Posted by: bibhav9 December 23, 2008
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i wanted to email you but lets keep adding notes here in case others might find it useful.
let me suggest what i think are the pros and cons of all the different ways you can complete medical schools with minimal loans:
1. MD/PhD: as has been mentioned, much longer course, EXTREMELY competitive and will need a very strong background and commitment to basic science. in medical school, you will be taking few extra classes and during the first summer you HAVE to rotate in basic science labs (vs. just med students who can do pretty much any kind of internship they want). it takes much longer and some people think the income forgone because of the time it takes is not worth the financial assistance. At the end, you will have become so specialized in one particular aspect of medical research that few will just be medical practitioners and will work in research and/or work toward faculty positions. payrates are much lower for these positions (starting at ~60,000) compared to full-time clinicians (varies by specialty, internal med ~100K and others upwards of that and it goes up the more you specialize). People do not recommend that you do an MD/PhD just for sake of $$ since it doesn't seem to help you all that much in the long run and it is a very rigorous program. Note that you will still have to do residency (minimum 3 yrs) before you can practice with an MD/PhD.
2. Getting it at another country. we talked about this already. less competitive but huge disadvantage in residency placements. Even for US citizens.and this is NOT faster.
3. State school. this will not be applicable to non-US citizens. state schools are lot cheaper and have higher acceptance rates than private schools. Some state schools are clearly the exceptions like the UC schools, Washington etc. Private schools have more resources for research but if you are more interested in private practice then it doesn't matter where you go.
4. Merit/Need-based scholarships. Much easier for US citizens but some schools (usually the most selective ones) do not discriminate by citizenship for financial aid. Policies change frequently so your best bet is emailing the schools and asking them (of finding out online): a. are their policies different for international students. b. what is their base loan amount? This is the amount that you have to take out in loans. If your financial need (total cost of attendance - your financial resources) is greater than the base loan, the rest can be scholarship... again in few schools only.And some schools, like Vanderbilt (and UPenn for US citizens), will give merit scholarships as well. All financial aid is very competitive for medschools so if you believe you application is not very strong then you may want to try a few things: take extra science classes at local institutions to boost your GPA (your science GPA is measured separately and carries a lot more weight than your overall GPA), do research at a lab in a medical school for a year or two, form connections there, enroll in relevant programs that will help in medicine and also in forming contacts like MPH.
All said and done, I say you closely examine whether all of this is worth it and how it applies to your current situation and your career goal. an average MD student probably graduates with about 100K in loans (higher in private schools). You have about 15 years to pay it back so many think it's not too bad, especially if you have the passion to become a doctor. Others may opt for degrees like OD (doctor of optometry), DDS/DDM (dental), Nursing or PA where you need not do a residency and can work in healthcare right after finishing school. Another option may be getting a DO (Osteopathy), which, in the US, is the same as an MD. Schools are less selective but you learn and practice medicine. I do not know about costs/scholarships but worth researching.
one last comment on what you said abotu 7 more years of study. residency is a paid training program and does not need to be viewed as "school". Pay is not very high (depends on specialty, low in internal medicine, pediatrics, family medicine and much higher in radiology) during residency but it's a job. just so you take this into account and note that you are not looking at 7 years of sitting through lectures.
good luck and add any further questions you may have.
let me suggest what i think are the pros and cons of all the different ways you can complete medical schools with minimal loans:
1. MD/PhD: as has been mentioned, much longer course, EXTREMELY competitive and will need a very strong background and commitment to basic science. in medical school, you will be taking few extra classes and during the first summer you HAVE to rotate in basic science labs (vs. just med students who can do pretty much any kind of internship they want). it takes much longer and some people think the income forgone because of the time it takes is not worth the financial assistance. At the end, you will have become so specialized in one particular aspect of medical research that few will just be medical practitioners and will work in research and/or work toward faculty positions. payrates are much lower for these positions (starting at ~60,000) compared to full-time clinicians (varies by specialty, internal med ~100K and others upwards of that and it goes up the more you specialize). People do not recommend that you do an MD/PhD just for sake of $$ since it doesn't seem to help you all that much in the long run and it is a very rigorous program. Note that you will still have to do residency (minimum 3 yrs) before you can practice with an MD/PhD.
2. Getting it at another country. we talked about this already. less competitive but huge disadvantage in residency placements. Even for US citizens.and this is NOT faster.
3. State school. this will not be applicable to non-US citizens. state schools are lot cheaper and have higher acceptance rates than private schools. Some state schools are clearly the exceptions like the UC schools, Washington etc. Private schools have more resources for research but if you are more interested in private practice then it doesn't matter where you go.
4. Merit/Need-based scholarships. Much easier for US citizens but some schools (usually the most selective ones) do not discriminate by citizenship for financial aid. Policies change frequently so your best bet is emailing the schools and asking them (of finding out online): a. are their policies different for international students. b. what is their base loan amount? This is the amount that you have to take out in loans. If your financial need (total cost of attendance - your financial resources) is greater than the base loan, the rest can be scholarship... again in few schools only.And some schools, like Vanderbilt (and UPenn for US citizens), will give merit scholarships as well. All financial aid is very competitive for medschools so if you believe you application is not very strong then you may want to try a few things: take extra science classes at local institutions to boost your GPA (your science GPA is measured separately and carries a lot more weight than your overall GPA), do research at a lab in a medical school for a year or two, form connections there, enroll in relevant programs that will help in medicine and also in forming contacts like MPH.
All said and done, I say you closely examine whether all of this is worth it and how it applies to your current situation and your career goal. an average MD student probably graduates with about 100K in loans (higher in private schools). You have about 15 years to pay it back so many think it's not too bad, especially if you have the passion to become a doctor. Others may opt for degrees like OD (doctor of optometry), DDS/DDM (dental), Nursing or PA where you need not do a residency and can work in healthcare right after finishing school. Another option may be getting a DO (Osteopathy), which, in the US, is the same as an MD. Schools are less selective but you learn and practice medicine. I do not know about costs/scholarships but worth researching.
one last comment on what you said abotu 7 more years of study. residency is a paid training program and does not need to be viewed as "school". Pay is not very high (depends on specialty, low in internal medicine, pediatrics, family medicine and much higher in radiology) during residency but it's a job. just so you take this into account and note that you are not looking at 7 years of sitting through lectures.
good luck and add any further questions you may have.