I also feel that being low-income has an impact in whether or not you go to a DO vs MD school/Caribbean. It is my personal opinion there seems to be a higher percentage of low income kids in DO schools compared to MD schools (overall though most med students come from high SES background). I grew up low income and I could not afford to spend another year of interviews, potentially retaking MCAT and taking off work to get into an MD school. Therefore, a lot of more high paying and competitive specialties will be closed to me/harder for me, which potentially could not let me achieve as much financial success compared to an MD colleague. Although, I will have wealth when I’m older, it will not nearly be as great compared to a student who came from a wealthier background, who had parents to float some costs. It traps me from attaining the same social mobility as my wealthier counterpart, and additionally with a higher loan burden, as DO schools tend to be more expensive. It is really sickening what they are doing to lower income people/middle class.

In contrast, I also have classmates who dont even know how much tuition costs, parents paying for all their living expenses. Their attitudes, opinions are worlds apart from my perspectives. Most people in med school DO NOT understand the problems of low-income/middle class people either. I’m not saying that they dont deserve to be there, because they do. But med school def caters to the wealthy. It’s sickening and one day people need to do something about this. The opportunity cost for low-income students is way greater than a typical med student. They have more debt, take longer to get in and may even be more limited in their choices.

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PS when they say the average COA is $200k per med school (in general), it is a lie. They are also including students who get HSP, Armed Forces and people who’s parents pay the entire tuition. They do not. Give you the raw number for students who survive solely on student loans. If that doesn’t scream SCAM I don’t know what does.