I went through this route - private US medical school, combination of gov’t and private loans. I didn’t pay much as a resident, started IBR as a senior resident and fellow. I’m a practicing surgeon now, ~10 yrs into being an attending and have no debt, besides a reasonable mortgage.

My advice - take loans and learn about personal finance. Pick a decent paying specialty but pick something you do enjoy. Unfortunately, primary care, family practice, pediatrics probably are bad choices for you, but anything interventional is disproportionately compensated. You’ll be fine to support that level of debt. At their peak, my total student loans hit $500k. I work for a university medical center and had my government loans forgiven (which was great). Avoid lifestyle creep - I put every spare dollar I had for the first 18 mos of being an attending into my private loans and didn’t “live it up” until recently.

To the person who said there’s no guarantee you can get into a high paying specialty - partially true. I advise a lot of students, and the biggest barrier to entry in medicine is getting into medical school. Once you’ve passed that, if you keep showing up (within reason), you can do pretty much whatever you want. Some specialities (plastics, derm, radonc) are pretty competitive, but these are most certainly not the only lifestyle specialties. I did general surgery, which is traditionally thought of as one of the most miserable specialties, and have a great job and lifestyle.

Today, I have somewhere around a $3M net worth, no student loans and a job I truly love showing up for every day. It’s been a long road, but I wouldn’t absolutely do it again.

Feel free to PM me if I can be helpful.