You're five months out of school now and I hate to break it to you but, your lenders for student loans are unfortunately going to start reaching out to you soon and will want their money back. The very first thing I request is drumming up any paperwork or information you can from school that you signed to get the money, contact your financial aid department at school, and if nothing else, they will be in contact with you. But I suggest as soon as you find out how much they want each month, you look at your monthly budget and figure out if you can swing it. I cannot emphasize how important it is to sort through this soon rather than later. If you cannot afford your payments, reach out to your debtor ASAP! Running from this, ignoring or sending them what you can afford won't cut it. They will still want the difference unless you reach out to them and make other arrangements. As angry as this will make you, be proactive about your debt.
Follow up on this, if you can swing it financially, go for auto draft. Most lenders will knock a couple of percentage points off of your interest rate if you do and you will not have to send them a payment and have a monthly reminder of all of the failure and fabulous debt that comes with it.
Rx:
Handle this sooner rather than later. You don't want to kill your credit score because you are angry. I know its hard but this is for the best. Its not you, its them, and they suck but you will have to pony up the cash one way or another. Make it easier to forget about it, once you establish your payment with your lender, auto draft it from a separate account if you can so you literally, never have to lay eyes on it again.
Yet another bite of the shit sandwich we call failure but it gets easier to swallow with each bite. You'll be okay, just try to grit your teeth and bear it for now. Your income will level out with the payment (like any other expense) and it won't always be where the bulk of your money goes….one day….
Hopefully you are still looking at this blog, because I need some help. So...I withdrew from PA School, two years ago this September. I withdrew before the deadline, so I luckily escaped with my shirt in hand (no student loans). I would like to say I've never looked back, but I've applied to PA school every year since then. I've been accepted again and again, only to withdraw a month or so before the start of class. This year I am about to withdraw again and close the door on the opportunity forever. It's like a phantom limb for me. Something I've always thought I would do, could do, should do but it's not there. I can't feel it. Not going to PA school is causing me to sink into a deep depression, which is funny because going to PA school does the same thing. It seems as though you are the only other person that has any advice I would trust on this subject so...do you have any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteHopefully you are still looking at this blog, because I need some help. So...I withdrew from PA School, two years ago this September. I withdrew before the deadline, so I luckily escaped with my shirt in hand (no student loans). I would like to say I've never looked back, but I've applied to PA school every year since then. I've been accepted again and again, only to withdraw a month or so before the start of class. This year I am about to withdraw again and close the door on the opportunity forever. It's like a phantom limb for me. Something I've always thought I would do, could do, should do but it's not there. I can't feel it. Not going to PA school is causing me to sink into a deep depression, which is funny because going to PA school does the same thing. It seems as though you are the only other person that has any advice I would trust on this subject so...do you have any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteHi, I completely understand your apprehension with taking the dive. It's expensive, the risk of failure is an enormous one and it what you've always wanted to do. If it doesn't work out, it would suck, big time. With that said, take the dive. If you don't, you will never know. I came, I saw, I ate it...HARD. But now I know I'm not cut out for it, I'm not hungry for it. If you truly didn't want to pursue this profession when you withdrew two years ago it'd be the end of the line for you.
DeleteIf you chose NOT to do this, I completely get it. This is a Sylvia Plath, Bell Jar/Fig Tree moment. By choosing not to do this, you're simply choosing something else. When you are on your death bed you won't look back and say "my job was the most important thing in my life". A different side of the same coin, if you were married to this carrier, starving for it, the choice would be obvious. There are lots of careers. PA School is just one option. Just know, if you walk away this time, it is likely the nail in the coffin for this career, so to speak.
I've found fulfillment in a different career with a metric ton of student debt from this endeavor. You're clearly bright, you will successful no matter what. Break the cycle of apply, accept, withdraw, repeat. It's going to be fine. Save your application fees. I promise, you will be fine. Hope this is helpful.
I made my decision. It's time to move on. Here is to mediocrity!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate you giving me both sides of the coin. I am thankful for your willingness to be vulnerable on this blog. I know it hasn't been easy to go through what you've been through, believe me I know that, but sharing it to a world of 'trolls' is intimidating.
I wish that I could say that I feel 100% confident in my decision and that I don't feel depressed about not choosing to be a PA, but I can't. It's something I wanted for a long time. It's something that I've worked hard for...and now 'phantom limb' for the next little while.
I do appreciate knowing I'm not alone. It gives me comfort in the darkness. It has made a difference to me and my family. Thanks again.
Dear Unknown,
DeleteGood for you deciding which path to pursue. Trust me, you are NOT choosing mediocrity by not going to PA School. Plenty of people go to school and excel who inevitably will make terrible PAs that their patients will hate. Choosing to do something you aren't passionate about for the sake of looking good on paper is not only mediocrity, it's silly.
If you have gotten this far you are bright and clearly a hard worker. Once you apply that same work ethic to your career you will excel at whatever you do. Not spending a small fortune to get there is basically money in the bank for you. Good for you for being honest with yourself and take the leap! Being honest with yourself and others can be tough. Best of luck in your future endeavors!
-Anonymous
Hi there
ReplyDeleteI am a medical school failure person as well. (D.O. school). The notions you post on here remind me exactly of the things I go through pretty regularly.
I am even further down the pipeline at this point. Lots of the people who failed medical school landed jobs, etc. I found one job in the CRO world, and then it wasn't for me. I couldn't handle the level of mundane-ness about it for longer than 6 months, and moved to California.
Since then, I've been living in my car, and have had so much stuff hit the fan. Failure, failure, failure. I am back home and am about to work in a factory after 3 separate jobs fell through back to back to back. My car is being repossessed, and it's the only thing I live in.
I wish our legal system would figure out a way to refund us back for all of the time and effort we put in to those studies. If only there were a way to redeem all of the things we tried to put in. It is amazing how the difference between a Bachelor's degree and a doctorate degree is actually measured (in real-world valuation) as a giant hole in the ground which is only so big, but if you fall in it you are absolutely 100% screwed.
I sure wish I could have wasted those hundreds of thousands of dollars on something stupid like going to school for the rest of my life and studying something crazy like VR or computer science or economics or math or something and eventually land a giant position in a big company and somehow actually be able to pay it off all while having fun at something that could have been cool.
But no!!! I had to go and want to "help people"!
Funny how it turns out that those people who want to help people are the ones that get screwed over themselves.
It's not fair.
I certainly hope that your journey in life has gone better than my own. Please have a wonderful Thanksgiving and cherish your job, family, life, etc. as much as you can. There are those who are anguishing even harder out there who have been through the medical school trap.
I wish I could be free.
Sincerely,
Shaun
Hey I hope you're doing great! I just left PA school after personal health got in the way for the second year in a row. I started with the class that's about the graduate in August but now I recycled to the class graduating in 2019. I really appreciate your honesty. Look, for what it's worth, there's a million jobs that you can do to help people (I've worked a lot of them) but of course there's nothing like looking at that student loan report and seeing all that time and money lost to a dead end. I'm taking it for what it is, I'm looking at RN/hopefully one day NP programs but for right now I'm focusing on health. I honestly wasn't happy at my program so in that regard if there's one silver lining to moving back home at nearly 30 it's that I'm back with family and friends and away from a place I've hated living for 2 years. Medicine will always be out there for us in some for or fashion, PA school is what it is, and frankly I wouldn't suggest it to recent undergrads as a new career given the way healthcare is shifting. All in all I know that as long as I've got a roof over my head I'm happy. Thanks for your posting and best of luck to everyone here!
ReplyDelete