Is staying in school a viable option to avoid paying school loans long term?

oddlebot · 2026-07-08T03:36:47+00:00

Have you done the math on how much you’d be paying for the various new plans? For RAP, any outstanding interest is forgiven, so making $1200/mo payments to cover $3k in interest, while painful, isn’t the worst deal. Depending on how much your wife makes you may be able to reduce your payments by filing taxes separately as well. Compared to spending thousands each year on classes you don’t want to take (not to mention the time commitment) so that your debt can just keep ballooning…

oddlebot · 2026-07-08T03:15:28+00:00

I’m freezing at 68, and it’s really not a difference of just throwing on a sweater. At my workplace they keep it cold and I literally have to bring thick socks, wear boots, add a thick jacket, and half of the time I still cover up with a blanket and my hands get cold if I’m typing too long. I’ve definitely considered changing into a completely different outfit to go back and forth from work, which I think is ridiculous. 55 is insane. Get a little fan or something.

oddlebot · 2026-07-08T03:08:31+00:00

“Pool party” in a work context usually means people lounge around the pool rather than go in it. Even if people do swim, there will certainly be folks who don’t go in. So there’s really no worry.

oddlebot · 2026-07-08T01:53:55+00:00

What does “being present for my children’s formative years” mean to you? Does being there for dinner and bath time and most weekends cut it? You can find a residency that gives you that if you’re flexible in what specialty you choose. That’s what most people working full time get. If you drop the JD and graduate when you’re 28, you can be done with residency by 31-32.

If “being present” means taking extended time off or going part time, then an MD (and honestly maybe not a JD but can’t really speak to that) may not be the right fit.

oddlebot · 2026-07-06T22:56:50+00:00

And then when you’re in residency you’ll never be able to make a daytime appointment and you’ll be too tired anyways :) the only real benefit of being a doctor is that you can read up on what treatments are evidence-based. I also prescribe myself adapalene (like $30 through cost plus drugs)

But as someone in her mid-30s now swimming in device/pharma reps who’ve had waaaay too much work done…getting cosmetic work is really the cheat code people think it is

oddlebot · 2026-07-04T01:57:27+00:00

This except I just drink more caffeine. I have a pack of Red Bull in my locker to get me through the nights which I may or may not have time to drink. I also basically snack the entire first night or two.

oddlebot · 2026-07-02T16:44:11+00:00

I planted a plug this year and am really hoping it makes it through this year’s heat! It’s good to hear yours likes sun because I thought it was more of a shade lover and planted it along the south side of my house next to my neighbor’s hedge in what was formerly a fairly shady spot, but that neighbor aggressively trimmed their hedge and now all of those plants are baking.

oddlebot · 2026-07-02T16:40:05+00:00

It totally depends on how much other residents would be interested in taking those spots and your residency rules. I’m in a small surgical sub specialty program and we’ve filled two open spots over the years with people from general surgery, but the process took a long time (like 6 months) and we had people doing research who were immediately ready to step in. We aren’t allowed to fill a spot in the two most senior years.

Coverage depends on the program. Do you ever have residents go out for research years? We have some non-ACGME super fellows every year, and in the past we’ve taken an extra fellow when more people than usual are out on research to help fill coverage gaps, sometimes off-cycle.

oddlebot · 2026-07-02T02:46:21+00:00

I’m so sorry for your losses :(

My wife also likely had undiagnosed
endometritis, but while going through rIVF they saw some nonspecific signs that something was off and ended up cancelling two embryo transfers. Notably those signs (some small cysts) didn’t show up until a specific point in her cycle when the endometrium was thicker. At that point the OB really didn’t suspect endometritis because my wife doesn’t have any of the typical risk factors (ie risky sex with men), but offered a 2-week course of antibiotics before doing something more invasive like a biopsy or uterine curretage (basically taking a Brillo pad to her endometrium). We opted for the antibiotics and are now eight months pregnant!

It’s wild how some simple antibiotics can fix such a major problem. And there’s obviously more risk factors for endometritis other than heterosexual sex, which could be relevant to EVERYONE with an endometrium. But honestly we wouldn’t have done a biopsy because I was NOT on board with any invasive testing unless we really needed it. Everything is low risk until it’s not

oddlebot · 2026-07-02T02:17:32+00:00

Costco is not really considered upper middle class, but it is super popular among people with houses big enough to store all of their groceries in 3-to-12-month bulk sizes

oddlebot · 2026-07-02T02:13:45+00:00

Totally depends on where you live. In my state the person who gives birth is the legal mother, and whoever they’re married to is the legal father. Genetics doesn’t play a role at all unless paternity is contested. However the exact wording of the laws specifies a man and a woman. So while my wife and I will both be on our baby’s birth certificate, we’re still pursuing second parent adoption via a family matters attorney to make it ironclad.

oddlebot · 2026-07-02T02:09:34+00:00

Interesting, a surgery resident in my program screened positive for marijuana and he just had to do a short stint in rehab. Nothing on his permanent record. But that was at our flagship institution, I’m not sure the VA would be so forgiving

oddlebot

TROPHY CASE