Repayment against a real starting salary

Take the monthly instalment and put it beside a realistic first-year salary in the field, in the country where you expect to work — a median, not the top of the range. Then subtract rent and living costs from that salary and see what remains.

This is arithmetic, not pessimism. A loan that consumes a third of a realistic net starting salary is workable but tight. One that consumes more than half is a plan that depends on everything going right.