Did I make the right decision?

RaqibMarvelous

It would seem that you seriously need to talk to someone about loans, grants, and scholarships. Have you discussed financial aid with the school and discussed your situation with them? Also, a lot of schools have work programs, also if you already are associated with a major talk to that department about paying positions. Research scholarships online, you're probably out of time to apply for anything but there are so many out there for everyone there's probably a "procrastinator's scholarship" you could apply for. Talk to professors from your major with which you have a decent working relationship to see if they have any ties in the community to do some work in your field. Go to a temp agency and talk to them about finding a position that fits your schedule. If there is a walmart in your area, some of those are 24/7 and might be able to work with your schedule. You have options, you just have to be open to other possibilities. What about a Wendy's or Taco Bell, they have 2nd shift hours and might let you multitask on the job. Talk to other students and find out what they do. Look at job boards at the school (student union or departmental offices) and see if there's anything posted. How are you with kids? Some people work 2nd or 3rd shift and just need someone to feed their kids, spend time with them, provide a safe environment, get the kids off to bed, and then hang out there to make sure nothing happens. They'll pay pretty well for it too (there are websites dedicated to finding babysitters that match your criteria), but you'd do well to be cpr certified in advance.

lol, I do not have kids. I'm living alone, like I said!

Just to clarify, I am receiving financial aid through FAFSA. Additional scholarship opportunities, I need help finding, because I tried looking myself... I yielded no results!

AmericanExpat

Here is a website with a ton of different scholarships. http://www.fastweb.com/

Ocarina

I had this happen to me. I didn't need to work per say but was tired of living on one income. So I got a job working over night at a grocery store an hour from my college and my home was in between both locations. I thought it would be a cake walk and give me a ton of daylight time. I forgot about sleeping and how hard it is to sleep during the day. SO I quit because my grades were suffering... it only lasted two weeks so I didn't do too much damage but still. It was frustrating because I wanted employment but couldn't obtain it.

Luckily I transferred that following semester to the university where there is a TON of jobs available. If you go to a big school they will have jobs you can look into. Nothing enough to pay bills unless you live super cheap with roommates under 700 a month. And it looks great on the resume and goes well with your school schedule.

Hope this helps!

RaqibMarvelous

Here is a website with a ton of different scholarships. http://www.fastweb.com/

Thanks for that, I've been applying all day. What are the chances I actually get accepted to one though? Probably not very high, right?

hobbit_abby

I agree with the others about finding a job that matches and is supportive of your school schedule, finding roommates, and finding scholarships. Or even finding friends or family members with connections to see if they can help you out with housing.

However, since you're also aiming to become a surgeon, you'll also have to think about how you're going to pay for medical school after you get your current housing and job situation under control (applying to medical school can also easily cost up to $1000 in addition to the cost of taking the MCAT, but there are fee waivers for applicants that need it). I don't know what year in college you're in and when you're planning on applying to medical school, but in the future, you're going to have to think about making time to study for the MCAT in addition to school and work. If you're really set on going to med school, maintaining your grades is extremely important - but you'll also need to take note of finances because once you're in med school, it's 4 years of pure negative income (unless you do a MD-PhD program) and I don't think surgery residents have time to moonlight to supplement their residency income.

Although med school admissions committees are understanding of students with financial problems (and med schools do give financial aid), that doesn't help when it comes to trying to get scholarships. To get merit scholarships, you'll need a great GPA and a great MCAT score. In addition, I noticed that you wrote that you're Asian in your profile - and the median MCAT score for Asians who matriculate into med school is around 1 point higher than the national matriculant average (which means to be a competitive applicant you'll want at least a 32 on the MCAT, and even higher if you want to be competitive for scholarships).

Also, have a backup plan - if you can't afford to apply or attend med school after college, you need to take a gap year (or years) working a job to accumulate money.

I realize that med school stuff might seem so far away from your current financial needs, but I'm currently applying to med school so the part about you wanting to become a surgeon caught my attention.

Good luck!