42K, 3 Years. Then I focused on home buying.

34, have zero in loans from undergrad, 160k from med school after making sacrifices to lower amount I borrowed (lived at home with parents, worked for years before and used up all my savings, etc.)

Currently have 28k left, 6.5 years post graduation with plans to pay off loans completely in next year. Loan rate is 6.8% so I’d rather pay it off & be done with it.

To all the Doctors/Future Doctors- did you apply to the National Health Service Corps? https://nhsc.hrsa.gov/

They have sites in the DC area and you can help pay down your loans. It's a competitive program, but definitely worth checking out!

Paid my loans off in under 10 years. The Hill had a crazy generous assistance program that helped bring my loans down to a manageable amount before I left.

Anonymous wrote:
I don't have any medical problems, but if I did, I definitely would see a specialist. I would not waste my time with a drug dispenser/blood pressure monitor. For instance my knee was bothering me, I went to an orthopedist. I had some weird moles, I went to a dermatologist. Didn't waste time with a NP or a PCP.

My approach as well: PCPs are inclined to refer a patient to a specialist because from a liability standpoint, it is the low risk approach. I limit my visits to the PCP to an annual physical, ordering of lab tests and just run of the mill issues. For just about anything else, I go to a specialist because I know there is a high likelihood my PCP will end up referring me to a specialist.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Don't mean to come across as cocky but when one has substantial loans after any course of study - whether med school, business school or any other field - one does need to consider earning potential to meet loan obligations and not have to struggle for years thereafter.

It is a point that I have made to all my children and anyone who asks for advice. Pursuing one's passion is all very well but in the end one has to consider earnings potential as well if one is taking on a lot of debt.

By that logic we wouldn’t have any pediatricians for your special snowflakes. Or what if you didn’t have a primary care doctor and could ONLY see a high priced specialist for any and everything?

My experience is that primary care physicians are increasingly a conduit for getting a referral to a specialist for anything that is remotely outside of the norm. Yes, run of the mill ailments and routine physicals are handled by a primary care practitioner but just about anything else results in a referral to a specialist. So, more often than not, I go to the specialist directly without seeing a PCP.

I agree. I no longer even see a PCP, I just see a nurse practitioner. PCPs dispense drugs and that's about it.

But, you’re not running to the specialist. You’re seeing a nurse practitioner. That actually proves the earlier point.

I don't have any medical problems, but if I did, I definitely would see a specialist. I would not waste my time with a drug dispenser/blood pressure monitor. For instance my knee was bothering me, I went to an orthopedist. I had some weird moles, I went to a dermatologist. Didn't waste time with a NP or a PCP.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Don't mean to come across as cocky but when one has substantial loans after any course of study - whether med school, business school or any other field - one does need to consider earning potential to meet loan obligations and not have to struggle for years thereafter.

It is a point that I have made to all my children and anyone who asks for advice. Pursuing one's passion is all very well but in the end one has to consider earnings potential as well if one is taking on a lot of debt.

By that logic we wouldn’t have any pediatricians for your special snowflakes. Or what if you didn’t have a primary care doctor and could ONLY see a high priced specialist for any and everything?

My experience is that primary care physicians are increasingly a conduit for getting a referral to a specialist for anything that is remotely outside of the norm. Yes, run of the mill ailments and routine physicals are handled by a primary care practitioner but just about anything else results in a referral to a specialist. So, more often than not, I go to the specialist directly without seeing a PCP.

I agree. I no longer even see a PCP, I just see a nurse practitioner. PCPs dispense drugs and that's about it.

But, you’re not running to the specialist. You’re seeing a nurse practitioner. That actually proves the earlier point.

Agreed. Take out as little as possible - though we're seeing from this tread that can still be a LOT for things like med/law school. I was one of the ones who only took out what was needed and not a $ more -- so in law school I was living in the grad school dorms (though I had my own apartment in the dorms, not shared - could've saved even more by sharing) which were older but had the convenience of being a 2 min walk to law school (no transport $ required) and I didn't have to worry about buying any kind of furniture bc it was provided.

IIRC I think only 20-25% of my classmates did the same, the rest ALL lived downtown in nice/luxury type apartments which they had to furnish and they paid daily subway fares to get to school and with regular late nights at the library, lots of cab fares to get home. This is Philadelphia so it's not THAT expensive but taking a $10 cab home even 3 nights a week ends up being $120/month; and then there was the lure of all the downtown bars/restaurants. The view was -- I'm too old to be adjusting to dorm life now (they were generally 24-26 yrs old, whereas I was 22 and had only known dorms) AND we'll be making BIG money in 3 years so who cares. Worked out for my class -- 2005 grads. Didn't work out so well for the 2009 grads when employability took a HUGE hit even at top schools.

Anonymous wrote:I only took out $30k for law school. Paid it off in 18 months.

Most of my friends paid off their loans in their late 30s/early 40s.

The key is to take the bare minimum. You don't take extra for living expenses. Rather, you work on the side and live like a peasant.

I had friends in law school who lived like kings...and they are still paying off loans in their 40s.

And the two financially dumbest people I know graduated from Gtown law.

This is the way to do it!

The natural inclination is to upgrade your lifestyle after obtaining a professional qualification and keeping that within reasonable constraints is the answer. One does not have to live on a shoe string but the bulk of the additional income should be used to pay off student loans. Usually this would happen before having children and assuming other family obligations at which point it becomes a lot more difficult to pay off debt.

Graduated in 2001 with $145,000 in loans. Was young and stupid and didn't tackle them right away. Have about 55K left. My husband and I have severely cut the budget and are throwing every available dollar at them right now. Hoping to be done with them in the next 2 years.

I graduated in 2009 with about $175k in student loans.

I have about $50k left.

I could pay it off today but interest rates are low and I prefer to keep more money invested. If interest rates go up above 4%, I'll pay them off.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had ~ 25k and my husband paid them off when we got married. I was 24 at time.

Gross.

Why is this gross? I also paid off my husband's student loans. I also paid for his last semester in grad school before we were even married. I truly cannot begin to imagine what is "grosd" about this.

Anonymous wrote:I had ~ 25k and my husband paid them off when we got married. I was 24 at time.

Gross.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Don't mean to come across as cocky but when one has substantial loans after any course of study - whether med school, business school or any other field - one does need to consider earning potential to meet loan obligations and not have to struggle for years thereafter.

It is a point that I have made to all my children and anyone who asks for advice. Pursuing one's passion is all very well but in the end one has to consider earnings potential as well if one is taking on a lot of debt.

By that logic we wouldn’t have any pediatricians for your special snowflakes. Or what if you didn’t have a primary care doctor and could ONLY see a high priced specialist for any and everything?

My experience is that primary care physicians are increasingly a conduit for getting a referral to a specialist for anything that is remotely outside of the norm. Yes, run of the mill ailments and routine physicals are handled by a primary care practitioner but just about anything else results in a referral to a specialist. So, more often than not, I go to the specialist directly without seeing a PCP.

I agree. I no longer even see a PCP, I just see a nurse practitioner. PCPs dispense drugs and that's about it.

Anonymous wrote:
Starting pay is still around $130 for primary care physicans in the northern Virginia, from the offers my husband got last summer . He finished residency and we would have loved to stay in the area but the pay wasn’t enough for us to deal with his $220k in loans and have a life with our kids. He makes a bit over $200k out west where we moved but it is a higher needs population, as you said.
And to the pp asking about pediatric sub specialties, most subspecialties are actually a pay cut or the same amount as a pcp, especially considering all the additional years of residency that you need to go through. Peds is rough financially but very rewarding to him personally

It depends on the sub-specialty. As you are doubtless aware there are sub-specialties that pay substantially more than what a pediatrician makes. What is true is that a pediatric sub-specialty generally pays less - sometimes quite a bit less - than the adult equivalent of that specialty. For example, a pp mentioned a couple and one can add to that pediatric sub-specialties within gastro, emergency medicine, critical care, dermatology, anesthesia, etc if one really wants to work with children. Of course, it does involve additional years to get a fellowship and some of these sub-specialties are very competitive.

I only took out $30k for law school. Paid it off in 18 months.

Most of my friends paid off their loans in their late 30s/early 40s.

The key is to take the bare minimum. You don't take extra for living expenses. Rather, you work on the side and live like a peasant.

I had friends in law school who lived like kings...and they are still paying off loans in their 40s.

And the two financially dumbest people I know graduated from Gtown law.