Army ROTC+ed delay

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Hey everyone

I've been reading a ton of threads on the post-ROTC medical school process but I just wanted to clear some things up

1. If I used a 3-yr AD Army ROTC scholarship for undergrad, applied for an ed delay, and graduated med school without HPSP, would my 3-year residency count towards the 4 year active duty obligation?

2. Would the 4 year IRR obligation be fulfilled during med school or does that only count towards pay?

Thank you

Originally Posted by Super frog

Hey everyone

I've been reading a ton of threads on the post-ROTC medical school process but I just wanted to clear some things up

1. If I used a 3-yr AD Army ROTC scholarship for undergrad, applied for an ed delay, and graduated med school without HPSP, would my 3-year residency count towards the 4 year active duty obligation?

2. Would the 4 year IRR obligation be fulfilled during med school or does that only count towards pay?

Thank you

1. As long as your total residency time is 4 years or less, you would owe three years after finishing residency. You incur a year-for-year obligation from your non-internship residency training.

2. The time in medical school does count toward the overall 8 year commitment. So, 6 years on active duty plus 4 years IR means that you will be able to completely resign your commission at the time of ETS.

Yes, it only counts toward pay. You will come onto active duty as an O-3 over four. Keep in mind that will only affect your base pay and your COLA (where applicable). Your specialty pay is based off of when you enter the medical corps.

If you haven't already, think long and hard about this route. Most ROTC commissionees, myself included, will tell you that this is generally a bad idea. I won't rehash it for everyone, but feel free to PM me if you'd like.

Originally Posted by Super frog

Hey everyone

I've been reading a ton of threads on the post-ROTC medical school process but I just wanted to clear some things up

1. If I used a 3-yr AD Army ROTC scholarship for undergrad, applied for an ed delay, and graduated med school without HPSP, would my 3-year residency count towards the 4 year active duty obligation?

2. Would the 4 year IRR obligation be fulfilled during med school or does that only count towards pay?

Thank you

From my observations after 4 years of AROTC, I would say avoid this route if med school is your ultimate goal. LDAC and the numerous other requirements geared towards combat arms knowledge is essentially useless (plus some cadre don't really care how hard your major is and they expect you show up to everything). However, ROTC is always a good bullet point for any application.

As colbg said if you have questions about ROTC I can answer them as well.

Originally Posted by colbgw02

1. As long as your total residency time is 4 years or less, you would owe three years after finishing residency. You incur a year-for-year obligation from your non-internship residency training.

So assuming I have 4 years AD+ 4 years IRR coming out of undergrad I'll have 3 years AD coming out of residency? Or is that an additional 3 years on top? Does the year-for-year obligation apply for both civilian and military residencies?

Originally Posted by Dranger

From my observations after 4 years of AROTC, I would say avoid this route if med school is your ultimate goal. LDAC and the numerous other requirements geared towards combat arms knowledge is essentially useless (plus some cadre don't really care how hard your major is and they expect you show up to everything). However, ROTC is always a good bullet point for any application.

As colbg said if you have questions about ROTC I can answer them as well.

I've always wanted to learn some things about combat arms, I originally wanted to branch armor or artillery before deciding to go the ed delay route instead. I'm still not going to contract until I know 100% what I'm going to do though

Thank you both again!

Originally Posted by Super frog

So assuming I have 4 years AD+ 4 years IRR coming out of undergrad I'll have 3 years AD coming out of residency? Or is that an additional 3 years on top? Does the year-for-year obligation apply for both civilian and military residencies?

You sort of lost me here, but - assuming your total time in Army graduate medical education (GME) is 4 years or less - then a 3-year ROTC scholarship would mean you'd owe 3 years from the time you finish your residency. Any additional time in GME would add to that obligation.

Civilian deferments are rare with the Army. More importantly, they're essentially impossible to predict. When they do occur, they're typically unsponsored, meaning that they won't add time.

Honestly, if you want to learn about combat arms, then pick up some good non-fiction. The small infantry tactics you learn in ROTC mean precisely squadoosh in medicine, and no one cares if you know the hand and arm signals for crossing an LDA. If you want to be an Army officer, then by all means, take the scholarship. If you want to be a physician, don't.

The sucky part about Ed Delay is what happens when you dont get accepted to med school. I think you get to choose between the branches that didnt fill like chem or transpo; and the list normally wont include armor or artillery because both are popular and fill.

But if you're content with servicing 4 years in the Army in any branch because serving is a life goal, I'd say do ROTC. I loved it; met my husband and most of my best friends in ROTC. But just remember, once you sign the contract for the scholarship, they pretty much own you. You cant take a year off between undergrad and med school, cant take that sweet $$$ job Google offered you. Though a cadet one year below me decided he didn't want to go to LDAC because he landed summer internship with Google so he had his parents pay back 3 years of scholarship.

Originally Posted by BigRedDeal

The sucky part about Ed Delay is what happens when you dont get accepted to med school. I think you get to choose between the branches that didnt fill like chem or transpo; and the list normally wont include armor or artillery because both are popular and fill.

Exactly. If your goal is to be a physician, then you have to take into account the possibility that you might have to apply twice. I know someone with a 40 MCAT who didn't get into med school on his first try (moron didn't apply to many med schools though). Physician training is too long and hard a road to relinquish your control over it to the military.

If you want to be an army officer MORE than you want to be a physician, then do ROTC with the knowledge that there is a small chance it may intefere with your plans to become a physician. Otherwise wait until you get into med school and the military will be throwing scholarships at you. Or even better, wait until you get into residency and do FAP.

thanks everyone! I've decided to try for the HPSP scholarship for med school instead, but I'll still try out ROTC for a year or two

sorry for reviving an older thread