Becoming a Medical Officer

[MuscleHead]

Does anyone have any information/know anything about becoming a PT in the military? I won't be going to Baylor (Going to Thomas Jefferson), but I'm looking into the possibility of joining the military during or after PT school to help reduce or eliminate the insane debt I will be accruing.

Do I need to go to Baylor in order to have the DPT paid for?

If not, what would be expected of me/what would i need to do to have the military pay for this degree?


Any information would be helpful. Thank you.

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[WSUPT]

At this point in time there are no branches of the military, with the exception of Baylor, that offer to pay for PT school. Now, that isn't to say that it will be like this forever; it has been offered within the past 10 years. Loan repayment is being used for retaining PTs who are already in the military.

My application for the Navy is awaiting approval from the board as we speak. You'll have to wait until your third year of PT school to even start the process. The Navy sent me to Naval Hospital Jacksonville for a weekend to check out the hospital/PT department. They'll schedule an interview for you with a Navy PT as part of your application. I also got to tour a destroyer at Naval Station Mayport. Not a bad deal-all of it was free to me.

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

 

[MotionDoc]

check out the public health corps. specifically the JRCOSTEP program.

 

[WSUPT]

It really depends on what the OP is looking for. If they want any semblance of military life, then the USPHS is not the way to go. If they simply want to get their school payed for...then that might be an option.

 

[trichic]

It can also depend on what branch of the military you want to become an officer. For example, my friend is a nurse with prior enlistment in the Marines. When she graduated college, neither the Marines nor the Navy would pay for her college. The Army would. She is an officer in the Army and all of her student loans were paid for in exchange for a predetermined number of years of service. You may not be able to start the process now, but you can go ahead and talk to recruiters for the different branches of the military to get more information. To give you an idea of what PT is like at a military treatment facility: at the military base where I am located, which is one of the largest, the PTs work at the hospital on base and they all take turns doing outpatient and inpatient. There is no direct access to the PTs by spouses or active duty personnel; they must have a referral, which is not always easy to get. Active duty members get priority. Many of the active duty patients are not able to make all of their schedule appointments due to work conflicts.

I am not trying to talk you out of it. Just don't make a decision to be in the military just based upon money. What kind of PT do you want to do? In the military, you don't have a choice. There are some great places to be stationed and some places that are not. If I remember correctly, my friend has to give 6 years of service in exchange for her debt repayment. The first three she was in Hawaii, now she is stationed in Kansas. Right now, she is in Iraq.

 

[SoCalPT]

From what I have read and learned from speaking to recruiters, there is no way to get the military to pay for PT school outside of Baylor. Of course that is the present situation right now. The HPLRP and the HPSP were, at one time, available for PT's. That is not the case currently. There is an abundance of PT's wanting to go to the military. It appears that the HPLRP and HPSP slots are filled with MD's, dentists, NP's and RN's.

However I have been told that they are using the HPLRP for PT retention in the military.

This is what I have been told when I have contacted the medical military recruiters in my area. I was also told that the military needs change constantly and can revert back to other fields that are in high demand.

Another good site for info is

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=58255525412&topic=4515#topic_top

 

[WSUPT]

From what I have read and learned from speaking to recruiters, there is no way to get the military to pay for PT school outside of Baylor. Of course that is the present situation right now. The HPLRP and the HPSP were, at one time, available for PT's. That is not the case currently. There is an abundance of PT's wanting to go to the military. It appears that the HPLRP and HPSP slots are filled with MD's, dentists, NP's and RN's.

However I have been told that they are using the HPLRP for PT retention in the military.

Straight from the Department of Redundancy Department...so pretty much what I said.