Bad Recruiter

[jfitzpat]

I'm looking to do dental HPSP, but for my question it doesn't matter and you guys get so many more readers.

My Navy recruiter is terrible. He refuses to return my phone calls, move my application along, or do anything until I've bugged him about 20 times. I don't think at this rate, I'll even get to the board for review. Any suggestions on how to handle this?

As a side note, I know some of you are going to say its a sign from god and that I should take the hint, however, I'm already 150K in debt and look to be 500K in by the end of dental school if I pay for it myself, which is just too much. It comes down to either the military or giving up on dentistry.

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[73BARMYPgsp]

My recruiter did the same to me, and I FINALLY got swore in 5 months after the board met.

If you want it, harrass him, bug him, call him and if he doesn't do his job, call the station commander. That will work.

Scott
Clinical Psychology HPSP Year Group 2008-2009.

 

[patho]

If it were up to me, I would look into what the Army National Guard has to offer. This is the deal for medical students (I posted it in another post as well), which I would imagine is very similar to what is offered for dental students. PM me if you want. I'm heading into my 2nd year at UMDNJ (just fyi, I'm not a recruiter).

Here's the Army National Guard contract as I understand it.

-The contract is 8 years. 6 of which are active, 2 are IRR.

-To have the guard take care of your tuition, you must drill during medical school. (Stating this because of the 2 IRR years)

-You are non-deployable during medical school, but you are deployable during residency. (Yet to happen as previously stated)

-Your payback starts from your signing day/commissioning, so if school and residency take 8 years or longer, your commitment is up.

-You are commissioned as an O-1 and promoted to O-3 upon graduation.

-If you stay in past residency, you can be deployed anywhere.

-The STRAP (monthly stipend of about $1300) incurs a 2-for-1 as previously stated. However, if you accept STRAP all through medical school and residency, the payback for the STRAP from medical school will be reduced to 1-for-1, but will remain as 2-for-1 during your residency years.

-Guard is flexible about drill. They also have a "flex drill" option. It would require 4 hours of drill every 3 months. Not sure if there's any guidelines associated with that.

-OBC is increasing to 28 days from the previous 10 days I've heard.

-They also have the option for an additional $50,000 in loan repayment. It's actually on the table to become $150,000, but there's no guarantees that it will go thru. The $50,000 would be given in increments of 20-20-10 over the course of 3 years. You would need to drill for a year for each segment of that $50,000.

 

[BomberDoc]

Consider it an unintentional favor. Save yourself and don't sign up. You WILL regret it.

 

[SeminoleFan3]

Consider it an unintentional favor. Save yourself and don't sign up. You WILL regret it.

Exactly the type of comment the OP asked folks to refrain from.

 

[patho]

Make sure you read all the posts about pro's, con's and such. I was on the verge of signing up for Army HPSP and chose not to because I wasn't sure what phase of my life I was going to be in, in 8 years.

If you want to be military, you may love every second. You may think it's a decent deal or you may regret joining. The one thing be sure... do NOT join just for the money.

There are different programs for every stage of your career. You can join when you're in medical school, residency and after you complete residency.

Just make an informed decision with whatever you decide to do.

 

[NavyRecruiter]

jfitzpat:

I'm unsure of where you are located, and I hope your recruiter is taking better care of you. But, if he isn't, I have someone in my office that might possibly be able to answer any questions you may have.

Just let me know if you need any help. Otherwise, good luck to you on your packet submission.

 

[jfitzpat]

jfitzpat:

I'm unsure of where you are located, and I hope your recruiter is taking better care of you. But, if he isn't, I have someone in my office that might possibly be able to answer any questions you may have.

Just let me know if you need any help. Otherwise, good luck to you on your packet submission.

Thanks for the offer. I actually found a recruiter that was great (exact opposite of my original recruiter). In the end, I decided to stop pursuing it because part of being a Naval officer is deploying and I don't know how I will feel as a husband and father four years from now. I figured it was better for me and the Navy to look into other options.

 

[NavyRecruiter]

OK. Good luck to you and thanks for considering the Navy. I know what you mean about deployments. I have two little ones myself (8 & 11 now) and I was deployed for six months to GITMO in 2005. Prior to going, I wondered how they, my wife and I would handle it.

To make a long story short, we all cried at the airport when I left, but it wasn't long before we all settled into our own routines and I was able to e-mail and talk with all of them on a fairly regular basis and everything worked out fine. I was surprisingly pleased at how well everyone handled the whole situation.

I know the outcome isn't the same for all families, but for mine it turned out a lot better than expected.

 

[tscottturner]

If it were up to me, I would look into what the Army National Guard has to offer. This is the deal for medical students (I posted it in another post as well), which I would imagine is very similar to what is offered for dental students. PM me if you want. I'm heading into my 2nd year at UMDNJ (just fyi, I'm not a recruiter).

Here's the Army National Guard contract as I understand it.

-The STRAP (monthly stipend of about $1300) incurs a 2-for-1 as previously stated. However, if you accept STRAP all through medical school and residency, the payback for the STRAP from medical school will be reduced to 1-for-1, but will remain as 2-for-1 during your residency years.

You forgot to mention that STRAP payback is NOT concurrent and does not start until after you have completed residency. So, if you take STRAP for 2 years of med school and for 3 years of residency, you owe 5 additional years AFTER completing residency. Just something to consider...

 

[colbgw02]

Please do not use recruiters especially mdopts.org. Had a very bad experience. The lady is ruthless and preys on desperate IMG's. I am completing my fellowship and feel completed cheated. These people take advantage of people with visa waiver issues. Regards.

Thanks for the tip. The next time all the military physicians and military medical students that are posting on this military medicine forum need to interact with a military recruiter, we'll be sure to avoid that group.

Or, ya know, you could actually read a bit of the thread or just have a general awareness of what you're doing before posting.

 

[pgg]

Thanks for the tip. The next time all the military physicians and military medical students that are posting on this military medicine forum need to interact with a military recruiter, we'll be sure to avoid that group.

Or, ya know, you could actually read a bit of the thread or just have a general awareness of what you're doing before posting.

This forum has been ridiculous lately, with new users necrobumping old dead threads.

It ought to be impossible to post in a thread that's more than a month older than your own account ...

 

[IlDestriero]

He's been here an hour. Cut him some slack...

He's actually just posting the same nonsense in every "recruiter" post. Reading comprehension is not his best attribute.

 

[aklark]

I'm usually skeptical when someone's mailing address is a state:

http://mdopts.org/index.php?page=Contact_us

 

[Gastrapathy]

And not just any state. Google Florida man reddit for much fun.