ROTC a bad idea for med school

Lahey

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Aug 23, 2015
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Hi,
I was on a med school forum just a while ago and saw some things which pointed to ROTC being a bad idea if u want to go to med school. They were talking about how ROTC is very time consuming and does not help you nearly as much as other shadowing, volunteering, and club involvements can. My goal is to serve my country, but I have a passion for medicine as well. I want to do the HPSP scholarship for med school and then have a career as a physician / surgeon in the armed forces, but I am thinking that ROTC for undergrad is not the best decision as its main goal is to produce line officers etc. I mentioned armed forces because I am not set on joining Army/Navy/AF since I want to join the branch which would be easiest to transition to med school with.

Is there anyone who can provide some insight on this? Anyone who has done this before?
 
Don't do it. If you want to be a military doctor, contact officer recruiters once you start applying to and getting accepted to med school. Focus on grades, and other volunteer opportunities.
 
Don't do it. If you want to be a military doctor, contact officer recruiters once you start applying to and getting accepted to med school. Focus on grades, and other volunteer opportunities.

I'm in the same circumstance as OP, with a recently awarded ROTC scholarship. Is it impossible to achieve? The school I'm interested highlights the fact that their members of ROTC have ample time to be successful outside of the ROTC program. It has to have some rate of success, being that there's educational delay, I hope. Do you know if there have been successful attempts at this path?

On my school's website it states (in bold print) "You are a student first." and says that the commitment is 6-8 hours per week. Is this average amount of time? Does it depend on the school? Sorry for all the questions, I'm still learning all the ropes.
 
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There is a very recent thread that covers this topic I would check it out it has some great info!
 
There are dozens of threads on this topic, recommend you use the search function and spend some time reading it. It will outline the path and how everything has to align to make it happen. Is it possible? Yes, there are kids of forum members who have and are doing it. The chances are extremely slim. The bottom line is if you go ROTC you should be prepared to serve in that branch in a none medical field. Each Det has its own nuances. Only the Cadets in that Det can tell you how much time they spend. My guess is 6-8 hours a week would be the bare minimum of PT and lab and does not cover anything extra. As you advance in ROTC your responsibilities increase, thus your time does too. Doing the minimum is probably not going to get you stand out and achieve the scores you need to get ED or even selected for active duty in AROTC or SFT for AFROTC.
 
This was a while ago, so I am not sure it still is true...My husband did Army ROTC as an undergrad. He was not on scholarship. He wanted to go on to medical school. In his sophomore year, his leader was graduating and had planned on deferring to go to law school. The Army basically told him," Sorry, we gave you scholarship money. We need officers in the Army now. You can go to law school when you are done with your commitment. You are going to officer school when you graduate." So my husband did not commit to the Army his Junior and Senior year. Instead, he went on to dental school. Once in dental school, he applied for the Navy. He was accepted as a Navy dentist. He did four years in the Navy and is now in private practice.
 
I had a very similar plan as you do concerning medicine and ROTC. I received the 4-Year AROTC scholarship last year and am currently at college. It is a very difficult path to follow course load wise. I will have to take 18 credits every semester plus summer courses to graduate. I am finding that you really have to dedicate to either medicine or ROTC and the military you can really excel at both and have the best of both worlds. At my school there are three scholarship winners who started out pre-med but have switched majors because it is to much to handle. I hope the best for you! It is possible just make sure its what you want to do. Please PM me if you want to know more because I have a lot of other opinions about it and I am only a year further down the path then you!
 
Can anybody weigh in on Pharmacy? Is it possible to become a Pharmacist through ROTC (any of the branches)? All of my research seems to say no but it looked like some expertise is in this thread so figured I'd ask.
 
What branch of ROTC? I have never seen it done on the Navy side from ROTC or a SA directly into Pharmacy. Navy ROTC and USNA tend to mirror each other on these topics. I had many friends go Medical out of USNA, but more went Medical after their first or second tour. For those who went dental or JAG it was after their first or second tour as it is not an option of USNA (pretty sure same on the NROTC side too). I am not as informed on the Army and AF ROTC sides of the house, but what info I do know and history tells me it is also a no, but maybe I am wrong! Regardless of pharmacy, dental, MD, law school, take a look at the old threads talking about how ED and all the other items must align to get selected. There are so many ifs and alignment that must occur for one to go this path and a candidate needs to be well aware of the risks involved if something other than traditional branches, MOSs, warfare communities are in their sites.
 
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