Wayfaring MD

7) what’s your strangest talent?

I can make my whole scalp move back and forth on my head. I’m a freak, I know. 

29) do you believe in ghosts? how about aliens?

I believe there are spirits around us. Whether they are of our dead relatives, I’m not so sure. Aliens, who knows? 

32) what’s the worst place you have ever been to?

Walmart on Christmas Eve

35) to you, what is the meaning of life?

To know God and bring Him glory.

41) what was the last book you read?

Passion and Purity, by Elisabeth Eliot. A re-read. 

50) do you believe in magic?

Stipends? 

The vast majority of us do not have stipends of any kind. Those who are on military scholarships get stipends, and some state-sponsored scholarship programs offer modest stipends. But for the rest of us, it’s either mommy/daddy’s money, wifey/hubby’s money, or loans. 

My parents are regular middle class folks, and 

So…. I took out an extra ~$20K/year to live off of (I had a roommate to split costs with, so I was able to get by a little cheaper). Others took out similar amounts, or more or less depending on how many people they had to support with the money. Very few in my class had the personal funds to get through school. I can only think of one, maybe two, that did it that way. 

It’s a terrible system and we all hate it, but no other solution has presented itself. 

For ways to make money in med school, check this post. 

And of course I also have more legitimate answers to questions about loans and money.