Yikes, it has been a while. So much for the biweekly posts. . . Anyways I think there is no better time for a new post as I have received some exciting news. Before that, I do want to jot down some general life/school events that have transpired over the last few weeks that are pretty noteworthy:

1. The much anticipated trip (Off-campus studies) to Japan fell through again. I guess I was kind of expecting it this time with a bunch of negative news surrounding the COVID situation for the past few weeks. It wasn't as bad this time emotionally as we weren't mere weeks from the trip happening and I didn't have a plane ticket already purchased. Maybe once all the dental school stuff is said and done I can travel for a vacation. It just won't be the same - ten full weeks with a good itinerary and lots of logistics already solved. Who knows, maybe my Japanese will be fluent by then : )
2. I turned in the draft of my senior Comps paper last week! Had some bumps in the road, but I am proud that I managed to write extensively about something like graphene. Could not imagine doing something like this three years ago. Have a few more major steps to take such as revisions, picking a second reader to analyze the paper, and doing an oral defense, but things are looking good
3. Kind of an extension of #1, but with Japan not happening, that does mean that I will be here for my last term. It'll be nice to finally get outside after being stuck indoors for the majority of winter term and do things like Spikeball. That also gives me time to present my comps (which was optional), but I think it would be quite enjoyable to work on my public speaking skills on a talk that has absolutely no influence on my grade. A personalized talk if you will
4. Some next year logistics is shaping up. I believe I have found a roommate who I think I will get along with. Preliminarily looking at housing and wow is it expensive.

Now, the big news. After nearly a month of waiting following the official January boards, I was "unofficially/professionally recommended" to both the Navy and Army HPSP!!! I got news from the Army 2/10 and the Navy two days later on 2/12. I don't know if I ever mentioned it in a previous blog, but you can definitely apply to more than one branch for the HPSP, and I did so to increase my chances of getting a scholarship.

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Which branch will I choose and why?

If the paperwork works out I will be choosing the Navy. The reason for this is mainly because of the location of the naval bases in comparison to the Army's. I think having to be by a major body of water limits the chance of being contracted out to a location that is too remote. This will allow me to explore some exciting cities hopefully. In addition, I just felt a personal draw to the Navy based on my experience with my recruiter and the people I talked to from both branches. There's really no wrong answer in this scenario but I am going with my gut. Oh, also naval bases in Japan? Just a pipe dream as most dentists aren't sent there.

Why is this so exciting?

Well, this makes me a debt-free dentist!!! Oh and makes my decision to UPenn over the University of Minnesota official! I can't express how important that was to me. The numbers scared me, they really did. Even if I had attended UMN, I think the debt would have been nearly $375,000 WITHOUT interest. And interest accumulates the second you withdraw money each term not to mention the compounding daily interest. I know it's possible to pay off, but I didn't want hanging in the back of my mind. I would like to one day go to work as a dentist and know that I'm not losing half my paycheck to something like interest payments. If I had not gotten the scholarship, I would still go to dental school at UMN, but probably wouldn't have been as excited. As I've said before, the debt is real.

For those of you still applying, here's a helpful breakdown of why I think you should do the HPSP if you got into a school that costs >$300,000 (which is nearly every dental school nowadays). I will look at both timelines after the HPSP minimum service is completed - four years after dental school

HPSP Path:

• All the tuition and mandatory expenses paid for (after interest looking at a 10-yr repayment plan, this is around double the tuition costs [Rule of 72]) so for me attending UMN that would be around $200,000 x 2 = $400,000 on a good day. I know tuition is more than that but interest is reduced as you pay the loan off, so this is a low-scale estimate.
• While you are in school they pay you a stipend ($2391.60 for 2020) monthly which covers living expenses. This rate is higher 1.5 months out of the year as they pay you active duty pay (not sure but lets say $2500). If I did my math correctly this is roughly $2400 x 12 x 4 = $115,200 (pre-tax)
• Oh almost forgot this, but you can (should) sign the $20,000 (pre-tax) sign-on bonus that locks you in for a four year service obligation. Unless you're going to UoP this is a no-brainer as you had to serve a year per school anyways. Might as well take the bonus.
• You will graduate and serve for four years. Based on my research the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) differs based on where you are stationed. I plugged this in for the Great Lakes area, which is one of the main naval bases that shouldn't have a super high cost of living. In addition to the number shown below there is incentive pay, which is $20,000 for dentists. Don't forget about some of your income being non-taxable - that's huge:

So in total let's disregard non-taxable to be generous to the other side and say the total pay per year is $100,000 (pre-tax) - total of $400,000

• So by the time I will be done with the Navy in 2029/2030, I would have received in total $935,000. The total net worth would be everything subtract the school cost/interest and the majority of the stipend. Therefore, it would be + $420,000 pre-tax. Now I know some of this goes to housing, expenses, etc. but you get the idea. I will be fair and apply this to the other side. Just as a reference this after taxes using the standard tax bracket code and living in Minnesota is $290,000.

Dental School Path:

• I would graduate dental school with accruing interest from day 1. At UMN this would be $375,000. Let's be generous and say I live real frugally so I get cheap room/board fees each year and only really pay tuition. Thus, I end up with $340,000 of debt before interest. With the interest rates for professional/graduate students this is around 5%. The amount of interest after four years would be roughly 8%. Thus I would graduate with $370,000 worth of debt
• Let's say I get super super lucky and find some magical private practice associateship where I am a wizard and have high production and a nice contract. Not super unrealistic but you may have to go somewhere pretty rural for this. My salary is $200,000. After the tax bracket being applied to both federal and state you take home roughly 60-61% of the pre-tax income. This would $120,000 after taxes. If I applied 100/120K to loans it would take me to roughly the end of 2029 by the time I paid the debt itself off as it kept accruing interest. I would then have 80-100K saved up from four years and a few months of income which would bring me to about $100K in net worth post tax.

Comparing these two paths I was lenient to the dental school path and conservative to the HPSP. I am just a student trying to crunch some numbers so disclaimer here that this is all for fun reading material and is not financial advice. Take it as you will. However, living off of 20K a year is not the life you want to have as a graduating dentist, and finding that kind of job with that salary you first year out will (a) be hard to find or (b) burn you out. I have not even factored in how much these numbers change once you switch to a more costly school like UPenn or what happens if you save some of the stipend and store it wisely.

Some links that reference my work:
Shoutout to Rohen's (FutureDDS) spreadsheet that calculates loan payback - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DLQClklIDtqIBWz5DIIABHQ4TGBbiHO83XW0sHOGmnY/edit?usp=sharing
Military Pay - https://militarybenefits.info/military-pay-calculator/

I know at the end of the day I chose the career because it was something I was excited about and wanted to do based on my experiences. However, everything does have a point where it just is not worth it anymore. Just wanted to provide my analysis for anyone reading. Hope it helps.

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Wow I really got side-tracked there. Didn't mean for this to be a post about finances but I have gone too deep. OOOOOH before I forget, I was super excited that some algorithms are working on Google and this page can now be searched under certain terms and show up on the first page!

Hope to provide more frequent updates. I will let you know once things become official.
Okay it's late, time for bed. Ta-Ta!