You know what pisses me off?

[WindRavenX]

No one factors the re-fucking-diculously high price of college textbooks into financial aid-- and for someone like me who has NO MONEY, I can't buy the textbooks right away until I get my rebate check from my alternate loans. By then, they have sold out, leaving me to scramble to find a copy.
This is a big disadvantage, I'm already behind in a class because of this very reason and the professor is not being helpful.
Gah. Not in a good mood tonight :(

[wildhorses]

1. that is a real disadvantage for you. and it is doubly tough

playing catch up. Hang in there, baby. :hug:

[WindRavenX]

2. I graduate in May

I'm terrified :scared:

[wildhorses]

3. take a deep breath and REMEMBER:

One day at a time...one thing at a time. Just breathe. You'll be fine :pals:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UyVMxKh5IQ

[SofaKingLiberal]

4. .

http://www.half.ebay.com/textbooks

[WindRavenX]

5. I LOVE YOU

:bravo:

[Kat45]

6. Can you find any of them used?

When I was in college, eons ago, I got many of my books used, often in used bookstores, or sometimes other students would post ads/signs to sell their old books.

[sir_captain]

7. I hear you

it is technically factored in for med school aid, but is really underestimated. I've already spent about $1500 on books for this year, and I'll be spending at least another $500-$750 and I couldn't wait to get them cheaper by mail.

Hang in there. :hi:

[WindRavenX]

8. jesus fuck

1500 a semester? What texts are you buying?

<--glad is not going to med school

I still can't get over the fact I had to spend 250 on fucking o-chem.

[sir_captain]

9. Tons and tons of them

We're taking 8 classes at the moment, and a bunch of them, like gross anatomy, have about 4 or 5 required books ranging from about $60-$120. Actually, I think I have 6 books for that class. And that's not counting the dissector atlas that my anatomy group bought as a group cause anything that goes into the lab quickly gets way too gross to take back out.

At least they all have cool pictures.

Oy...o-chem. Let's just say I didn't love that class. I hope you manage it better than I did...

[WindRavenX]

10. I LOVE the human body

If I was more intelligent (and had the money for med school) I'd have love to have been a cardiologist.

[sir_captain]

11. It's pretty amazing

It's really an honor and privilege that someone decided to allow me and my schoolmates to learn this way. We had a memorial service for the bodies with the families of the donors, which I think was a very nice event. I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually, but it's still a little hard seeing this face staring back up at me. Particularly since she still has nail polish on.

Anyway, yeah, med school is sure expensive. I'm doing it all with loans (about half a million dollars including interest) but it will be worth it in the end. Not sure what kind of doc I'm going to be yet, but if I had to guess, probably primary care.

[WindRavenX]

12. q:

My friend took out a quater million loan to cover med school-- how on earth do you pay that back? Doesn't the interest just make it impossible?

I figure I'll be paying my 40K loan for the rest of my life, and I can't image 250,000!

[sir_captain]

14. Well, some of it is interest free, and most of the rest is deferred

so my loans are a combination of subsidized stafford loans, unsubsidized stafford loans, and PLUS loans, all from the feds. The subsidized (about $40,000) have zero interest, and the unsubsidized and PLUS loans have fixed interest rates. The stafford loans won't start accruing any interest until after I finish my residency, and the PLUS loans will accrue interest, but I won't have to maky any payments until post-residency. This is a good thing as the average resident's salary is about $37,000/year. The average repayment time is 10 years, so I guess that's somewhere in the neighborhood of $40,000-$50,000 a year, which I imagine will be most of my salary post-tax. But it'll get done by the time I'm in my late 40s I guess!

This is why I get pissed off by all the DU threads about how docs are just in it for the money. They really have no clue. Unless one happens to have a big pot of gold lying around ahead of time, medicine is a pretty piss-poor way to get rich.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

13. I was able to use my financial aid to buy my books the day I moved in.

I think I was one of the lucky ones. But I was allowed to go ahead get my books the day I moved in by showing the book store my financial aid paper that showed all the money that I got from grants, loans and academic scholarships. I paid for my books later from the rebate checks. I am sure that you should be allowed to do the same.

[bicentennial_baby]

15. That sucks!

At UMB, we get to use up to $750 of our aid for books, with a special charge card...If you have leftover, you get to cash it in as cash once the semester begins... :hug:

[Lethe]

16. i feel your pain.

i have an exam tomorrow in organic chemistry and i just got my textbook in the mail yesterday. saved over a hundred bucks tho on that one book.

i always check the school library, i get at least one book a semester that way. and get an older edition off amazon if the professor says its ok. the damn lab books are outrageous though. i gotta buy like 3 lab books for every 1 hour lab section.