Help Me Cover the Cost of Applying to Medical School

My name is Jared , and I recently graduated from the University of Vermont with a degree in geochemistry with minors in biochemistry and GIS. For the past several years, I've been working toward attending medical school, spending much of my time outside of classes volunteering with veterans, working in clinical settings, and helping provide medical outreach to people experiencing homelessness and those without reliable access to healthcare. Becoming a physician has been something I've put an enormous amount of time, money, and effort into, and I'm now at the point where the cost of simply applying has become difficult to manage.

Unlike many students, I don't have parents I can turn to for financial assistance, and I've had to figure out how to pay for my education and expenses myself. I already have student loans from my undergraduate degree, and while I've done everything I can to keep moving forward, the expenses associated with applying to medical school have added another significant financial burden. I've worked hard to get to this point academically, and taken several additional years to get here so as to not take on massive amounts of debt but I had no idea that there's a considerable financial cost in simplying applying to medical schools in the US. I tried again and again for AMCAS to help financially but they have either never gotten back to me or denied me since I was working while in undergrad, even though all the money I made wasn't enough to tuition, housing and food and I still needed loans.

Now I needed personal loans simply to apply this year to school. I applied to 38 medical schools, which was a lot I know but I'm afraid of having to reapply a second year with how much this is costing me, and expenses added up much faster than I anticipated. Between the MCAT exams (350 each plus travel and needing a hotel since no centers were near me) preparation books and study materials, registration fees for the MCAT, AAMC PREview, and CASPer examinations, primary application fees, and the secondary application fees that individual medical schools charge simply to review an application, the total has approached $10,000. Many schools now charge well over $100 just for a secondary application, on top of the initial application fee, and none of these expenses guarantee an interview, much less acceptance.

I've spent years working toward this opportunity, including approximately 1,500 hours volunteering with the VA, working in ophthalmology, conducting research in Greenland, and participating in community medical outreach both in the United States and abroad. I graduated with a strong academic record, completed additional science coursework, and have continued trying to improve my application wherever possible. I'm currently waiting to hear back from medical schools, including programs where I've interviewed, while also searching for employment to help cover my expenses.

I'm hoping to raise $10,000 to help cover the money I've already spent on the application process and the remaining expenses associated with pursuing admission. With undergraduate student loans already hanging over me and no parental financial support to fall back on, recovering even a portion of these costs would make a substantial difference in my ability to keep moving forward since it has come down to paying for my application and paying for my car and food :(

I know there are plenty of people facing financial difficulties, and I don't expect anyone to feel obligated to help. I've generally tried to manage things on my own, and asking strangers for money isn't something I ever expected to be doing. But I've reached a point where the financial cost of pursuing medicine has become impossible to manage without help, especially when so much of the process involves paying thousands of dollars without knowing whether any of it will lead to an acceptance.

My goal is still to become a physician and eventually work with Doctors Without Borders, and The Red Cross both here in the United States and internationally, particularly in places where access to medical care is limited. I've already invested years of work into making that possible, and I'd like to continue pursuing it without the financial consequences of applying becoming another obstacle.

If you're able to contribute, regardless of the amount, I would greatly appreciate it. If you can't, sharing this fundraiser would also help.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.