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Robin Hood

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I think that student who applied 7 times posts on this forum. I can't remember the username, but I remember seeing something like that. I think to the Victoria Island Campus (why do I remember that and not the name?)

 

Somewhat related, I'm trying to narrow down between Epidemiology or Bioinformatics if I don't get in on my first application cycle. I think bioinformatics is super cool, but a lot of programs require extensive programming experience.

You're thinking of Kyla (kylamonkey.) I actually cheered out loud when I saw she got in. I'd been following her story for a while. :)

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You're thinking of Kyla (kylamonkey.) I actually cheered out loud when I saw she got in. I'd been following her story for a while. :)

 

ha, one of the ones on my list of really hoped they would get in eventually as well :) We have had good success actually on the forum with most of the longer term posters. 

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Have to vent about this somewhere, because I can't stop thinking about it and I'm running my brain in circles.

 

 

I'm about to have my first interview and I'm sitting here, looking at financial projections, and I have no sweet clue how I'm going to pay for med school. The details are unimportant, but I don't think things are looking terribly promising for the LOC and without that, I can't afford to attend Ontario schools. I'm seriously considering withdrawing my apps, because I don't want to waste thousands more on interviews if I won't be able to afford to attend the schools anyway. This may, however, just be pre-interview jitters.

Yeah Ontario schools are super expensive. How are they compared to western schools? I know Uman isn't too bad is it?

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Yeah Ontario schools are super expensive. How are they compared to western schools? I know Uman isn't too bad is it?

 

 

Yeah, the schools out west cost significantly less. The highest is UBC at $16k and change. UMan is $8k-ish, but there's no way I'm living in MB. The level of education is essentially identical, so it makes no sense to me why Ontario subsidizes their med school seats so much less than every other province. There is not one school outside of Ontario that costs over $20k/yr, but every school in Ontario costs at least that much.

 

 

Really, I just need to get through years 1 and 2, then I can sign up to be sponsored by my province in return for agreeing to go into family med and then come home for 5 years.

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I didn't know the schools outside of Ontario costs so much less! I don't know why, but I would bet that Mike Harris had something to do with it ;).

 

I hear that you also get a $750 per month stipend during your last 12 months of clerkship. It's not enough to live on, and you still have to pay tuition, but it definitely makes a big difference in budget calculations.

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Birdy, you can look into funding from your home province maybe? If you give them extenuating circumstances perhaps they will help you out.

 

Really, for myself and a few others, the year 1 and 2 are tough if you have other things going on. The school will help you. There will be scholarships available. It might be tough for a year or two but you'll make it through and be alright.

 

Basically, once you are accepted, it's almost impossible to get out. When I was having trouble getting a bank loan thi summer and had NO way to pay for school, I suggested to the financial advisor at my school that I defer and wait a year. She told me to not be silly, it would work out. There's help put aside for people when they really need it.

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Yeah, the schools out west cost significantly less. The highest is UBC at $16k and change. UMan is $8k-ish, but there's no way I'm living in MB. The level of education is essentially identical, so it makes no sense to me why Ontario subsidizes their med school seats so much less than every other province. There is not one school outside of Ontario that costs over $20k/yr, but every school in Ontario costs at least that much.

 

 

Really, I just need to get through years 1 and 2, then I can sign up to be sponsored by my province in return for agreeing to go into family med and then come home for 5 years.

 

Have you talked to a medical school specialist about the LOC rules yet? It would be easy enough even at this stage to actually for sure determine your eligibility etc (which it would again surprise me if there was actually a serious issue etc). I have used some of the ones I know to get this all out of the way early on as it were. Perhaps it could relieve some stress etc.

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Have you talked to a medical school specialist about the LOC rules yet? It would be easy enough even at this stage to actually for sure determine your eligibility etc (which it would again surprise me if there was actually a serious issue etc). I have used some of the ones I know to get this all out of the way early on as it were. Perhaps it could relieve some stress etc.

My husband actually contacted one and asked some general questions. He's not very worried now. I prefer meeting with people face to face and since we don't have any medical school specialists here, I may just wait until I have an Ontario interview (if I get one) and schedule a meeting with one in Ottawa, Hamilton, or Kingston for when I'm there.

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My husband actually contacted one and as kid some general questions. He's not very worried now. I prefer meeting with people face to face and since we don't have any medical school specialists here, I may just wait until I have an Ontario interview (if I get one) and schedule a meeting with one in Ottawa, Hamilton, or Kingston for when I'm there.

 

good!

 

Once you are fully in medical school the usual credit score rules don't really seem to apply (it can impact you getting the LOC in rare cases, but only if you have very bad credit - not just you cannot get credit but actually large defaults, or bankruptcy etc even then there are ways around things). For instance I have a 250K LOC AND qualified for a 350K mortgage all on the PGY1 salary of about 50K (which of course now has risen as a PGY2 plus our incoming pay raises in Ontario). All at the lowest possible interest rate available anywhere - and there isn't even a second income earner, request for co-singer/colateral etc. That all allowed for some creative investing now that I am in residency (who else can get a no money down mortgage at the lowest mortgage rate in the country? That isn't even really supposed to be possible).

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good!

 

Once you are fully in medical school the usual credit score rules don't really seem to apply (it can impact you getting the LOC in rare cases, but only if you have very bad credit - not just you cannot get credit but actually large defaults, or bankruptcy etc). For instance I have a 250K LOC AND qualified for a 350K mortgage all on the PGY1 salary of about 50K (which of course now has risen as a PGY2 plus our incoming pay raises in Ontario). All at the lowest possible interest rate available anywhere - and there isn't even a second income earner, request for co-singer/colateral etc. That all allowed for some creative investing now that I am in residency (who else can get a no money down mortgage at the lowest mortgage rate in the country? That isn't even really supposed to be possible).

That's good to know. Having spent the last ten years (mostly) in less than ideal circumstances, it just really is difficult to imagine being handed access to a quarter million dollars in credit to help me on my way to a better future. Just have to wait and see, anyway.

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That's good to know. Having spent the last ten years (mostly) in less than ideal circumstances, it just really is difficult to imagine being handed access to a quarter million dollars in credit to help me on my way to a better future. Just have to wait and see, anyway.

Of course understandable - but in your case again as long as you haven't actually trashed your credit extremely the you are actually LESS. Risk even than others. You have assets, a second income potential.....remember they just hand never employed premeds with no immediately favourable employable skills and no assets 250k everyday here. Why are you greater risk than them?

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good!

 

Once you are fully in medical school the usual credit score rules don't really seem to apply (it can impact you getting the LOC in rare cases, but only if you have very bad credit - not just you cannot get credit but actually large defaults, or bankruptcy etc even then there are ways around things). For instance I have a 250K LOC AND qualified for a 350K mortgage all on the PGY1 salary of about 50K (which of course now has risen as a PGY2 plus our incoming pay raises in Ontario). All at the lowest possible interest rate available anywhere - and there isn't even a second income earner, request for co-singer/colateral etc. That all allowed for some creative investing now that I am in residency (who else can get a no money down mortgage at the lowest mortgage rate in the country? That isn't even really supposed to be possible).

I'm interested to know more about some of this 'creative investing' that you've been doing. Care to shed some light? 

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I'm interested to know more about some of this 'creative investing' that you've been doing. Care to shed some light? 

 

well I don't recommend investing in medical school as you are limited - something goes wrong and you are in big trouble without income. In a sense you are already investing - just in yourself and that should be the prime concern :)

 

Once in residency and moving forward I think that starts to loosen up. Personally I started investing in real estate but also have exposure to the markets as well via simple broad market funds. The large cap market in the US has done quite well over the past 2-3 years I have been glad that has been the case.

 

My bank gave me a full mortgage and with my other investments as proof that I had the other 20%. I actually used the LOC plus mortgage to cover the entire mortgage on the investment properties (no money down real estate), got the lowest mortgage rate anyone really could get (power of being a doctor again - same with our LOCs), and arranged extremely long term tenants to cover the bill as per usual. Technically that means on that investment I have infinity return (no cash investment, and well any return at all is insane yields by definition). Of course real estate has still progressed in value and the mortgage is being paid off so there has already been return. Ultimately the goal is to allow the mortgage to be paid off to a degree and the value to rise - then extract the equity through refinancing back to baseline and use the capital to purchase property number two (since I am busy that probably won't be until near the end of residency - we will see. Ha, I am not really money obsessed). Proceed from there in an exponential fashion (extract from two to get three, three gives four and four gives more). You just have to get your head wraps around the idea that I don't actually ever want a house's mortgage to be paid off - that means I left extractable home equity lying around when I should have taken it out and used to to expand. If you own 100% of a house (no mortgage) and it goes up 3% then you made 3%. If you have 5% down and the property went up 3% your return is actually 60% a year. That is leverage.

 

Since the mortgage is also a direct home equity line for me for every dollar paid off on the mortgage I can extract that as a loan at the mortgage rate (2.75%) and investment with the interest as a tax deduction while I am waiting for the property to rise in value. Again that is investing in the markets now with money earned on investment for which there was no capital investment - return on return on someone else's money.

 

I can also shield myself from LOC rate rises as the mortgage is locked for a longer term than my residency. Thus I can shift my LOC loans into the mortgage equity line which is a locked in and lower rate as I chose - or at least that part of the mortgage I have paid off. Depends on whether I feel the markets are overheated I guess. Flexibility is important - you want to be able to act when opportunities arise. I don't think I went crazy - there are certainly more risky ways of taking advantage of things.

 

So yeah invest in myself for longer term returns (my income as a doctor), invest in the markets broadly in my tax sheltered government investments (TFSA, to a point the RRSP), and real estate for high yield but more hands on involvement. I have stayed for now away from bonds - just because the returns are lower and my investing time frame is pretty long.

 

Now of note the only way I can easily do that and sleep at night is I have been thinking and planning this sort of stuff for a long time, I have diversification, I have insurances for everything that could interfere in my plans (8K a month disability tax free for instance), and more importantly I have a rock stable no question income for the next 3.5 years which I can live off of completely fine and still LOC room if needed as well. Thus if in the short term there is market or real estate disruption I don't care. I just don't care. Markets rebound, real estate is fairly stable in the proper market, and I am in this for the long term. Having a rock to launch off of is a very comforting thing.

 

I probably say this too much but really this sort of thing is what we should be teaching in school. A lot of the time I find it isn't so much that the rich get richer - it is the educated use that knowledge to become richer, and that knowledge investment is one that just keeps on giving. Then they teach their kids. Knowing the rules etc is the confound that is ignored. You do need an income beyond a certain point and some self discipline but after that it really is just a function of time. Anyway I am not by any means a supreme investor (and don't want to have that aspect consume the amount of time it would take to become one) but I think we should all know the basic rules.

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I think that it's legal! But, you will probably have problems with other things. Her family and/or friends might view you as a predator, even if your intentions are honourable.

Sometimes people of a different age are a good match. I myself have always found I like to date older guys. But, you are saying that you are not sure if you match maturity-wise so you already know it's not perfect. You are at different life stages. She is in high school, you are in university.

If you really connect, I don't see any reason not to at least date a bit. Four years is nothing once you are a bit older. Take it very very slowly physically though. If she likes you a lot she might think that she "owes" you something being older. You don't want that (I hope, lol), you want her to feel like she can wait as long as she likes to escalate things even to just beyond kissing. If you date her and you are really respectful, there is nothing wrong with that. Play the long game and don't be a pushy guy like most 20 year old guys are (I'm not saying you are that guy at all, just saying don't be that guy).

The age difference also has the added factor that if you break up she may be really heart-broken and that's not fun to have on your hands. You need to ask yourself if it's worth it and if you can treat her how she deserves and like her enough to do so. If you think yes to all of this, then go for it!
 

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Four years is only a tiny age difference, however, given that she is 16, she is considered a child - and therefore, my advice is that absolutely there should be no sexual in love meant whatsoever at this time as this may severely affect your future. You are not 18 but 20 and there is a heck of a difference in your respective majority levels no matter what you may have in common. Make sure the friendship is strictly platonic for now and let it bloom in the fullness of time. Also, let her parents know.

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