Cost of medical school

[TidusAlexandros]

I'm paying ~$18 000 this year at UofT but the OP is in high school...so the amount of tuition might be even more expensive 4-6 years down the line...

 

Most of the people in my class are getting OSAP and/or LOCs though...but if you can demonstrate high financial need, there are a lot of bursaries and scholarships available...

[THX]

Hi,

 

The first year I paid $250 total to an elderly woman for a basement room- in return for snow shovelling and yard work. She made a lot of my meals. The second two years were in another basement room and was all inclusive except for food. I only allowed myself to take $20/week out of my account for food. Staples were pb and day old bread. I did receive about $9000 in specific scholarships for rural med keeners. The rest was bursaries based on financial need. I learned a lot about living bare-bones growing up in my family (especially the traumatic experience of being a teenager in a family that could not afford a phone!).

 

Ruraldoc

I have to admit, that's pretty amazing. Kudos to you.

[Jag]

although ruraldoc's budget is impressive, it is not reasonable nor possible to replicate that in almost any medical student's circumstances.

[Smurfette]

This is what I consider a typical budget.

 

Undergrad

 

If you consider tuition/books ~$5000 and housing/food to be ~$5000 (assume residence), then you're looking at around $10,000 - $15,000 per year. You can work during the summer (and possibly part-time during the school year), so it'll cost you a net amount of just under $10, 000 per year.

 

So for 4 years, you'll be ~$30,000 to $40,000 in debt. Usually, you can get government student loans to cover this, so you won't have to worry about paying interest.

 

Extra Costs

 

Applying to med school can be costly. Depending on how many schools you apply to, the application fees can range anywhere from $100-$1000. If you are applying to far away schools, you will need to travel there (eg. plane tickets, accommodation, etc) to do your interviews. There are often med students willing to billet students, but you're on your own for transportation. The costs for that may vary from $0 - $5000 depending on where you live, how many schools you apply to, how many interviews you get, etc.

 

Many people take MCAT prep courses, which cost on the order of $1500, but these are not strictly necessary and my personal advice would be to refrain from taking these courses if you are on a budget, unless you come from a non-traditional background.

 

Med School

 

This is where you'll be hit hard! The average tuition of schools across the country is over $10000. If you're in Quebec, you're lucky. Some other schools also have lower tuition. But if you're in Ontario or BC, you're looking at ~$12000 or even more. Plus you've got the cost of books/equipment. That's a total of ~$15000 a year.

 

On top of that, you've got living expenses. Depending on what city you're in, housing can range from $3000-$12000 a year. Food and other miscellaneous costs can be $5000-$10000 a year.

 

It's highly unlikely that you'll be able to work part-time during the school year, but you can work during the summer for ~$5000.

 

So you're looking at ~$30,000 a year. Government student loans will cover some of this, but not all, so the rest you'll be paying off a Line-of-Credit, which will accumulate interest as you go.

 

So you're looking at ~$120,000 for med school

 

Extra Costs

 

Additionally, during 3rd-4th year, you might be paying transportation/accommodation costs if you do electives far away and you'll also be paying for plane tickets when you interview for residency programs across the country. These costs vary as well depending on where you apply to, how many schools you apply to, where you live, etc. But you're probably looking at figures of $1000-$10000.

 

Total

 

So if you combine undergrad, med school, and the plethora of extra costs you're looking at $150000-$200000. That's actually a little bit on the high side of things, because usually people pick up some money along the way. You might receive scholarships/bursaries during undergrad (maybe a couple thousand dollars a year if you're lucky). During med school, there are typically tonnes of bursaries available and most people will have a few thousand dollars extra per year.

 

So you're probably looking at around $100,000 altogether.

 

A debt of over $100,000 at the end of med school is not rare. But fortunately, it is something that is totally do-able thanks to a combination of government student loans of bank line-of-credits for med students. If you really want to do medicine, then regardless of your financial background, you'll be able to do it. As you start making money in residency and when you come out and practice, you'll be able to pay that debt off. But it certainly is a huge responsibility to bear.

[Julie]

Also, when assessing the cost, you have to factor the fact that by the time most (or at least some) of us are in med school, our standards of living have increased a bit. I know I'm a bit of a non-trad applicant, but at 26, I no longer feel like living in a small, poorly-lit, potentially bug-infested apartment with 6 roomates... I wanted a nice, clean, roomy place to share with my bf, with a/c, a dishwasher, etc... I understand this is not the case for everyone and if you're short on cash you can definitely do without all those things, but I guess I now feel I've had my share of student style apartments (much in the same way that I no longer eat peanut butter sandwiches daily), and felt like having a more "grown-up" place... (I mean, by now most of my friends have houses and kids and cars!) So yeah, if you have these standards of living and you live in a place like Ottawa, it can get quite expensive! (btw, since you asked & I don't think anyone replied, tuition this yr was about 18 000$, incl. the laptop).

 

Also, you'll probably be really councious that your first 2 summers in med are the last ones you'll have off for quite a while. While some people still choose to use them to work as hard as possible, others feel an urgency to take the opportunity to travel, do overseas or local/national electives, or just relax & recover from the school year... All that can come in the way of the money you could make by working all summer, and increase debt. It just depends on what you want.

 

I hope this didn't sound too Paris Hilton, and I definitely admire all those who do it super cheeply... but it depends on an individual's personal preferences and also on the situation (my bf, for instance, now works full-time and probably didn't feel like living the student life either... but by working, he's helping to reduce my student debt quite a bit too!). I guess I was just trying to say that how much it costs you really depends on who you are and what your priorities are.