Medical Career

Gaffer

Gaffer

2028 Appointed USMA and USAFA
Joined
Dec 29, 2022
Messages
199
Hello everyone. Has anyone on the forum (or someone you know) gone the med school route for a career after USAFA? I am interested in going into the medical field. I wanted to see if anyone could share their experience of going to med school, either before their ADSO or after?
 
Let me give you an example to peruse...a classmate of mine, a superb guy, and from what I hear from everyone, including him, an "okay" doctor.

🤣

I"ll post a link to his bio and you can get an idea of what his career has been like.

Eli Powell, MD | Sports Medicine | Orthopedic Physicians Alaska

Orthopedic sports medicine doctor Eli Powell, MD, has treated injured athletes for decades. he specializes in arthroscopy of shoulder, hip & knee, shoulder reconstruction, knee reconstruction, hip, knee, and shoulder replacement, general orthopedics, trauma and fracture care.
www.opalaska.com
 
Lots of threads on this already, do some searching. I believe we have had a few in the past....I know someone but can't remember what his name was on here. He was a couple years ahead of me. Majored in chemistry and went on to medical school right after USAFA.

I also had a teammate who didn't make it right away out of USAFA but still found her way to med school as an officer and is now a doctor. It can be done, but USAFA is just about the hardest way to do it. If you want to be a doctor, there are other more certain paths to being an Air Force doctor.
 
10 year ALO here with a 36 year career in medical education, including 22 years as a Division Director. Coventional wisdom has always been to go to a civilian undergraduate college and then apply either to the Health Professions Scholarship Program or Uniformed Services University as a way to pay for medical school and enter military medicine.

As a service acadamy grad you will take the same premed courses as everyone else, the biggest difference are the 5 required engineering courses, and unique aspects/requirements of a service academy education that may not allow time to engage in meaningful undergraduate research or immersive medical experiences that other competitive applicants will have.

From a medical school application perspective, service academy applicants are relatively rare, but desirable, because of their unique experiences, role modeling, and "diversity" they bring to an entering class. But an avg USAFA GPA and middling class ranking won't cut it. Think top 100 class ranking, 3.5 GPA, with equally credible MCAT scores.

I have known two USAFA grads, both pilots, who separated to then go to medical school. Puts you about a decade behind, and like parenting it's easier to take this challenge on when younger and more resilient.

USAFA has done reasonably well with medical school acceptances (both MD and DO) from what I have read in various graduating class summaries. But unlike the civilian route, the needs of the AF can and will always be a factor.
 
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What my fellow ALO said!!!
 
Thank you all so much for the posts. So happy I found this forum, there is so much to be learned from your experiences! I wanted to explain a little of my thinking and ask for a little more clarification. Apologies in advance for the long post…

I have always wanted to go into medicine, that has been my major goal from when I was in elementary school. There have been many medical issues among my family and friends, and I had a few role models in medicine that inspired me to go for it. However, I learned of the service academies in 8th grade, and attending one became a major goal for me as well. I have always been patriotic, but especially after taking a US History class in high school with an excellent teacher, I have a lot of love for our country, and I really want to do something in the armed forces and perhaps public policy after that. After I found out about the HPAC at USAFA and MPAC at West Point, I became bent on applying for USAFA and USMA, as I felt that going to the service academy, then going to med school, then serving would allow me to enter medicine and serve how I wanted to (in the Army or Air Force).

Up till now, I was thinking that I would apply for an appointment from USAFA and USMA, and if I was able to get in, I would seek to go to med school after applying to attend med school directly after the four years. I had read a little bit about USU and HPSP, but I wanted to go the service academy route as I really wanted that experience. I am also planning on applying to civilian colleges, and if I end up at a civilian college, to do ROTC. I assumed that the SA-HPAC/MPAC-med school-service route would be very difficult to do, but remain a valid option. From what I am reading in your posts, I am getting the feeling that it is not recommended? I wanted to clarify on this. What are your thoughts? There sure is a lot to consider! I love the service academies, but I don’t want to neglect anything and end up in a rough spot down the road. Thank you all!
 
Physician here...with practice partners that have combined medicine and military in all forms, including: (1) West point grad who went to USU, (2) civilian college/Army ROTC grad who went to USU, and (3) civilian medical school grads who financed it via military (Army) and went to military residencies. The only one our practice doesn't have is a med school grad who signed up to receive funding during residency and then serve active duty and reserves after. By residency, most physicians are close enough to the end of training, getting a small salary and prefer to finish training before making any more commitments. We even have a physician who returned to reservist status 15 years later...and was deployed to Afghanistan.

You have two dreams...one is a certainty and the other is not. You can and will serve - what exactly that looks like may vary (academy vs. ROTC vs. other entry), but you can check the box on that dream. Medical school is an uncertainty, no matter what path you choose. The average medical school acceptance rate is 5-6%. And that does not include the many students who wished to go the physician route, but abandoned it after becoming casualties of weed out courses like organic chemistry and biochemistry. Logic would dictate going the civilian route doing everything possible to maximize your chances of checking the box on that uncertain medical school dream. But logic doesn't always carry the day and you'll have to decide how much your gut/heart will have to say in the decision. Good luck!
 
FalconDad2026 said:
Physician here...with practice partners that have combined medicine and military in all forms, including: (1) West point grad who went to USU, (2) civilian college/Army ROTC grad who went to USU, and (3) civilian medical school grads who financed it via military (Army) and went to military residencies. [...]
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Hi there, thank you so much for the response and the physician perspective. I read through your post, and there sure is a lot to take in. I am glad I was able to hear these thoughts now. I will certainly still pursue an appointment to USAFA, but the final decisions will be made later down the road (if I gain appointment). Thank you for your wishes!
 
FalconDad2026 said:
Physician here...with practice partners that have combined medicine and military in all forms, including: (1) West point grad who went to USU, (2) civilian college/Army ROTC grad who went to USU, and (3) civilian medical school grads who financed it via military (Army) and went to military residencies. The only one our practice doesn't have is a med school grad who signed up to receive funding during residency and then serve active duty and reserves after. By residency, most physicians are close enough to the end of training, getting a small salary and prefer to finish training before making any more commitments. We even have a physician who returned to reservist status 15 years later...and was deployed to Afghanistan.

You have two dreams...one is a certainty and the other is not. You can and will serve - what exactly that looks like may vary (academy vs. ROTC vs. other entry), but you can check the box on that dream. Medical school is an uncertainty, no matter what path you choose. The average medical school acceptance rate is 5-6%. And that does not include the many students who wished to go the physician route, but abandoned it after becoming casualties of weed out courses like organic chemistry and biochemistry. Logic would dictate going the civilian route doing everything possible to maximize your chances of checking the box on that uncertain medical school dream. But logic doesn't always carry the day and you'll have to decide how much your gut/heart will have to say in the decision. Good luck!
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There is much to be considered. Thank you for your advice. My daughter is a good student, but the path to medical school is challenging. I have heard of the weed out of organic chemistry in making students seek other majors. She has gotten a full ride to any college through the AF, and is awaiting for a USAFA offer. We are new to all the military education navigation and a bit nervous about what we should advise since we have no experience. She has so much to offer and would appreciate any advice. Please ask us any questions if it helps formulate a suggestion.
 
Isasnow said:
... She has gotten a full ride to any college through the AF, and is awaiting for a USAFA offer. We are new to all the military education navigation and a bit nervous about what we should advise since we have no experience. She has so much to offer and would appreciate any advice. Please ask us any questions if it helps formulate a suggestion.
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Be cautious in identifying the AFROTC scholarship as a full ride. Not all schools provide R&B for AFROTC scholarship recipients. More importantly I've seen many threads and posts about AFROTC scholarship students cut from AFROTC programs after their second year. A review occurs near the end of the second year that determines if an AFROTC student is allowed to advance to the next level of training.
 
While the primary purpose of SAs is to make professional military officers and warfighters there is an opportunity for those that want to go the EXTRA mile to receive a slot to medical school. As stated in a previous post, many who enter pre-med track (civ school or SAs) will wean off voluntarily. If that is your dream go for it. You will have to learn quickly that time management is essential. While others have a weekend pass you might have to stay behind to go the EXTRA mile. Whatever you do, give it your all and Press On.
 
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