Thanks for the help. Let Me throw out a more specific scenario. If I graduate top of my class and want to go to med school, what are my options?
In addition to the previous links, here is a link to the current USNA policy on pre-medical/pre-dental advising and selection for the medical/dental corps. Even though the instruction is dated 2001, I found it on the USNA admin web page dated 3/19/2010, so it appears to be still in force:
http://www.usna.edu/AdminSupport/Instructions/1000-1999/1531-47C.pdf
Some points of interest:
-USNA will not recruit or encourage candidates to pursue med school. My daughter's BGO specifically told her not to attend USNA if she was mainly interested in med/dental school. That said, now that she's at USNA, her advisor is helping her to choose courses that will prepare her for med school if she is allowed to pursue it.
-The additional service time required is different for USUHS (7 yrs) versus the AFHPSP (4 yrs)
-You must be prepared to take extra classes (2 semesters biology, 2 semesters organic chem) beyond the core curriculum to be prepared. Chemistry and oceanography both lend themselves as viable majors.
-You must do MCAT prep on your own and do well on that
-You must excel in conduct and military performance in addition to academics to have a shot at a spot. Military performance/military aptitude essentially means your rank within company (only your classmates) as evaluated by your Company Officer & Company Senior Enlisted Leader (SEL). To get a "B" you must rank in approximately the top 20% (not sure of the exact cutoff) This means that you can't just put academics in front of everything. In addition to a heavier than normal class load, you'd better be contributing in a significant way to your company and classmates.
-You must be prepared to accept another service assignment. The USNA class of 2009 was only allowed 10 slots for med/dental school, even though the regs allow more
IOW, it's a hard way to become a Navy/MC doctor/dentist, but a few people succeed every year. Good luck!