rotc + med school

josh726

5-Year Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2014
Messages
3
Ok first, a little background on myself. I've been in the nation guard and reserves for a total of 5 years in service. I'm also a nationally registered advanced EMT (a step below a paramedic, a step above an EMT). My two passions are medicine and the military. The question I have is how do I go about going to med school if I also go though rotc. Now I understand the med school requirement but that aside if I graduate an rotc program and take a commission do I just say "hey send me to med school" and then I go, or would the army just decide to stick me where they want me.
 
Simple answer:

SERVICE BEFORE SELF. They will always hold the trump cards when it comes to career fields and assignments.

More complicated answer is you will have to apply for ED, and Med school. They decide whether to release you for ED.
 
If you get into med school, your delay will probably be granted.

Now the tough part....getting into med school.....
 
My son is planning on doing this (AROTC). He's going to be a senior in college this fall. As Pima said, there are no guarantees. My son is currently applying to medical schools. You cannot request an educational delay until your senior year, so he will be working on this when he returns to school. He has been told he will probably be able to get the ED delay, but it's not a done deal until the paperwork is approved.

If you haven't looked into medical school much, you need a very high gpa in college (3.7+) You also need a good MCAT score. Many regular students take a gap year after college to get in more research/shadowing/time to study for MCATs. Not really an option for ROTC students. It also requires you to be submitting your applications and your secondary applications to med schools the same summer you are doing training (if you are Army, I'm not well versed on the other services). Secondary applications start coming out mid-June and generally the schools want you to return them within 2-3 weeks. This is difficult when you are at LDAC (or whatever will be replacing it next year) for 4 weeks in the same timeframe (with no access to computers).

It can be done, and ROTC students do it, but you need to do your research so you are prepared for everything you need to do (to include making sure you take all the required pre-med courses required by medical schools as well as your ROTC classes). If you are truly dedicated to the process it can be done if you can get that Ed delay!

Many students choose not to do ROTC in college and then get military scholarships for medical school. This way they aren't having to request educational delays and can focus more on doing what they need to earn the grades and get accepted to medical school without the added time that ROTC requires.

Do your research and decide what will work best for you. There are options.

Good luck!
 
Vamom2015, thanks the info, it's good to here from someone with some personal experience on the matter. I'm really considering the HPSP route but I'm not sure how that work with me being prior service. I can't even reenlist AD because I'm prior service I guess I should talk to a recruiter about that. Here's a follow up question that I haven't been able to get a straight answer on. Being that I'm already in the military they told me I'd come into the rotc program as a junior but if I still need 4 years of college how does that work with rotc? Do I jus stay a junior for 3 years?
 
Yeah I also want to go to med school but want an army rotc scholarship as well. I actually want to serve me four years before medical school. Anyone know if this is realistic. Will my chances be harmed at getting into medical school?
 
My son is an AFROTC cadet about to start his senior year and he is planning to go to medical school. However, as PIMA previously stated it is service before self...last year he selected his AFSCs, none of which had the slightest relation to medicine...and he is prepared to serve if that is what comes to be.

That said, being the only cadet at his DET pursuing this route, he needed to be proactive with respect to the process, researching the appropriate AF instructions and knowing all the deadlines. To answer your question, from an AF perspective, you first compete for a pre-health EA, if you do not get that you can compete for an AFHPSP scholarship and your last option is to request an education delay. The operative word here is “compete”...AND if you get one of those, you still need to get into med school.

The pre-health board meets in August. My son is “trying” to work on medical school secondary applications but he has been busy this last month as a CTA at field training. Additionally, the AF is “thinning the herd” with the '15 class, so that will add a bit more uncertainty to an already hectic senior year.

Good luck to you.
 
Ok first, a little background on myself. I've been in the nation guard and reserves for a total of 5 years in service. I'm also a nationally registered advanced EMT (a step below a paramedic, a step above an EMT). My two passions are medicine and the military. The question I have is how do I go about going to med school if I also go though rotc. Now I understand the med school requirement but that aside if I graduate an rotc program and take a commission do I just say "hey send me to med school" and then I go, or would the army just decide to stick me where they want me.

Have you looked into the Enlisted to Medical Degree Preparatory Program (http://www.usuhs.edu/adm/emdp2.html) at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences?
 
Have you looked into the Enlisted to Medical Degree Preparatory Program at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences?

I actually had not heard of that. The only down side is that I'm not active duty. That and I still like 3 years to get my ba, 4 years of med school, plus internship and residency I'm 23 as it is I'm not sure I wanna add 2 more years on top of that. I'll definitely have to do my research on the matter. Thanks for the info.
 
ROTC? HPSP? Med School?

I'm currently a sophomore in college and considering joining ROTC this fall. However I have another four years so I would be entering the program as a freshman. I'm currently studying clinical exercise science and pre-med, with a main objective of med school. The reasons why I'm considering ROTC is because of the lifestyle in itself, I like the structure it provides, the opportunity to give back,and job security, but another main thing is the money for undergrad. I'm currently paying for school completely on loans and it's a big burden. However as I've been doing some research I've come across the HPSP program and other saying not to do ROTC because there's no guarantee that I'll get to go to med school?
My main questions are:
Will being in ROTC effect my ability to get into med school?
What does ROTC guarantee me and what are the risk?
If I sign into ROTC with the goal of a physician and I don't get the chance to go to med school because i'm not granted an ED and the army pulls me to active duty, what would my job be???
What should I know before making a decision and signing?

Thanks
 
Yeah I also want to go to med school but want an army rotc scholarship as well. I actually want to serve me four years before medical school. Anyone know if this is realistic. Will my chances be harmed at getting into medical school?

You can but it's not the smartest route nor is it cost effective. Look at it this way:

Commission at 22, serve AD for 4 years and you are now 26. Coupled with the fact you've been out of school for a while and your prereqs are old you will probably need retakes to be able to ace the MCAT (Taking sciences with labs on AD is next to impossible I tried it). Add on 1-2 years. So you are now 27/28 and apply to med school and get in with a start date at 28-29 years old. Med school is 4 years so you graduate at 32-33. Depending on your residency you won't be full credentialed as an attending for another 4-7 years where you will start to make the big bucks. You are now 36-40. Those years add up, do you want to be a doctor or serve right away? Your move.

Personally if I wanted to be a doc I would go RIGHT away, waiting does you no good. Also if you want a family that adds even more hardship into schooling.
 
I'm currently a sophomore in college and considering joining ROTC this fall. However I have another four years so I would be entering the program as a freshman. I'm currently studying clinical exercise science and pre-med, with a main objective of med school. The reasons why I'm considering ROTC is because of the lifestyle in itself, I like the structure it provides, the opportunity to give back,and job security, but another main thing is the money for undergrad. I'm currently paying for school completely on loans and it's a big burden. However as I've been doing some research I've come across the HPSP program and other saying not to do ROTC because there's no guarantee that I'll get to go to med school?
My main questions are:
Will being in ROTC effect my ability to get into med school?
What does ROTC guarantee me and what are the risk?
If I sign into ROTC with the goal of a physician and I don't get the chance to go to med school because i'm not granted an ED and the army pulls me to active duty, what would my job be???
What should I know before making a decision and signing?

Thanks

Will being in ROTC effect my ability to get into med school?

No other than less time to study

What does ROTC guarantee me and what are the risk?

They guarantee you nothing, you risk doing a job you don't like and or owing a lot of money.

If I sign into ROTC with the goal of a physician and I don't get the chance to go to med school because i'm not granted an ED and the army pulls me to active duty, what would my job be???

Needs of the Army based off of how well you do in ROTC. You could be infantry or logistics etc, it's hard to tell. Worst case scenario you can choose reserves and keep trying for med school as you would only be a part time soldier.

What should I know before making a decision and signing?

You should be ready to be a soldier first and not a doctor because that isn't guaranteed. If you want to be an Army doc, skip ROTC and join after you get into med school.
 
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...
 
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...
Great first post, but the post you are responding to is from 2014 and the poster hasn't been on this board since December 2015.

Welcome to SAF!
 
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...
Helpful info! and I stumbled across old post doing a search. I am a father of three teenage boys and my HS Soph wants to be a Doctor but also has interest in service academy or ROTC. Trying to figure out best route for him from what I read so far seems NROTC is tougher path than AROTC or AFROTC then HPSP. I need to dig into how those compare to trying to get appointment to an Academy and then Med school before AD.
 
Med school before AD is extremely unlikely on any commissioning path. They are in the business of commissioning line officers, not creating doctors. If there is a more likely route, it's at one of the academies. Do NOT count on Med school happening until after serving the AD commitment.

If he really wants to be a doctor then start Med School first and then pursue HPSP to commission and get some financial aid out of it.

Just one man's two cents.
 
yes, my cousin went to West Point and is now a physician (MD) - he stayed in despite many years of groaning and saying he would eject to a more lucrative private practice as soon as the commitment was up. Fare warning this path can require MANY years of service committed - college, med school, residency, internship, specialty fellowship, THEN 12+ years of deployments and service. This isn't a get 7 years of schooling and give back 4 years gig. Not sure where they are doing their residencies now but back then it was Walter Reed Hospital for him.
 
Helpful info! and I stumbled across old post doing a search. I am a father of three teenage boys and my HS Soph wants to be a Doctor but also has interest in service academy or ROTC. Trying to figure out best route for him from what I read so far seems NROTC is tougher path than AROTC or AFROTC then HPSP. I need to dig into how those compare to trying to get appointment to an Academy and then Med school before AD.

You can’t go to med school right away if you go through NROTC. They want unrestricted line officers. NROTC allowed a limited number to go to medical school in the past, but not allowed at this time.

AROTC and AFROTC are more liberal in allowing cadets go to medical school right after college. To me, the easiest way to become a military doctor on the govt dime is to go through AROTC or AFROTC and then apply to USUHS or a civilian medical school under the HPSP.

Going thru the SAs is somewhat more difficult because 1) of the admin rules that cap the number of mids/cadets that go to medical school and 2) you can’t just concentrate on academics. There’s a memo on the USNA website that says up to 15 mids can go. Some years, the number that go are in the single digits.

Key to medical school admission is getting a high GPA and MCAT. It’s difficult to get a high GPA when you take a large load of classes and then you have military and athletic commitments on top of that. Also, the least difficult way to get all the required classes for medical school at USNA is to major in chemistry. What if the applicant doesn’t like chemistry? I always tell kids who want to go to medical school is major in whatever you want. You can be a history, music, statistics, etc.. major. Doesn’t matter. You just need to get 1 year of biology, 1 year of gen chem, 1 year of organic chem, 1 year of physics, 1 year of math, and 1 year of English in your schedule. If there is space, then take 1 class in general psych, 1 class in biochem, and 1 class in cell biology to do well on the MCATs. At the SAs, you can’t really major in anything you want. You are given a lot of classes and very little “elective” choices. My DD is taking 19 credit hours right now as a plebe at West Point. That’s a lot in my mind which makes it difficult to keep a medical school quality GPA.

That said, having an SA on your app when you apply to medical school goes a long way so the reputation of the school can make up for a lower GPA.
 
You can’t go to med school right away if you go through NROTC. They want unrestricted line officers. NROTC allowed a limited number to go to medical school in the past, but not allowed at this time.

I really wish the Navy would reconsider this policy. I understand the thinking, but those ROTC grads bring experience to an otherwise extremely green group of LTs when they arrive their first day of internship. They don’t have the experience of a salty sailor, but they at least know the customs & courtesies, how to wear a uniform, and a bit more of the “how to be an officer” than the typical HPSP grad.

The prior service physicians, the Academy grads, and the USU grads help, but even just a couple more would be helpful. The ROTC grads also end up with long commitments which is what we are going to need in order to retain folks at the current rate we seem to be headed.
 
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