$ to eat

[MedChic]

Ok, well I was wondering....For those of you who do not have huge savings accounts or have mom and dad providing financial support, how do you plan to pay for such things as food and monthly expenses (cell phone bill etc.) when in med school? Loans of course cover the tuition and rent/room/board but what about everything else? Do you just live off loans? Or do med students work on weekends...which seems kinda crazy to me with all the studying and exams..

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[relentless11]

Ok, well I was wondering....For those of you who do not have huge savings accounts or have mom and dad providing financial support, how do you plan to pay for such things as food and monthly expenses (cell phone bill etc.) when in med school? Loans of course cover the tuition and rent/room/board but what about everything else? Do you just live off loans? Or do med students work on weekends...which seems kinda crazy to me with all the studying and exams..

My ex-gf is a 3rd year now, and she pretty much uses loans for food too. Nothing really different (other than the amount of money involved) than undergrad if you are supporting yourself. The money is out there, just have to find it, and use it wisely.

MSTP's have it pretty nice in terms of $$, but they have it really rough in terms of what they have to do. This is the route that I am aiming for. Its good to have tuition paid for (incl. med school), and an extra grand or so a month for other uses.

I mean really how much would you have to work on weekends to make enough to pay for food. Its probably possible, but not wise in terms of the stuff involved. Not to mention how many normal jobs offer flexible schedules that allow you to just work on weekends.

 

[NapeSpikes]

The board in "Room and board" covers food. Loans take care of all ordinary living expenses, like utilities (phone, heat) and the like, though extra commodities may be limited.

 

[Law2Doc]

Or do med students work on weekends...which seems kinda crazy to me with all the studying and exams..

With the exception of the summer after first year, when a lot of folk get paid research gigs, very few med students work. You don't have weekends "off" in terms of studying, and if you don't do some amount of studying daily, you will be in a huge hole, come exam time. You do see a few med students working in the administrative offices or library, but that tends to be something involving an extremely nominal number of hours, at a job where you can sit and study. If you don't mind needles, some med students do lots of "volunteering" as human guinea pigs for various experimental vaccine and drug trials -- and may bring in a few hundred dollars a "shot", although the side effects may not be worth it (damn tail keeps knocking things off the desk). And food is not that big an issue anyhow -- there are tons of lectures and club meetings you can go to during med school that have free food.

 

[Touchdown]

Student loans are your friends, the financial aid office is good and wise.

 

[MedChic]

My ex-gf is a 3rd year now, and she pretty much uses loans for food too. Nothing really different (other than the amount of money involved) than undergrad if you are supporting yourself. The money is out there, just have to find it, and use it wisely.

MSTP's have it pretty nice in terms of $$, but they have it really rough in terms of what they have to do.

MSTP's? Are these similar to RA's or TA's in college? I'm sorry, I'm green.

 

[relentless11]

MSTP's? Are these similar to RA's or TA's in college? I'm sorry, I'm green.

No, MSTP = Medical Scientist Training Program, or probably better known a MD/PhD programs. Its a 6-8 year program where you will earn both MD and PhD degrees. Because you will be slaving away doing research, they pay for your tuition (like most grad programs), and provide a stipend for living or whatever you want to use it for.

The way it works is you usually do 2 years of med school classes, then 2 years of grad school classes (might be less if there is overlap between med and grad classes), 2 years to finish your research and submit your thesis, then your final 2 years you will do your clinical rotations. Some people can finish it less than 8 years because they were lucky (research/class-wise) or crazy (do research while taking med school courses).

Hard as hell to get into. Dean of admissions at UCSF said "these are the guys that walk on water" at a recent presentation. I think he was implying that these guys are amazing in terms of how much stuff they can handle, rather than any divine powers . But yea, MSTP = tuition paid for, but lease your soul to the med school for 8 years..lol