u/Sad-Sasquatch

Hi everyone! I know that these kinds of questions are supposed to go on the weekly megathread; it just hasn't been posted yet this week. If anyone would be able to help me that would be so appreciated :)

1. Where am I supposed to put work experience in my application? Most of my undergraduate experiences are through work, but there are only sections for Research, Trainings, and Volunteering. I was hoping for some place to input my TA positions as well as other on-campus jobs.

2. I realize that I should probably know the answer to this, but how long is the personal statement supposed to be? The submission area for the statement is just a drag-and-drop for files, and I can't find any guidelines.

Thanks in advance! I'm really excited to become an athletic trainer :)

Hi everyone. I wanted to start off by saying that I know I've gotten myself into a quite unfortunate situation, and I really want to try to work my way out of it. I only realized how dire it all is a couple of days ago, and I could really use some advice for how to best navigate my situation to pay off my debt as quickly as possible.

To start, I have about 11k in CC debt and a 7k loan (8% APR, 6.5k left on principal, $220/month payments). The breakdown of my CC debt is as follows:

Bank of America: $6,156/$8000, 21.49%V APR, last min. payment was $134

American Express: $1934/$8000, 28.49%V APR, last min. payment was $40

Discover: $2892/$5100, 15.49%V APR, last min. payment was $52

Chase: $474/$500, 0.00% APR until Apr 2027 then 27.74%V APR, last min. payment was $40

In addition to the 7k loan payments, I also pay $1900/month in rent (this, unfortunately, cannot be lowered. Please don't suggest it - I know it is a HUGE financial hole but it's what I've gotten myself into and I need to live with it), $200/month insurance, and $100/month in a family member loan. Between all of this, I owe about $2,200/month before CC payments or groceries.

However, I also am paying tuition for classes that I need to take before applying to grad school. For the next four months, I will also have payments of $225 towards my fall semester tuition ($1100 total), and it will likely be the same in the spring. I also need to take one more class that requires an up-front payment of $820. I was hoping to take that class in the spring. I know this is really counter-intuitive to the debt-free issue, but I was thinking about putting these tuition charges and ONLY these tuition charges on my credit cards. I've already removed them from my wallet and put them somewhere that might let me forget about them. I'm also hoping to start a Masters program in the next couple of years, and I'll probably have to take out student loans for that, so I also want to set myself up to be able to be approved for those loans when the time comes.

My current income is $700/week post taxes. I had an extra $20 going to my ROTH IRA, but I stopped those contributions yesterday. I have about $1800 in my ROTH, and about $750 in a basic brokerage account. My checking and savings accounts are effectively empty (I get paid tomorrow, and I've been using every penny to throw at credit card payments but still using the credit cards, up until now). I would love to not withdraw from either account, but I think they might need to be used to cover my tuition. The one little glimmer of hope is that I am expecting a $6500 payout from insurance due to a car accident. For many reasons that I don't wish to go into detail about here, I don't know exactly when I'm going to get that payout. I think it is going to be by the end of the year at the ABSOLUTE latest, but I am hopeful it will be in the next month or two. Once this happens, my insurance payments will also likely go down about $50/month.

I am going to cut spending on anything but necessities - no more cool cooking gadgets or shopping for clothes just because they're on sale. I cook for myself at home and I've decided on $50/week on groceries, but if that's unrealistic in either direction, please let me know. I've cancelled all my subscriptions (even my $2 Google One) except my Prime membership because I shop at Whole Foods (I may also need to give up on this?). If I'm going to give anything to myself during this time, I would want it to be still being able to buy good quality whole nutritious foods, but I've only just started grocery shopping for myself and if this is possible through other means, please weigh in! My car has a small gas tank and is a plug-in hybrid. I rarely need gas, and if I do, it's no more than $35. I am able to charge my car where I work for free, so that's also a non-issue. I'm also trying to sell some clothes and shoes on Depop, but that's not super steady income. I've also started DoorDashing after my 9-5 and I'm going to try to get as many hours as I can in with that without making myself completely miserable. I also bake sourdough (decently well) but not sure that would be a good source of income given it requires an investment first.

Anyways - any and all tips would be so appreciated. My current plan is to make the loan/rent/insurance payments every month, make the credit card minimums, and then try to knock out AMEX then BofA then Discover then Chase. But I don't have any experience with tackling large amounts of debt (and plan to never again after this - lesson has been LEARNED), and hearing from people who have or are successfully working towards a similar goal would, at the very least, help reduce some anxiety surrounding all of this.

TL;DR: I make about as much (or even less) as I owe BEFORE credit card payments and need a way to strategically approach this debt and knock it out as quickly as possible.

Hi everyone. I wanted to start off by saying that I know I've gotten myself into a quite unfortunate situation, and I really want to try to work my way out of it. I only realized how dire it all is a couple of days ago, and I could really use some advice for how to best navigate my situation to pay off my debt as quickly as possible.

To start, I have about 11k in CC debt and a 7k loan (8% APR, 6.5k left on principal, $220/month payments). The breakdown of my CC debt is as follows:

Bank of America: $6,156/$8000, 21.49%V APR, last min. payment was $134

American Express: $1934/$8000, 28.49%V APR, last min. payment was $40

Discover: $2892/$5100, 15.49%V APR, last min. payment was $52

Chase: $474/$500, 0.00% APR until Apr 2027 then 27.74%V APR, last min. payment was $40

In addition to the 7k loan payments, I also pay $1900/month in rent (this, unfortunately, cannot be lowered. Please don't suggest it - I know it is a HUGE financial hole but it's what I've gotten myself into and I need to live with it), $200/month insurance, and $100/month in a family member loan. Between all of this, I owe about $2,200/month before CC payments or groceries.

However, I also am paying tuition for classes that I need to take before applying to grad school. For the next four months, I will also have payments of $225 towards my fall semester tuition ($1100 total), and it will likely be the same in the spring. I also need to take one more class that requires an up-front payment of $820. I was hoping to take that class in the spring. I know this is really counter-intuitive to the debt-free issue, but I was thinking about putting these tuition charges and ONLY these tuition charges on my credit cards. I've already removed them from my wallet and put them somewhere that might let me forget about them. I'm also hoping to start a Masters program in the next couple of years, and I'll probably have to take out student loans for that, so I also want to set myself up to be able to be approved for those loans when the time comes.

My current income is $700/week post taxes. I had an extra $20 going to my ROTH IRA, but I stopped those contributions yesterday. I have about $1800 in my ROTH, and about $750 in a basic brokerage account. My checking and savings accounts are effectively empty (I get paid tomorrow, and I've been using every penny to throw at credit card payments but still using the credit cards, up until now). I would love to not withdraw from either account, but I think they might need to be used to cover my tuition. The one little glimmer of hope is that I am expecting a $6500 payout from insurance due to a car accident. For many reasons that I don't wish to go into detail about here, I don't know exactly when I'm going to get that payout. I think it is going to be by the end of the year at the ABSOLUTE latest, but I am hopeful it will be in the next month or two. Once this happens, my insurance payments will also likely go down about $50/month.

I am going to cut spending on anything but necessities - no more cool cooking gadgets or shopping for clothes just because they're on sale. I cook for myself at home and I've decided on $50/week on groceries, but if that's unrealistic in either direction, please let me know. I've cancelled all my subscriptions (even my $2 Google One) except my Prime membership because I shop at Whole Foods (I may also need to give up on this?). If I'm going to give anything to myself during this time, I would want it to be still being able to buy good quality whole nutritious foods, but I've only just started grocery shopping for myself and if this is possible through other means, please weigh in! My car has a small gas tank and is a plug-in hybrid. I rarely need gas, and if I do, it's no more than $35. I am able to charge my car where I work for free, so that's also a non-issue. I'm also trying to sell some clothes and shoes on Depop, but that's not super steady income. I've also started DoorDashing after my 9-5 and I'm going to try to get as many hours as I can in with that without making myself completely miserable. I also bake sourdough (decently well) but not sure that would be a good source of income given it requires an investment first.

Anyways - any and all tips would be so appreciated. My current plan is to make the loan/rent/insurance payments every month, make the credit card minimums, and then try to knock out AMEX then BofA then Discover then Chase. But I don't have any experience with tackling large amounts of debt (and plan to never again after this - lesson has been LEARNED), and hearing from people who have or are successfully working towards a similar goal would, at the very least, help reduce some anxiety surrounding all of this.

TL;DR: I make about as much (or even less) as I owe BEFORE credit card payments and need a way to strategically approach this debt and knock it out as quickly as possible.