planning a military medical career

hello everyone-i was wondering if anyone out there can give me the lowdown on how a premed student can "plan" a medical career in the military. I am in my first year of premed and am looking at the possibility of joining the army. thanks

[DCJenn]

Hi- there are a couple ways of becoming a military physician. One woman who works with my husband did ROTC in undergrad and then went to USUHS for medical school. (That's the military medical school). She now owes 11 years payback for both college and medical school, but she had almost no school debt. The the other medical school program is called HPSP and all of the services (except the Marines because they use Navy doctors) have it. A decent recruiter should be able to help and if you go to http://www.army.mil, look for AMEDD, and then read the various sections, you should find out all that you need and more!

Good luck-

Jenn

thanks alot Jenn. I didn't even think about rotc and my university

first step

Hey- I would have to say the first step in planning a military career medical career is to decide if you want a military medical career (and at your point, a medical career for that matter). The best way to do this is to talk to people in the military practicing medicine. Ignore recruiters and med students on HPSP scholarships (everyone on scholarship are very happy and most know little about what life as a military doc is like).
Seek people out who are unhappy- this will give you a worse case situation and help you decide if you can live with this. My wife did HPSP and so far is very happy- but others are not. I think most unhappy people failed to get all the facts or possibilities that are involved-some had bad luck and others are just unhappy people in general.
People who go into medicine are very goal oriented and sometimes know the steps to the goal before they know if they really what the goal- so I am just suggesting you think about every step of the way. In addition, you can join the military at many points in your career- ROTC, before med school, during and after med school, during and after residencies-- are all have benefits (recruiters can help you with this) and drawbacks (recruiters generally are not as helpful with these)- know what these things are before you make a decision. Hope this gives you something to think about.

I'm about to start the med school application process and I'm pretty sure I'll do the HPSP program. However, I'm not sure whether I should go Army, Navy, or AF. Are there any particular advantages or drawbacks (i.e. lifestyle, duty locations, etc.) I should be aware of? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I'm afraid to completely trust recruiters on this topic and would like some advice from real people out there. (Also, I don't know if this factors in to the decision of which particular service I should choose, but I'm a female and planning to get married in about a year, as well have kids at some point down the road.) Thanks for your help!

[DCJenn]

From everything that I have heard, the Air Force is much kinder to females. That said, since we're in a combined AF/Army program I have not noticed any real difference. The PT requirements are different- the assignments are ultimately different (usually) and that's about it!

Jenn

Thanks for the info. It seems like more of the programs are being combined, so I guess it's pretty similar for the AF and Army now. But it's good to know about women and the AF. I appreciate your help.

[peggyfromwastate]

I'm about to start the med school application process and I'm pretty sure I'll do the HPSP program. However, I'm not sure whether I should go Army, Navy, or AF. Are there any particular advantages or drawbacks (i.e. lifestyle, duty locations, etc.) I should be aware of? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I'm afraid to completely trust recruiters on this topic and would like some advice from real people out there. (Also, I don't know if this factors in to the decision of which particular service I should choose, but I'm a female and planning to get married in about a year, as well have kids at some point down the road.) Thanks for your help!

Is there any particular reason why you're looking at the HPSP and not looking at attending USUHS? My husband has finally decided to go to USUHS, so he never even needed to apply to HPSP. HPSP would be nice if you have your heart set on going to a certain medical school, but maybe you should check out USUHS too? Of course, from what I can gather most people who do USUHS end up "lifers" and most who do HPSP get out when they can...

As far as the branches, some posts on this thread have sort of gone into different perks and what not. It depends I guess on what your family life is like, in a way. For my husband, the possibility of being sent on a ship for long stretches of time was a big deterrent from the Navy route. Mostly because he gets sea-sick! Seriously, though, we wanted to stay in the states mostly, and Army has most of its bases in the States (correct me if I'm wrong????). But then again, Army does more deployment from what I understand than AF.

Oh well- good luck with your decision!

Peggy

Actually, I have considered USUHS - but from what I've heard, when you apply there, they can assign you to any of the branches. But it sounds like your husband was able to choose the Army. ?? The ship thing is not for me, so I wouldn't want to be stuck in the Navy. Otherwise, it sounds like a great deal, since they pay more than the HPSP stipend. I'm not averse to the idea of staying in the military after payback, but I've been researching all this on the Internet and have found some pretty negative feedback on military medicine (physician retention seems to be a problem because people are fed up with the bureaucracy in military hospitals - however, that seems to be true of medicine everywhere these days, so who knows.) If I actually have some choice in what branch I get, USUHS would be great.

Thanks for your help!
-Deidre

Actually, I have considered USUHS - but from what I've heard, when you apply there, they can assign you to any of the branches. But it sounds like your husband was able to choose the Army. ?? The ship thing is not for me, so I wouldn't want to be stuck in the Navy. Otherwise, it sounds like a great deal, since they pay more than the HPSP stipend. I'm not averse to the idea of staying in the military after payback, but I've been researching all this on the Internet and have found some pretty negative feedback on military medicine (physician retention seems to be a problem because people are fed up with the bureaucracy in military hospitals - however, that seems to be true of medicine everywhere these days, so who knows.) If I actually have some choice in what branch I get, USUHS would be great.

Thanks for your help!
-Deidre

[DCJenn]

According to my husband, a 2000 USUHS grad, some people got to pick their service- others didn't. He didn't get to choose but he was Army from the get go so it really didn't matter. (he was Army enlisted before)
Jenn

[peggyfromwastate]

When my husband interviewed at USUHS, he filled out a preference sheet for which branch he wanted. He interviewed early on, and was accepted, which essentially guaranteed that he'd get the branch of his choice. The Army has by far the most slots to fill, so I guess that in a sense the Army would be the "easiest" branch to choose to ensure that you are placed there. The preference sheet has you rank the branches (I can't remember exactly, but I think you rank them by saying for example: I would definitely go to this branch; It's not my top choice but I would serve in this branch; and I would not serve in this branch. There are 4 different rankings.) My husband put Army as his top, but I have heard of people who didn't care really putting all the branches as their top. My husband then put AF, then Navy, and lastly Public Health, which he said he would not serve in that branch. He already works in the Public Health arena and works closely with a public health Dr, so he knew that that field wasn't for him. No big deal anyways since there are only 2 public health slots a year!

Anyway, when you receive your acceptance from USUHS, they tell you to which branch you have been accepted. If you are accepted to Army from USUHS, but have your heart set on AF, then you could always apply to the HPSP for AF. You can always choose to not go to USUHS, but it's definitely a nice school to look into if you're thinking at all about military medicine.

We have looked long and hard at the negative posts out there about military medicine. They are bad, aren't they? I came to the conclusion that there were lots of those posts made by people who seemed to have unrealistic expectations about medicine in general. I'm lucky since my Dad is a Dr (civilian) and I have had the chance to see the administrative garbage/HMO garbage/ and just general beuracracy that civilian docs deal with also. THere is no perfect world out there where every procedure you order is granted, and where you don't have to fill out forms, and where your support staff is always supportive... It just doesn't go with the field.

Ultimately, my husband has chosen USUHS because he's always had a desire to serve the military. When he was considering going to our state school, he just kept on coming up with plans that involved him entering the military later in life! So this has been a dream of his forever, and that is why I'm so certain that that is the place where we should be. We've researched it almost as much as possible, and we have tried to avoid recruiters, etc. Since my husband evidently really wanted to serve, we figured to just jump in and do it. The USUHS route has lots of awesome benefits, especially since we have kids and really need a steady income, but the most important thing is that he really is driven to serve.

Hope this helps-- Remember the applcation process to USUHS is almost like any medical school, and if you interview and don't like it, you wouldn't be forced to go!!!

Peggy

I think my first choice is AF, but I wouldn't mind the Army - plus, like you said, with so many slots to fill in the Army, I doubt I'd end up with my last choice. But you're right, I could always apply and see what I get, then choose HPSP if I changed my mind. Thanks for sharing all this with me; I appreciate all your help!

Deidre