- Joined
- Sep 27, 2008
- Messages
- 26,564
The max number allowed for Med Corps and Dental Corps (rare path) seems to be between 13-20 (rough).
From my time on USNA staff, and from observations over the years since from sponsor mids who showed interest and the 5 sponsor mids who actually went that path, it seems the pre-med interest group might start out around 30 or so, and dwindle from there. I used to sit on the selection committee as the Commandant’s Representative.
Why the dwindling:
- They find interests change, with so many great paths out of USNA.
- They realize it is going to be a hard slog and perhaps the juice is not worth the squeeze to meet such a high bar of academic performance, and they may be in their late 30s by the time they finish their active duty service obligation.
- They run into the reality their competitive high school was perhaps not, and that grade inflation was real, and find themselves academically sat, but firmly in the bottom half of the class.
- They get into serious conduct or honor or other trouble and find themselves DQed from applying for post-grad programs right out of USNA.
- They have to get into med school. Some don’t.
- They tanked their selection interview. They couldn’t articulate their why.
They were taken aback when asked about their back-up service assignment plan (hubris overflow).
They had done zip during leave periods or weekends to get to know members in the community serving in the Brigade Medical Unit in Bancroft Hall, where they lived.
They had no idea what enlisted medical personnel did or what qualifications they often achieved - and how important they are to military medicine afloat and ashore. Thinking of you, @Devil Doc
They had no idea the Navy had USNS COMFORT and USNS MERCY, hospital ships that deployed with military medical personnel in combat support and humanitarian missions around the world.
They didn’t shadow a military doc, volunteer at the ER, see a bad motor vehicle accident or gunshot wound trauma victim come into an ER and know if they could be around that, etc.
The Brigade Senior Medical Officer (usually a Captain, and often a USNA grad) would drill them hard about motivation, understanding and commitment to military medicine.
- They still have to select a back-up path, even if accepted to the Med Corps path, but may later decide they want to go operational in the fleet first and think about med school later via other paths described above.
In the years I was on the committee, I think we interviewed annually about 20-25 mids for 13-16 slots. The final group was always stellar in academics, well-respected by peers, subordinates and leadership, with pristine conduct, honor and performance records. Strong MCATs. Masters of time management - I recall one was track team captain, one was captain of cheer team, one was captain of rugby team, one was head of Team Bill (the live Bill goats that go to games), several had high-level “striper” roles 1/C year. They were eye-wateringly outstanding performers. Years later, I ran into several of them in military hospitals - ortho surgeon, cardio-thoracic surgeon, pulmonologist, dermatologist specializing in combat injuries, Mohs surgeon who had gotten his Mohs fellowship at Johns Hopkins, etc. We reminisced about their USNA journey; they all remembered the interview. It was a pleasure to see them.
Last edited:
