Naive, Naive, Plain Naive...
I have finally made the decision to attend University of Minnesota - Duluth campus. As stated on my acceptance letter, the entire program will cost $218,000 for 4 years for Pharm.D. And don't forget that Masters in Public Health (MPH) which I also want to complete, with 45-46 credits in total and each credit will cost an international student $821. Thus, 46*$821 = $37,766 for this separate degree.
Grand estimated total of expenses = $255,766 for another 4 years of education with two more degrees in the bag.
Is this worth the investment?
Moving further ahead, I will have to start designing my loan repayment scheme even before I begin borrowing - 6 years? 8 years? 10 years? 20 years? How about the interest rates? Since I will be borrowing from many different organizations, I may have to repay all of them concurrently at the same rate! What if I can't get a job after I graduate? The current entry-level pharmacist salary is $90,000/year - what if I really want to do a 2-year residency which only pays maybe $40,000/year? I will still have those debts incurred no matter what I pursue.
Mom kept asking me this question - why do you want to go down the obviously tougher road when you have an easier alternative in front of you? Why?, she asked me. To that, I told her that I simply want to experience and grow through hardships in life. If everything is smooth and easy for me, there will be no challenges and thus no more meaning to life, to me at least. I cannot get past my own conscience if I take the easy way out. That being said though, do I then have no conscience whatsoever regarding the plight of my family?
Proverb 16:9 says that In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.
It does not say that we shouldn't have a plan, but we must be prepared to follow the path that He has laid down for us when it is obvious that what we want is not what He wants. Therefore, even as I now declare that UMN is where I am going and am working on the necessary paperwork to go there this Fall, I cannot be entirely sure until I am physically there this Fall. But God, oh God, I really so want to go to UMN - please reveal Your will to me because somehow there is this nagging thought at the back of my mind that Tennessee may be in fact where You want me to go.
Amen...
Grand estimated total of expenses = $255,766 for another 4 years of education with two more degrees in the bag.
Is this worth the investment?
Moving further ahead, I will have to start designing my loan repayment scheme even before I begin borrowing - 6 years? 8 years? 10 years? 20 years? How about the interest rates? Since I will be borrowing from many different organizations, I may have to repay all of them concurrently at the same rate! What if I can't get a job after I graduate? The current entry-level pharmacist salary is $90,000/year - what if I really want to do a 2-year residency which only pays maybe $40,000/year? I will still have those debts incurred no matter what I pursue.
Mom kept asking me this question - why do you want to go down the obviously tougher road when you have an easier alternative in front of you? Why?, she asked me. To that, I told her that I simply want to experience and grow through hardships in life. If everything is smooth and easy for me, there will be no challenges and thus no more meaning to life, to me at least. I cannot get past my own conscience if I take the easy way out. That being said though, do I then have no conscience whatsoever regarding the plight of my family?
Proverb 16:9 says that In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.
It does not say that we shouldn't have a plan, but we must be prepared to follow the path that He has laid down for us when it is obvious that what we want is not what He wants. Therefore, even as I now declare that UMN is where I am going and am working on the necessary paperwork to go there this Fall, I cannot be entirely sure until I am physically there this Fall. But God, oh God, I really so want to go to UMN - please reveal Your will to me because somehow there is this nagging thought at the back of my mind that Tennessee may be in fact where You want me to go.
Amen...
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