Aug 02

The Cost of Medical School

Happy Monday, and welcome to Medical Mondays!

I have to admit–I really like the “On This Day” feature on facebook because every now and again, it’ll bring back hilarious memories. For instance, this gem:

sellingblood

(Speedracer was my family’s car–so aptly named because he’d max out at a grand total of 45mph when I was flooring it whilst going uphill.)

For a previous lipid study I’d done, I’d brought my lipid panel results to my favorite professor on the planet because I hadn’t yet learned to truly interpret them yet, and at the time, I was taking his Exercise & Aging in Health & Disease course (<3 my Exercise Biology major! :] ).

F: Hi! I sold some of my blood to pay for my livelihood, and I’m kinda upset with the results because my cholesterol levels seem really high! :[
(Alright, so the total was 186, but it just seemed high to me because it was closer to 200 than not.)
JDS: Do you have them with you? Let’s look at it!
(pause)
JDS: Farrah, I’ve lost all sympathy for you. You have an HDL of 88, which is really only possible in a young, healthy, exercising female. Keep doing what you’re doing!

Yay for applicable knowledge! :] I miss his classes, but as per usual, I digress. Wanna know what the cost of medical school is? Continue reading!

I don’t think it really needs to be said that med school is expensive, but I thought I’d do my own breakdown on the annual cost! The fact that I don’t drink coffee, make all my own meals, and walk whenever possible, apparently makes a really big difference. :O

medschoolisexpensive

Forgot where I found this graphic, but I did some editing…

Tuition

An unfortunately fixed cost, so there’s not much I can do to cut it down. But hooray for getting a scholarship for being a nice person helping out my fellow students! The amount I got was enough to pay for all my food expenses for over a year! <3

Rent + Utilities

I lived in a furnished 2-bedroom apartment for $525/month (including internet) for my first two years of medical school, and in 3rd-year, I lived in a 1-bedroom apartment (shared internet with a friend) for $670/month (because another friend was super-awesome and managed to talk the rent down by $45/month for me). :O Flexible leases are a wonderful thing (as is getting your entire deposit back!).

My electricity bill ranged from $12-50/month (usually averaging at around ~$25) depending on what time of the year it was, but…please note that I am the type to unplug everything I’m not using, and winters were spent in a blanket cave next to my space heater (affiliate link, but I love this thing–it kept this CA girl alive through many a WV winter!), whereas summers were spent glued to a fan.

This year, I actually don’t have an apartment/”home,” but my home base (aside from my parents’ house) is located at a cat shelter/sanctuary.

What’s the annual cost of #medicalschool! Find out here! #medschool #medschoollife #medstudent

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Books + Supplies

I did a super, super generous estimate for this one, because I honestly didn’t buy all that many books. The library is a wonderful thing. (As are super-nice students from the years above me.)

National Medical Board Exam

These are unfortunately more “fixed costs.” Let’s also note that the PE is only offered in Philadelphia, so if I happen to be across the country (yep)…I’m going to be flying back to take it.

 

COMLEX 1

$590

COMLEX 2 CE

$590

COMLEX 2 PE

$1290

(COMLEX 3 will be ~$835, which would roughly pay for a year’s worth of food for me. Yay.)

Transportation

I filled up Cordelia’s gas tank about once a month–more if I was making more trips back to Please Save A Cat. My apartment was <5 miles from school/the hospital, so that was a definite plus!

The rest of that money = cross-country plane tickets to visit my family + friends, which got to happen about once a year.

Food/Groceries

I’ve gone over before how I survive/thrive on $50/month for food–I did a high-normal estimate at $75/month just to encompass anything else I might have missed.

Grand Total?

$60k-64k. Following these tips on living life on the cheap helped me out a lot!

Stay tuned next week for…the cost of applying for residency!

  • How do you save money?
  • How much did your education cost you?

I came up with this design ages ago for our class t-shirt contest! :]Disclaimer: This is where I reiterate that I am merely a medical student struggling through the world that is her clinical rotations. The statements made on this blog should not be taken as medical advice to treat, cure or prevent any disease. Please contact your own physician or health care provider before starting a health or fitness/wellness program. (See full disclaimer here.)

Permanent link to this article: https://www.fairyburger.com/the-cost-of-medical-school/

28 comments

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  1. I need to get my daughter to read your money saving tips. ;-)
    Coco recently posted…Respecting FearMy Profile

    1. I hope they help! :D!

  2. Good grief, woman. I think it says a lot, with the time, effort, and cash that students have to go through, that you REALLY HAVE TO WANT to be a Doctor. I’m sure you find ways to pinch pennies everywhere!
    Tiffany @ The Chi-Athlete recently posted…I have so much to share with you, it’s kind of daunting.My Profile

    1. hahaha, that’s for sure! x_x There are definitely days where I doubt myself, but I like to think it’s gonna be worth it! :]

      Yes indeed! :D I’ve cut my annual living expenses to <$10k! :]

  3. You really have got these costs down! I’m impressed!

    1. I’m hoping I can carry that through residency so I can get my loans paid off relatively quickly! *-*

  4. My best friend just started med school! And my dad teaches at a med school, but that’s about all I’ve got for med school stories. (Other than the fact that I would always look forward to when dad would host parties with the med schoolers and I would swoon over the soon-to-be doctors.)

    I like this breakdown, though, because even though I won’t be doing med school I’ll be doing grad school in a few years and it’s helpful to see a cost and how you can save!
    Nina recently posted…A Progress Report on New Year’s Goals.My Profile

    1. That’s cool that your dad teaches at one! :D

      I hope it helps! Budgeting for grad school is super similar, so cutting costs where you can so you can save money definitely helps a lot!

  5. I can’t get over how expensive it is!
    Emilie recently posted…Simple Life = Eco-friendly LifeMy Profile

    1. Sad times. :[ But I guess it could always be worse!

  6. And this is why I will always be poor, because I can’t sell my blood or my eggs. And I’m paying off Alex’s med school, thank you very much :D
    Susie @ SuzLyfe recently posted…Home Again, Home Again (Jiggity Jig)My Profile

    1. I considered selling my eggs, hahaha. Apparently Asian babies are all the rage, and people are willing to pay extra if you did well on SATs and seem smart (hah, little do they know!!)…I don’t know how I feel about taking a whole bunch of hormones though–I don’t think they have sufficient long-term studies on potential detrimental effects to egg donors’ health yet, so I decided against it! :x

  7. Wow, you really do manage to bring the average costs down a LOT! Law school tuition at least at Columbia was $60k when I started and is now roughly $65k. Just tuition. I lived at home in my parents’ apartment, but the cheapest student housing (3 people to a 3-bedroom, 1-bathroom apartment) was definitely close to $800-$900 per person per month. And food in NYC is EXPENSIVE. There is a lot to be said for going to school in a lower COL area.
    Alyssa @ Renaissancerunnergirl recently posted…Weekly Workouts and Updates 7/27-8/2My Profile

    1. Ohhhh goodness. Yeah, living in NYC definitely would not allow me to live for this little. That is freakishly expensive! :[ There were a couple places I kinda wanted to apply to there, but the cost of living definitely stopped me in my tracks. :x I’m glad you got to save some money by living at home!

  8. Pretty much any grad program is hellishly expensive, especially if you choose a private or elite university. Ugh I don’t even want to think about my student loans most days! Haha!

    1. I try hard not to think about mine, haha. The school I’m at is public, but since I’m out of state, I’m pretty much paying private school tuition. At least the cost of living was cheaper there than most anywhere else!

  9. Haha, still cheaper than GWU! (Thank god for Fin Aid and scholarships :P)
    Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine recently posted…Modern Macaroni SaladMy Profile

    1. That’s insane! x_x + I really miss the world of scholarships and grants from financial aid! *-*

  10. $50K for tuition…ouch! I knew it was pricey, but wow…I have even more respect for all my doctors now :). Good for you, though, that you’re powering through and making it happen :)! Thanks for sharing the inside peek at the life of a med student…I’m endlessly fascinated by your blog and the behind the scenes peeks :).

    1. hehehe, I’m glad to hear that! :D I like to think it’s all gonna be worth it in the end! :]

  11. No one ever brings up the cost of the board exams! I know in the scheme of things its not a lot, but I wouldn’t have thought to include it in my budget if a friend hadn’t brought it up to me the other day. Not to mention all the step 1 study materials I still need to buy. My head is already spinning and I haven’t even started second year yet :( Any tips on which study aids to choose?

    hannah-ever-after.blogpsot.com
    Hannah @ Hannah Ever After recently posted…Monday RewindMy Profile

    1. Technically it’s not when you look at the big picture, but it definitely feels like a lot when you’re the one that has to fork it over! Don’t stress out yet! You still have plenty of time for that, haha.

      For a good kinda universal study aid, I would recommend…
      -First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 (it’s in my Amazon sidebar; I thinkkk the 2016 version comes out in January-ish, if you want to wait for that?)
      -Firecracker (http://firecracker.me) helped me both with classes and with boards–I’d flag the topics that I was studying for class and then test myself on them, and it makes you rank how well you knew the answer, then schedules quizzes for you according to your responses. (If you’re interested in this one, let me know, and if I send you a referral email, I think we both get a free month! They also offer a free week [or month] so you can try it out to see if you like it!)
      -A good question bank is probably the most important of all. I used Doctors in Training and really liked it! :]

  12. My husband and I are both students so we totally understand the whole “living on a budget” thing!
    Tara | Treble in the Kitchen recently posted…Scenes from the Weekend and a low FODMAP updateMy Profile

    1. Ah, misery loves company! :P At least it helps to learn to budget and save money and all that goodness though? :]

  13. Oh my gosh, Farrah! You are very resourceful! I bet you are the only student who managed to slash the book expense to almost nothing from $3,000! My friend just got accepted in MBA program at University of Chicago and she said it’s $150,000/year (two years) and they don’t do ANY financial aid. So, yep, $300,000 + living expenses! So, I guess, medical school is not the worse!
    Eva recently posted…Lemon Honey IceMy Profile

    1. Having awesomely generous friends/acquaintances definitely helped a tonnn in the supplies/housing categories! But holy crud, I had no idea MBA programs were that expensive! How is it even possible to pay for that without financial aid?!

  14. Really interesting to read how much life really costs right now! I think you’re super smart to be minimizing expenses as much as possible. My tuition and books were paid for for my undergrad due to academic scholarships, and I lived with my grandparents and ate their food for free until I got married (fall semester Junior year), then we rented a house and had normal living expenses–but Angel had a normal job so it was totally doable, and my schooling was already covered.
    Angel got about 25K in loans to cover his undergrad, the rest was scholarships, and then he worked enough to cover his living expenses. He actually moved back in with his parents right after graduation and got a job right away (TX is a good place to get hired as a nurse!), and because of that was able to pay off all of his loans before we even got married, which was really nice. He was taking his master’s degree, with classes partially paid for by the hospital he worked for, when we decided on this hare-brained scheme of living in Asia instead. I really liked our plan of him being a nurse practitioner, but we had to say goodbye to it for something that seems to fit “us” better during this season. I don’t know if either of us will ever end up going back and completing a master’s degree. It’s always in the back of my mind, but this far along, it kinda feels like it’s too late and too hard to justify that much money being spent.
    Rachel G recently posted…I Don’t Like CardigansMy Profile

    1. Scholarships are lovely, lovely things, and that’s awesome that you got to live with your grandparents for a while!

      I’m still very much single at the moment, but I do have a lot of friends in med school who have spouses, and they all say that having that support + income is definitely helping them out a lot! That’s great that Angel got all his loans paid off before you guys got married! (Yay for one less thing to deal with!)

      I like to think that if something’s meant to happen, it’ll find a way to do so one way or another! It’s definitely understandable how it can feel too late/too hard to justify, but if it’s something that either of you really want to do in the future, I think you’ll find a way to make it happen! :] Some of my classmates are in their 40’s to 50’s, so I’d like to think it’s not too late if either of you decide to go for it in the future! <3

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