Medical school questions?
I have a few questions and I would be most gracious if my fellow yahoo people could help me with. First of all, how important are those letters of recommendations for med school. Also, say I had 400+ hours of volunteer work in a hospital, how much of a boost would that give to my application. And the most important of all: finances. By the time I'm done with my undergraduate degree my elligibility for financial aid would be non-existent. Does anyone know how to go about getting loans for medical school. And is there any med school in which you could live on campus? I am not in any distance from any med school( I live in Brooklyn). And if I do have to live on campus for medical school, how much would the cost for living and learning go up by? I know I've asked a lot of questions and for that I'm sorry, but I really want to do this and want to be well prepared. Thank you for all that answer it is really appreciated!
Public Comments
- There are health care education loans, but please be careful and investigate all your options. You will have borrowed over $100K before you are done (med school is 11 mos a year, no summer jobs). Check what you can do to reduce your loans, such as work in rural high-need areas, or in inner cities. With a high loan amount, this will literally be money in the bank for you. Most med schools don't have residence halls specifically for them--I would check each school and plan to live with other med students on or off-campus. You should plan on $24,000 a year for living at a minimum.
- 1) LORs--The most important thing is your GMAT or whatever that test is called and your college GPA. It is just like applying college--they over-emphasize the standardized test score and second to that is your GPA. LORs are mandatory, but unless you have one from a teacher saying that you are a bad student, its not going to matter. Keep in mind, most medical schools require an interview. That is more important. 2) Money--What do you mean you are not eligible for financial aid? Do you have too many private loans and/or too many government loans? How much do you owe? Bad credit? I don't think medical schools give out a ton of money unless you are going into a rare, understaffed field, are a minority or have amazing GPA and standardized test. Other than that, you have to pay for loans. 3) Housing--Depends. In NYC the medical schools will probably have housing at a reduced cost because it is expensive to live in the city. My sister goes to Cornell for her PhD and lives with med students in special housing. For more rural schools and schools in places with a low cost of living, there will probably be a SMALL amount of graduate student housing. Once those are full, you are expected to rent on your own.
