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"The median four-year cost to attend medical school -- which includes outlays like living expenses and books -- for the class of 2013 is $278,455 at private sch
by kbutler 14y ago
"The median four-year cost to attend medical school -- which includes outlays like living expenses and books -- for the class of 2013 is $278,455 at private schools and $207,868 at public ones."
Whether the median is $278K (private) or $207K (public), that's a lot of debt with which to start your residency before starting to practice.
I'd also dispute the "military...if you are not good enough" assertion.
- mbreese 14y agoAnd that's not even considering the interest that accues while you are in residency. Also, I'm fairly certain that the military (Army?) will pay for your medical school costs, but you still have to go (and be admitted) to a normal medical school.
- djloche 14y agoThere are two military options - you can have the military pay your medical costs at a non-military (public/private) school, after which you owe the military x years of service as a doctor in the military. The other option is to go to the military medical school - you're paid standard officer salary to go to school for the y years it takes, and then owe the military x more years service as a doctor. If you look at it as "getting paid to go to medical school" + "guaranteed employment for x years following medical school" it looks like a pretty sweet gig.
- tsotha 14y agoI don't know how much value that "guarateed employment for x years following medical school" is. From what I can tell there aren't a lot of doctors out there hustling for a position.
- nilkn 14y agoThe military will do so, but you are obliged to work as a military doctor afterwards, and the pay is considerably lower.
- RyJones 14y agoThe dig on military doctors was unwarranted.
- enraged_camel 14y agoIt wasn't a dig. He was simply stating a fact.
- davidf18 14y agoOn my part, did not mean a dig on military doctors, rather that if one is not good enough to attend a public medical school and instead attend the expensive lower tier private schools one has the option of going to medical school and serve as a military doctor for four years instead. Sorry for the confusion.
- kbutler 14y agoI hope what you're trying to say is that you can avoid debt by opting to serve in the military, including 4 years as a doctor after med school. Any assocation between serving in the military and being "not good enough to attend a public medical school" is offensive and unwarranted.
- phreanix 14y ago> Many graduating doctors get into big debt because they choose to attend private undergraduate and private medical school. Instead of getting into such huge debt, a fiscally responsible medical student should attend a lower cost, quality public undergraduate school and a public medical school. Would it be because the public med schools are incredibly impacted and the private ones are slightly easier, albeit more expensive, to get into?