@alphaville et al, really good points and questions that are quite relevant in this decision.
The military would be too much commitment in the sense that I would lose all choice about where in the world I would live for residency and then four years afterwards, but I would have more ability to choose specialty.
VA is pretty much open 100% specialty-wise, but you pay back 1.5 years for every year of support but you can work at any VA with an open slot you want, so more flexibility on location. This is the first year they have had this scholarship for medical school, so few people know about it. I am hoping that stays the case this cycle too.
NHSC must be primary care specialty (
family med, internal med, pediatrics, OBGYN, &
psychiatry). I have underlined and bolded the specialties I am very keen on. Primary care is very much my interest. Locations are just nonprofits rated a certain score and serve underserved communities so it can be rural or urban. But this scholarship is very very competitive and not something I could bank on. I am likely going to apply for it.
Alphaville wrote: ↑Tue Nov 10, 2020 10:13 pm
as a resident you’ll start to get paid already, yes? not a ton, but some.
Yes, over 50k/year during residency (3-4 years for me), which is ridiculously more than enough.
Alphaville wrote: ↑Tue Nov 10, 2020 10:13 pm
so why don’t you just go for the best education they let you have, and go from there?
I will go where I get in. If I have a choice between two or more schools that will be miraculous. I think the stats are that 40% of applicants get accepted and most of those people only get one acceptance. Very few people get more than one acceptance.
Alphaville wrote: ↑Tue Nov 10, 2020 10:13 pm
really trying to cheapen out on this path is silly. you want to increase your exposure to serendipity not limit it.
medicine is a vocation not a job or a house you flip.
just try to be the best you can at it. everyone needs the best possible doctors.
is there someone you want to learn from? is there someone doing research you like? is any school famous for something that interests you?
I am not an applicant that could get into Harvard or any of the fancy medical schools, but in reality, unless you are trying to do a very competitive specialty like Dermatology or Neurosurgery or Orthopedic Surgery, basically all medical schools teach the same things and it's all what you get out of it yourself. I am not interested in those specialties at all.
As far as my interests,
I am very passionate about preventative and lifestyle medicine. I am big on the continuity of care and forming very deep, meaningful relationships with people. I am definitely a person that would not enjoy specialization except to specialize in being good at understanding how everything works together and being great at problem solving, hence why internal medicine would probably be a good fit.
I will probably need to be a part-time primary care-type doctor for ~4-5 years (maybe to pay off loans and/or the scholarship?) and start building my own practice doing medicine my way part-time that is more preventative medicine focused, no-insurance-taken, barter-based, sliding-scale, likely for a smaller community. After I built up my savings again after a few years, I'd just do my barter-practice and garden, etc. Yields and flows . . . Wheaton 6 & 7, ya know?
I already know I don't need much when it comes to savings/investments and I guess everyone is right that with a doctor salary I can get back to my current savings level quickly. I just really hate that feeling of HAVING to work. I love
choosing to work. It is such a wonderful feeling and I am so used to it now. Not having debt and having enough savings lets me do that. But if I took a deal to have that shit covered by someone else, I am then going to "owe" in another way.
Interesting. This is making me realize that owing time to an organization is more palatable to me than owing money and/or not having the savings I have. Maybe. I will have to think about this further. Maybe because it feels less risky?
I would still have the safety-net of investments that hopefully are growing. I wouldn't owe money. I would just promise to work (and be paid full salary) at specific types of places, which serve populations I would love to serve. Hmmm.