Session 164

Undergrad is costly, medical school is even more costly. How do you ensure you can provide for your family throughout this journey? Here is how to plan ahead.

The questions answered here are pulled directly from the posts over at the Nontrad Premed Forum.

[01:22] OldPreMeds Question of the Week:

“I am 23 years old, married, and about to have my first child in February. I’m about to finish my first year of undergraduate education on this journey to becoming a physician. I’m trying to plan ahead for my future in medical school. And trying to analyze what my life will be like. I’m concerned about being able to provide for my family once in medical school and was wondering if anyone had any ideas or strategies they use to enjoy medical school and still be a financial benefit to their families?”

[01:55] How to Have a Family and Provide for Them

From the sound of it, the poster doesn’t plan on working because he’s more concerned about providing for the family and being in medical school and still being a “financial benefit” to the family.

As you go through this process, you need to understand that when you’re in medical school, you’re not going to be a “financial benefit” to anybody. As you go through medical school, unless you’re getting a full scholarship, you’re still not a financial benefit to the family.

You need to focus on medical school. To be a good physician, you need that base of knowledge and that’s what your job is in medical school. I worked in medical school and I regret it everyday. I blame my work on not being able to do as well as I could have on Step 1 of my exam, which is what really determines where you’re going to match for residency. If you’re very interested in a competitive residency spot or program, you need to crush Step 1. And because I was busy working as a personal trainor, I didn’t focus as much I should have and didn’t do as well on Step 1. And I regret that. Hence, do not plan on working while you’re in medical school.

[04:11] No Time to Work!

Since you won’t be a financial benefit to your family, you have a couple of options. Work as much as you can now. Maintain your grades as best you can since you need to obviously get to medical school first and you need good grades to do that as well as a good MCAT score. So if you can work, great! If you can’t while you’re at this point, then you’re still not a financial benefit to your family. Trying to work as much as you can now. Save as much money as possible so that when you do get to medical school, your family can live off your savings. When you’re at medical school, the majority of students out there are going to live off of student loans. And those loans don’t necessarily care if you have a family that you have to support. They’re going to provide you with enough money to pay for housing, transportation, and all that built into the budget that the school sets, without assuming that you have a family and more mouths to feed. So you really have to focus on making sure that you have enough money in the bank, maybe loans from family members, or have your spouse work while the kids are in daycare.

Links:

Nontrad Premed Forum