u/Amazing_Ring4599

I made a post on r/studentloans about my situation and the comments are genuinely making me feel like i will never be a dr bc of my loans. can someone please tell me its not as bad or theyve lived through worse? i am freaking out so bad.

Current total debt is about ~$103k:

• ~80k private loans
• ~20k federal Direct loans
• ~5k institutional university loan

the private loans are literally 10%. please dont judge me. I have nobody in my family who is financially literate, i made really dumb decisions when I was 18, and maxed out on my federal loans so i had to switch to private to cover the rest. this is also my undergrad tuition HALF off from scholarship. i know i should have went to a state school. please someone just tell me that it will be okay. i know that med school is a fortune.

Hi guys,

I’m graduating college in May 2026 and planning to take a gap year before hopefully starting medical school in 2027. I recently sat down and fully organized all of my student loans for the first time and honestly got overwhelmed, so I’m trying to figure out the smartest strategy moving forward.

Current total debt is about ~$103k:

• ~80k private loans
• ~20k federal Direct loans
• ~5k institutional university loan

The private loans are the part stressing me out because most are between 9–10.8% interest. Most are currently in “school monthly,” deferment, or grace statuses.

My highest-interest loan is:

• ~$15.7k at 10.8%

I also have several smaller private loans:

• ~$277
• ~$2.9k
• ~$3.1k

Federal loans are mostly between 4.99–6.53%.

I’ll be taking a gap year and expect to make around ~$2k/month take-home income, plus some additional flexible research income. I’m trying to decide what the smartest move is before med school:

• aggressively attack the 10.8% private loan?
• eliminate the small loans first?
• prioritize savings because med school is coming?
• split money between savings + loans?

One thing I’m confused about:
If I aggressively pay down private loans during my gap year, but then they return to deferment once I start med school, how much does that realistically help long-term? I understand reducing principal helps reduce future interest growth, but I’m trying to figure out how impactful it actually is in practice.

None of my loans are delinquent or in default. I’m mostly trying to avoid making dumb decisions before entering another long training period.

Would appreciate any advice from people who went through med school/professional school with significant private loans.