I need your advice and soon

[Jasminegab]

ok. I have been accepted into St. Luke School of Medicine which is located in Africa and has 3 campuses in Africa. They also have a campus in Pune, India through an agreement with St. Andrews International Academy. Rather then go into details about St. Luke School of Medicine, here is my question that I need advice on and soon.

I have just 3 semester away to graduate with a BS in Health Science from West Chester University of Penn. I have been offered the option of going to Pune, India to complete my degree while doing my pre-med studies in Pune, India. After 2 trimesters, I'll be admitted into the full MD program and do the 2yrs of Basic Science in Pune, India. However, I'm a little uneasy about this because I'm only 3 semesters away from a US degree and don't want to exchange that for a degree from a school that no one know's about.

My choice in medical schools has always been Flinders. However, what discouraged me from applying to Flinders was that I was told that I would never be able to cover my tuition just with loans. I would need to apply for Terri loans or MedAchievers loans. I come from a working class family. I messed my credit up years ago and so did my mother. I'll never get a Terri loan nor a MedAchiever loan. My only way to get through school is through the US government loans-Staford loans.

Also, I not the best student out there. Since this is my last 3 semesters which amount to about 1yr and a half to graduate, I have been working very hard to improve my GPA. I'm also thinking about taking a Post-Bac pre-med program to do my pre-med's.

I need your advice. I'm not sure what to do as of this point. I do know that I have decided that I will stay in the US to complete my degree from WCU rather than leave and finish my degree overseas.

P.s. I'm a US citizen. If push comes to shove, I will just have to post pone my admission into St. Luke School of Medicine. I spoke with them last night and they agreed with me that that would be fine.

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[pitman]

1) Get a current copy of your credit report from TRW and Equifax (the two major credit reporting agencies). See if there is ANYTHING in there you can challenge. If you think *maybe* you can, do so after first researching credit law at:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/index.html
-or-
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/

Relevant laws are partially under US Code Title 15 Section 41 (15 USC 41).

2) Research your actual chances of getting non-Stafford loans as soon as possible -- meet with banks, etc. Even with bad credit, b.c. you will become a doctor, you may be able to get a loan based on future expected earnings.

3) When you apply to Flinders, also apply to 2 other Aus. grad programs. I liked Flinders a lot when I visited, but ended up turning them down accepting an offer from what was initially my 3rd choice (UQ).

4) This is akin to gambling, but consider that currently the US dollar is the weakest it's been since 1996. Certainly it could go either way, but once US interest rates increase, I expect the dollar's strength to at least partially come back (maybe not to 2:1 but at least to 3:2).

-pitman