- Four-year bachelor's degree, in-state public
- Roughly $11,000 a year in tuition and fees
- Medical school, four years
- Commonly $40,000 to $70,000 a year all in, less at a public school in your own state
- The MCAT (medical school admission test), applications and interviews
- $3,000 to $7,000 once you count travel and applying to twenty schools
- Licensing exams
- Three steps of the United States Medical Licensing Examination, roughly $1,000 each, plus board certification exams later
Roughly, all in
$190,000 to $340,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is four years at an in state public university, then a public medical school in your own state, plus the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test), applications and the three steps of the national licensing exam. The high end is a private or out of state medical school at up to $70,000 a year all in, with no in state discount anywhere. The residency and fellowship years after medical school are paid jobs, so they add no tuition to this figure. What the numbers hide is interest, which is serious on a balance this size, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which can cancel the rest after ten years of payments at a nonprofit hospital.
Most graduates borrow, and the debt is large. Two things blunt it: Public Service Loan Forgiveness, where residency and fellowship years at a nonprofit hospital count toward the ten years, and the fact that this specialty earns enough afterward to clear the rest quickly.