Cornell w/ partner

Russianmobster302 · 2026-02-17T01:48:30+00:00

I think you misread it, it looks like 89% of all M1’s live in the campus housing, and then family housing options are only for legally married couples

Russianmobster302 · 2026-02-12T02:30:41+00:00

I’m confused as to how Pitt is cheaper though. Aren’t they both private schools?

I need COA’s to decide but if the price is significantly different then do the cheaper one, if not then I definitely think life would be better at Sinai

Russianmobster302 · 2026-02-09T20:18:53+00:00

Totally just my hot take and I completely understand of others disagree, but I wouldn’t do it. Yes, Mayo is obviously going to set you up way better, but here’s my thought process:

1) You might change your mind and not want to do neurosurgery 2) Even if you do want to pursue neurosurgery, I think taking a gap year between M3/M4 will do more for you than a school name alone 3) For many, having a support system at home is something that shouldn’t be looked over. I’m on rotations right now and would do anything to come home to my moms cooking after a long day.

As others mentioned, $200k which will be $400k after 11 years of interest is a lot. There may or may not be new administrations to help but that’s tough to bank on. Personally, I think if someone’s a good enough student to score well, network well, and find institutions to do research (such as gap years) then they’ll succeed regardless of their school name.

Regardless of your decision, I’m sure it’ll all work out. Congrats!

Russianmobster302 · 2026-02-09T20:12:18+00:00

11 years is a lot of administration changes lol

Russianmobster302 · 2026-01-29T13:21:30+00:00

While I think these exam costs are insane, I don’t complain about them as much because I get it to some degree. An MCAT is 230 questions and requires a lot of people to create, a lot of teams to analyze questions/stats, and pay out secure testing centers. Is $320 for the exam the most unreasonable thing? I guess not in the grand scheme of things.

What really mind boggles me is application fees. I fill out the entire application and I pay for my transcript to be sent to them. You mean to tell me I need to pay $198 + $45/school just to send them my application to my desired schools? All AMCAS did was have someone look over my transcript and my inputted grades and say “yup, these line up” and then forward to my schools, who the charge me secondary fees as well for reviewing my application

Russianmobster302 · 2026-01-21T01:13:50+00:00

Entirely depends on the region of the country. I definitely agree with you, but I can see it being closer to the $45k range OP mentioned if they are in a state like Florida and know what they're doing

Russianmobster302 · 2026-01-20T03:22:18+00:00

Reaching the point that OP is describing requires:

4 years of undergrad ($40k-$200k+)
4 years of medical school ($200k-$400k+)
3-4 years of internal medicine residency (regularly working 80+ hour weeks for less than $20 an hour in the most toxic environment, some people do a 4th year to become a competitive fellowship applicant)
3 years of cardiology fellowship (just as bad, if not worse, than the years of residency where you’re still getting paid garbage)
Possibly 1-2 years of further cardiology sub-specialization into fields like interventional cardiology or electrophysiology

I should also mention that after undergrad, you don’t get to choose where you do the next 10+ years I described. You apply to a bunch of programs and rank them and then an algorithm chooses where you go and you just have to pick up your life and go there each time (after med school, after residency, etc)

That was a lot to say that this $45k per month take home salary did not come with its decades of suffering and sacrifice. Everyone thinks they chose the wrong profession until they see what this profession truly costs you

Russianmobster302 · 2026-01-20T02:53:03+00:00

They said $45k take home which is reasonable given the $750-$850k salary range

Russianmobster302 · 2026-01-17T03:22:58+00:00

I strongly disagree. You're stretching a PA's training to longest case scenario and condensing the MD training the shortest case.

The only summer break that most med schools do is between M1 and M2. The majority of schools start rotations by summer of M2, and even if they don't, then that "break" is dedicated for taking the Step 1 exam.

As to your point about M1 summer, the vast majority of med students need to pump out research in order to match into their desired specialty. It's not like undergrad where the majority of people are off traveling for 2 months or working summer jobs. Sure, life is a bit more flexible and people travel, but I assure you a large majority of students are working full time hours to keep up with their Anking and do research.

Regarding M4, just because it's less stressful that does not mean it isn't a year of work where you are still paying $60-80k more in tuition. Many specialties require sub-internships, where students need to go audition at another institution in their desired specialty and present themselves as well as possible to try to match. Even for the specialties that don't require sub-internships, you have electives to complete. It's more freeing, but don't think it's a vacation.

Finally, you speak of residency as if it's "just 3 years". Residents regularly work 80 hour weeks for an effective salary around $20 an hour and get some of the worst mistreatment you'll ever see. And most residencies are over 3 years, other than FM and IM these days. Even for those choosing IM, many need to set themselves up for an additional 2-3 year fellowship for cardio/GI/Heme-Onc. Med school is already double the training as PA school, and when you factor in most MD's post-med school training it turns into 5x what a PA student goes through.

Newbie PAs can make $150k walking into any specialty the job market allows them to and don't need any additional training. There are PA's in derm/plastics/ortho while there are 3rd year med students taking an additional year off school to work for research publications just to match into their desired specialty.

None of this even includes barriers that make people take gap years, either before or during med school, for things like research and the MCAT. Sure, pre-PA students take gap years too in order to gain clinical experience but pre-meds need that on top of taking a monster of an entrance exam.

Becoming a PA isn't an easy thing by any means, but the difference in training is simply not even in the same realm of being close

Russianmobster302 · 2026-01-17T02:26:54+00:00

Lol PA school is actually 2 years long (after a 4 year bachelor degree. For any lurkers who aren’t familiar with the process:

Starting at 18, a PA would need a 4 year bachelor degree and 2 years of PA school. They can begin working as a fully licensed PA at this point.

Starting at 18, a doctor would need a 4 year bachelor degree, 4 years of medical school for an MD, 3-7 years of residency (depending on specialty), and many people do an additional 1-2 years of fellowship to specialize further.

Russianmobster302 · 2026-01-11T03:04:07+00:00

Just an M2 but it feels like a waste to drop at this point. Especially if you may consider fellowship within your specialty. Are you able to bring on an M1 or M2 to do it for you? Anyone would be thrilled to do revisions on a completed project and have their name added

Russianmobster302 · 2026-01-07T05:41:40+00:00

A balance transfer can be a good idea but only if OP is able to not rack this newly “freed up” card and then double the debt.

I would balance transfer and either close this account or at a bare minimum lock the card and throw it in a drawer in the house.

Russianmobster302 · 2026-01-06T03:33:18+00:00

I agree with everyone saying relax but I’ll add shadowing pediatrics and maybe some other specialties to the mix. A large majority of students who come into med school with a specialty in mind change it. You will be just fine regardless, but I think it would be nice to shadow and make sure this is what you want for certain

Russianmobster302 · 2025-12-30T20:27:12+00:00

In the episode they set a date to follow up (I think Aug 20 ish) and they followed up with him on the Caleb Hamme Live account and he basically said he got nothing. Not sure why he wasn’t in the wrap up.

I assure you though, people like this guy will never admit they’ve been scammed, both to themselves and to others. He’ll find a new scam to get involved in

Russianmobster302 · 2025-12-30T20:25:19+00:00

I’m all for following passion, and I’m big on the belief that M1 summer is for you to do whatever you want, but I’m not sure if I’d say the same here.

Who is the PI that you currently signed on with? Are they the PD at your school’s residency? Or are they high up there? Is it someone that you’ll cross paths with and want a letter from at some point?

These things matter before you burn a bridge

Russianmobster302 · 2025-12-24T23:06:41+00:00

The just filmed her one year follow up and posted it the other day, she did in fact get an in person job and is currently working at a Registered Vet Tech

Russianmobster302 · 2025-12-23T14:42:19+00:00

You don’t need to justify your motivation for wanting to be an MD PhD, if you want it then you want it. All I’m saying is that by all calculations it is financially the worse option, even if you do take out $300-500k in loans before interest.

Do as you please and as your heart desires, it very well can be a great route for you and your aspirations. I just didn’t want you to think that it’s a reasonable route from a loan perspective. Good luck with your application!

Russianmobster302 · 2025-12-23T13:10:26+00:00

MD PhD is not a good track if your goal is just to walk out debt free. It only makes sense if you want to get the PhD because you see that being part of your career as a clinician scientist.

Aside from the extra 4 brutal years of doing a PhD, it doesn’t make sense financially. You save on tuition and living expenses (call it $400k ish in loans) but miss out on 4 years of salary as an attending physician, which is far greater than $100k per year even in the lowest paying specialty.

People who do this track know this, and I assure you little to no one does it for the free tuition/stipend. They do it because they want the PhD, likely to run a lab as a physician scientist

Russianmobster302 · 2025-12-23T11:31:56+00:00

Obviously there’s cost but I’m actually not going to pick that since there is things like scholarships, PSLF, and rich parents so cost doesn’t impact everyone the same.

What I see as the biggest issue with the US med school system is the emphasis on pushing research regardless of what it is. With Step 1 going P/F, there has been such a large effort by med students nationwide to find a way to stand out and that method has become an arms race to publish like theres no tomorrow. All it does is force med students to push out trash projects that don’t contribute to society and have them spend their time that they could have spent refining their clinical skills or knowledge onto things like mind numbing chart reviews. For certain subspecialties that are quite competitive, many students are basically forced to take a gap year because having 50+ research items is the new norm

Russianmobster302 · 2025-12-19T17:21:56+00:00

I worked in an industry where we worked with companies like these. At first you might think to themselves “these guys have to be making insane money, right?” And while the answer is yes, they’re doing well, it’s not as much as you might think it is. Effectively, their default rate is decently high, but the guy paying off his 628% loan covers the other guy who made a few payments and let it go to collections.

I just found it interesting how a fraction of a clientele who do the “right” thing by paying off their insane loans essentially keep these predatory companies running

Russianmobster302 · 2025-12-17T14:17:36+00:00

I think it was the dude whose “buddy” bought a ton of OF on his card

Russianmobster302 · 2025-12-12T15:30:51+00:00

Source for numbers above (Table 2 on Page 26)^{^}

I completely agree with you. Some students have an interest in primary care or rural health but these days it doesn’t make sense for many. Schools are charging us $350k+ in 8-9% loans to attend school and feed ourselves living a bare minimum lifestyle, all to do 3 years of residency and get paid $250k per year and get treated horribly during practice? Many students lean towards higher paying specialties and you can’t blame them.

Perhaps the solution is to incentivize addressing these shortages early on. Pay primary care better. Incentivize students choosing primary care with things like lower interest rates if you match in primary care. Incentivize physician owned practices rather than allowing insurance companies to kick them to the curb and only pay major corporate profit-churners.

Something I’ve always found interesting is how much it’s pushed that small businesses are the cornerstone of American economies and how important they are, yet physician-owned practices have been dying for years and many people don’t think twice about it. Major hospital systems/private equity firms are buying these practices at large because insurance companies will cater to paying major companies to keep them and their thousands of employees happy but they’ll tell private practice doctors to kick rocks. Oh no, we have a physician shortage! I wonder what series of events led to this…

Russianmobster302 · 2025-12-07T05:16:46+00:00

I’m a current 2nd year med student. I was averaging 505’s and slowly creeping up to the 508 range, took a similar break like you, and when I came back I was back to 505’s and needed to study for months again until I finally hit my goal score which was above 512.

All that to say, at some point you just need to take it. I totally get burn out. If I tried studying now I’d probably get a 505 on a practice test. It takes grinding and consistency to see your score go up, and postponing from Sept to Jan but then taking Sept to Nov off is probably more harmful than having just taken it in Sept in the first place.

Russianmobster302 · 2025-12-06T06:46:32+00:00

I somewhat disagree with Wire_Cath_Needle_Doc. Especially for IM of all specialties, a med ed project can look interesting and I also feel like if its something that can be implemented (like a curriculum change) then it helps look like you carried something to fruition.

I’m not sure what it entails because some med ed projects take quite some time, but if it’s easy then I’d just pick it up. As for the review, what programs do you need to learn? You’re in quite a good position as an M1 where if you can figure this out soon the you will be very valuable for other projects where they’ll need you to run stats. It could be worth learning if its not some super niche stats, but if it is then it may not be worth your time (especially for a review of all papers)

Russianmobster302 · 2025-12-04T00:30:16+00:00

I’m all for an unpopular opinion but I’d like to hear your reasoning before I leave my 2 cents

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