IJUSTWANTOPARTYDOC
Full Member
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2023
- Messages
- 103
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- 169
The credit card bit is good practical advice, for those that are able to do so.I think it would be if they surprised you with it which my school didn’t. It’s not impossibly hard to save up 3 weeks of bills, but I’m sure there are some who may struggle more with it. I have a credit card for things like this- I can put whatever on there then when I get my loans, just pay it off. That’s what I would advise to anyone needing some coverage.
Many will not be able to take this route for various reasons; credit score, etc., so it is definitely not a practical solution to the problem as a whole.
As far as it being easy to save up a couple weeks worth of bills, on top of moving expenses, etc. (and it really could be significantly more or less than 3 weeks depending on the school and other factors) that is likely true for the average matriculant.
However the average matriculant is far above the average SES of the population. Systemic issues like this (e.g. delaying the disbursement of funds) actively prevent lower SES from applying, becoming accepted, and matriculating.
This is a problem that medical schools, the AMA, AAMC, etc., etc., have recognized and are ostensibly seeking to address. I do not want only high SES medical students, that is bad for the health of our communities. This is well documented. Who do you want as medical students and physicians? Does the current system adequately meet those goals? If not, what can be done about it? Good things to think about imo.
I do take the points @wysdoc makes around the topic of loans/disbursement to be valid concerns/additional issues to be addressed. And I genuinely appreciate the different perspective they bring.
As an aside, I love the pragmatic advice in this thread on the various topics we’ve discussed, but there seems to be some pushback as to actually trying to understand and address the root cause of these problems. So, if these “essays” (as someone lovingly put it) are too much for this thread I can take them elsewhere, but these issues directly affect current and future premeds, medical students, physicians, the patients they serve, their friends and family, the nation and international community as a whole, and literally every second of our lives. And I think a little critical thinking and discussion amongst colleagues (on topics outside the medical science and its direct application), would do wonders for the state of medicine.
In fact, I’ll probably just go ahead and remove myself for now. Peace, love, and good luck to everyone!