Hello everyone. Throwaway account here, hoping I can get some valuable advice regarding the situation I'm in...
I'm 29 y/o, recently graduated from medical school 2 years ago with $450,000 in student loans from both undergrad college and med school.
Now the way becoming a "working" physician in the US works is you apply once a year during September, interview for a couple months, then find out whether or not you got any job the following March. This is called being "matched" into a job called medical residency where you work as a junior doctor physician for 3 years inside a hospital and then you get to apply for a real doctor job thereafter.
Unfortunately for me, I did not match into residency twice in a row. I am honestly a below average student (low grades). Upon requesting feedback from the people and directors that interviewed me, they said I was qualified, interviewed well, but my initial board scores although passing was just below average compared to everyone else.
I decided to reapply for the next year's cycle.. During that time, I worked as an ER scribe for minimum wage and unfortunately could not save up as I was living paycheck to paycheck while paying application fees, interview costs (flights, hotel, car rentals), etc. In regard to my student loans, I applied for REPAYE and qualified for $0/month on my loans, but am still accruing an insane amount of interest each day.
Fast forward a year, I ended up again not "matching" into a residency job again. At this point, I've almost completely given up and am seeking alternative career paths, but my parents convinced me to apply one last time. I moved back home (different state) to save on rent, sold pretty much most of my belongings, and am now unemployed. At this time I am studying for another medical board exam test that if I pass will hopefully show these hospitals that I may be qualified for their program. Most of my friends and family say that with the half million dollar debt I am in, I have no choice but to work as a physician and keep trying to land a residency job as a junior doctor... With that said, I really don't know what to do now, financially speaking. I can keep reapplying year after year but then my loans would just keep increasing. To even make a dent on them, I would have to pay over $900 a month just to cover interest costs before even scratching the actual loan borrowed. I don't even have the money to pay for the application fees and another years worth of travel expenses so much of the costs will be unfortunately covered by my parents. I feel like a huge financial burden to them and even with their help, I am not sure how I will pay for the other expenses for this year's cycle while trying to pay back the interest on my loans.
The application season starts this September. My exam is next month in August. I will try to find a local clinical job nearby after to acquire any income, but I'm further concerned that I will never really get out of this debt and/or never become a working licensed physician. Thank you for reading, I know I probably went all over the place so if i can clarify anything, let me know.
tl;dr $450,000 student loan debt. Medical doctor degree with no job. Living with parents.
Submitted July 25, 2018 at 10:41AM by anon_broke_MD https://ift.tt/2v2CmIU
