is it true that for medical school after residency. paying the loan debt is easy?
Posted in Medicine on 11/04/2009 09:21 pm by
TofuTti asked:
i want to be an anesthesiologist or dermatologist.
i want to be an anesthesiologist or dermatologist.
if i had about 300,000 loan debt. how long is it to pay the debt?
is it hard?
worth it?
Tiffany
11/08/2009 at 7:16 am
Thomas
I’m of the opinion that it’s only worth it if you like the profession. Dermatology is very difficult to get into (not many spots) and they take the cream of the crop. A 300k debt is tough and you’ll likely be in deferment/forbearance (not paying during residency) but after it’s done you’ll be able to repay within a decade. Don’t let that be the limiting factor. My debt was about 180k after med school so 300 is a bit much, but still doable so long as you make a good income. Anesthesiologists do well so you’d not have a problem there either.
11/11/2009 at 1:35 am
Vera
It’ll be worth it in the long run. I don’t know if you are in college yet, but if not, consider a state school. That way, you should be able to graduate undergrad with virtually nothing to pay back, and then only have med school to worry about (which shouldn’t be ridiculously expensive).
11/13/2009 at 4:31 pm
Victor
Unless things have changed, you have to start paying back your loans after your first year of residency, when your salary is about 50k/yr. With loans of 300k, payments might represent the bulk of your take home pay.
Here are a bunch of calculators that you can play around with to see what the numbers will look like:
You’ll be paying for a decade or so. There are ways to decrease your debt load, like joining the military, going to state schools, and promising to work in underserved areas.
And don’t even think about specialty choice until your third or fourth year of med school. It’s just silly – you can’t possibly know what you want to do, especially since the two you listed are SO different from one another. If you’re going into medicine for the money, you’ll be sadly disappointed.