avenues to address my predicament including strap, mdssp, fap, nhsc, etc. But I basically feel my decision has come down to two scenarios: Eat the loans or take HPSP. I’ve been pouring over this forum for the last three weeks trying to decide if military medicine is right for me given my current financial predicament. I wake up every day and flip back and forth between taking the scholarship or the loans. I’m hoping that some current mil med physicians can lend some advice on what they would do in this situation. The overall tone of the posts regarding hpsp on the sdn is negative, but I don’t see many entering school with the level of debt that I’m carrying. So what would you do if you were in my situation? Do you think HPSP would be worth it to someone like me? Or should I take the loans and not look back. I do have an interest in serving in the military but after reading other's experiences on here, I know that oftentimes this comes with a variety of unique issues. I feel like either choice is going to leave me feeling like I made a mistake, and it all comes down who I want to answer to…uncle sam or student loans.
I’ve created a pros and cons list below and would like to think I have done my research. Please feel free to comment and tell me what you would do in my situation. I appreciate any advice anyone can offer. Thanks again.
Taking out loans
Cons
1.) Massive debt around 500-600k after interest (assuming 4-year residency)
2.) A career in primary care is probably out of the question with a debt burden this high. This scares me because what if that's what I end up really enjoying or I'm not competitive for a lucrative specialty?
3.) I’m gambling a lot on my ability to perform well in medical school. I believe that I will do well in school, but the higher the loan amount gets the more nervous I am about matching into a lucrative specialty.
Neutral
1.) I will need to “follow the money” meaning that I’ll probably end up practicing in rural America.
2.) I’ll have to excessively work to pay down my loans and will need to supplement my income with moonlighting, urgent care shifts, etc..
1.) I don’t have a problem living on or under 30k a year if it means that I can be debt-free in 5-8 years. I’ve been living paycheck to paycheck my entire life, so not having money is nothing new. I figure you can’t really miss something you never had in the first place.
Pros
1.) I’ll have more control over my life than in the military.
2.) no delay in training for GMO tours
3.) no skill atrophy
4.) Can utilize existing loan repayment programs to decrease debt load and try to seek out jobs with large signing bonuses.
5.) At least I’ll be working in a field that I want (hopefully).
6.) I still have the option to join the military via the CSWSAB
HPSP
Pros
1.) No medical school debt, which immediately saves me about 300k (not accounting for interest).
2.) Monthly stipend to live on in medical school
3.) Since I’m splitting COL with my SO I can use the leftover money from the stipend to keep my interest from building on current loans. The COL is very low for the school I’m attending (probably can get by under 10k a year).
4.) A viable pathway to begin paying back current loans as a GMO or resident.
5.) Possibility to leave with little to no debt if I use my money wisely.
6.) Chance to give back to those in uniform.
7.) Chance to travel and have some experiences that I won’t get anywhere else.
Neutral
1.) I’m interested in several of the critical wartime specialties. (I know this could change).
Cons
1.) I can’t predict what's going to happen with the proposed budget cuts and how that will impact my training.
2.) Deployment and time apart from my SO and family.
3.) Possible Delay in training for GMO tours.
4.) Skill atrophy
5.) No control over where I live.
6.) I have no previous experience with the military so I can’t predict if I’ll enjoy serving or be miserable for 4 plus years.
I understand that some will say walk away from medicine now because it’s not financially worth it at this point. I’m not willing to do that. I can’t see myself doing anything else and have fought to damn hard to get here. So here I am debating on what my next move will be. I’ve been fortunate enough to have been accepted to several DO schools and put my first deposit down a couple of days ago on the cheapest program with the best resources. It's still going to be around 70k a year including COL. I’m still waiting to hear back from my state MD program which is significantly cheaper (In the mid-30s). I interviewed a month or so ago and should hear back around Feb/March.
I've considered several avenues to address my predicament including strap, mdssp, fap, nhsc, etc. But I basically feel my decision has come down to two scenarios: Eat the loans or take HPSP. I’ve been pouring over this forum for the last three weeks trying to decide if military medicine is right for me given my current financial predicament. I wake up every day and flip back and forth between taking the scholarship or the loans. I’m hoping that some current mil med physicians can lend some advice on what they would do in this situation. The overall tone of the posts regarding hpsp on the sdn is negative, but I don’t see many entering school with the level of debt that I’m carrying. So what would you do if you were in my situation? Do you think HPSP would be worth it to someone like me? Or should I take the loans and not look back. I do have an interest in serving in the military but after reading other's experiences on here, I know that oftentimes this comes with a variety of unique issues. I feel like either choice is going to leave me feeling like I made a mistake, and it all comes down who I want to answer to…uncle sam or student loans.
I’ve created a pros and cons list below and would like to think I have done my research. Please feel free to comment and tell me what you would do in my situation. I appreciate any advice anyone can offer. Thanks again.
Taking out loans
Cons
1.) Massive debt around 500-600k after interest (assuming 4-year residency)
2.) A career in primary care is probably out of the question with a debt burden this high. This scares me because what if that's what I end up really enjoying or I'm not competitive for a lucrative specialty?
3.) I’m gambling a lot on my ability to perform well in medical school. I believe that I will do well in school, but the higher the loan amount gets the more nervous I am about matching into a lucrative specialty.
Neutral
1.) I will need to “follow the money” meaning that I’ll probably end up practicing in rural America.
2.) I’ll have to excessively work to pay down my loans and will need to supplement my income with moonlighting, urgent care shifts, etc..
1.) I don’t have a problem living on or under 30k a year if it means that I can be debt-free in 5-8 years. I’ve been living paycheck to paycheck my entire life, so not having money is nothing new. I figure you can’t really miss something you never had in the first place.
Pros
1.) I’ll have more control over my life than in the military.
2.) no delay in training for GMO tours
3.) no skill atrophy
4.) Can utilize existing loan repayment programs to decrease debt load and try to seek out jobs with large signing bonuses.
5.) At least I’ll be working in a field that I want (hopefully).
6.) I still have the option to join the military via the CSWSAB
HPSP
Pros
1.) No medical school debt, which immediately saves me about 300k (not accounting for interest).
2.) Monthly stipend to live on in medical school
3.) Since I’m splitting COL with my SO I can use the leftover money from the stipend to keep my interest from building on current loans. The COL is very low for the school I’m attending (probably can get by under 10k a year).
4.) A viable pathway to begin paying back current loans as a GMO or resident.
5.) Possibility to leave with little to no debt if I use my money wisely.
6.) Chance to give back to those in uniform.
7.) Chance to travel and have some experiences that I won’t get anywhere else.
Neutral
1.) I’m interested in several of the critical wartime specialties. (I know this could change).
Cons
1.) I can’t predict what's going to happen with the proposed budget cuts and how that will impact my training.
2.) Deployment and time apart from my SO and family.
3.) Possible Delay in training for GMO tours.
4.) Skill atrophy
5.) No control over where I live.
6.) I have no previous experience with the military so I can’t predict if I’ll enjoy serving or be miserable for 4 plus years.