Josh, I am a retired Army colonel, and I served as president of two different HPSP boards. I can assure you that being prior service is a definite plus. The applications are judged on three criteria: Academics (GPA and MCAT), letters of recommendation, and a rather nebulous category called "military suitability." For example, I can recall a cheerleader with a 4.0 GPA who had never had a driver's license and had never had a job, but otherwise outstanding. She was on the cut line with a former Marine sniper with 8 years of service, a wife and three kids, a full-time job, and a 3.5 GPA. Everyone's letters of recommendation are the same, so that's a wash. The big difference in those two records was GPA and military suitability. We judged his GPA in his situation to be roughly equivalent to the 4.0 in the other situation, and there was absolutely no comparison in their "military suitability." He got the scholarship. Another big plus with prior servicemen is that we will probably get to keep your skills until you hit 20, and you will likely be one of the family throughout. The cheerleader is far more likely to never really join us, just do enough to stay out of trouble and punch out at the first opportunity. Definitely not what we need. I hope that helps...