Becoming an Army Doctor

[lsmith55uf]

Hello all,
I am currently in the process of deciding on what to do with my Army career. I want to enter the Army Medical Corps in one way or another, be it going to USUHS, the HPSP or going to PA School. I am just wondering how competitive the applications are to USUHS, what the acceptance rate is, and if anyone has any thoughts on how to make an application stand out. I have always wanted to go into the medical field, it has interested me since I was in college, but I decided I should go active duty and serve for a few years before applying to either PA or Medical School.
I am currently an active duty combat arms 1LT serving in Iraq, where I have been for the last year. I volunteered with the PAs here in country many times, and loved what I saw and got to do. In addition, I was able to go out to various places in Baghdad during my patrols, and in many areas got to see MEDOPs taking place in the neighborhoods. It was actually these Docs and PAs that inspired me to pursue my lifelong dream of becoming a doc. I have excellent OERs and I am CLS certified, and my BS degree is in Human Nutrition. However, my grades in college weren't that great. I had a 2.67 overall, including a couple of re-dos in chemistry. I took all the way up to Biochem, but had issues with organic. Since Graduation, I have taken a human anatomy course online (in Iraq, received an A) and am currently retaking organic chemistry and getting an A. Any thoughts on what my chances are of getting accepted?
I looked into USUHS, but also am trying to find info on the HPSP. I can't seem to find out anything that helps me. Basically, I jsut want to know what my options are in becoming a doctor, and if I should even try with my grades. I want to make the military a career, and I think this would be a very fulfilling career choice. Also, I never took the MCAT, and I',m sure I wouldnt exactly excel if I took it today. What would a good score be?
So, I know this is a long post and is all over the place; I appreciate your time and feedback!

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[orbitsurgMD]

Hello all,
I am currently in the process of deciding on what to do with my Army career. I want to enter the Army Medical Corps in one way or another, be it going to USUHS, the HPSP or going to PA School. I am just wondering how competitive the applications are to USUHS, what the acceptance rate is, and if anyone has any thoughts on how to make an application stand out. I have always wanted to go into the medical field, it has interested me since I was in college, but I decided I should go active duty and serve for a few years before applying to either PA or Medical School.
I am currently an active duty combat arms 1LT serving in Iraq, where I have been for the last year. I volunteered with the PAs here in country many times, and loved what I saw and got to do. In addition, I was able to go out to various places in Baghdad during my patrols, and in many areas got to see MEDOPs taking place in the neighborhoods. It was actually these Docs and PAs that inspired me to pursue my lifelong dream of becoming a doc. I have excellent OERs and I am CLS certified, and my BS degree is in Human Nutrition. However, my grades in college weren't that great. I had a 2.67 overall, including a couple of re-dos in chemistry. I took all the way up to Biochem, but had issues with organic. Since Graduation, I have taken a human anatomy course online (in Iraq, received an A) and am currently retaking organic chemistry and getting an A. Any thoughts on what my chances are of getting accepted?
I looked into USUHS, but also am trying to find info on the HPSP. I can't seem to find out anything that helps me. Basically, I jsut want to know what my options are in becoming a doctor, and if I should even try with my grades. I want to make the military a career, and I think this would be a very fulfilling career choice. Also, I never took the MCAT, and I',m sure I wouldnt exactly excel if I took it today. What would a good score be?
So, I know this is a long post and is all over the place; I appreciate your time and feedback!

No one is going to be able to give you anything useful without your having completed either your coursework or your MCAT. A 2.67 GPA will not impress anyone, and I think you know that. You will have to repeat the courses needed for medical school and demonstrate an ability to perform consistently at a significantly better grade level before anyone will be willing to look at you seriously. Your MCAT scores should also reflect the same level of competence. Your options all require completing the prerequisites with evidence of superior performance. After that, osteopathic, allopathic, HPSP, USUHS or going it alone are choices you can then consider.

 

[TX_NFS]

If you have not already, check out mdapplicants.com (http://www.mdapplicants.com/schoolsummary.php?schoolid=70) to get a snapshot of the stats of people who have applied there. There is also a profile (old, of entering Class of 2000) that USUHS puts out of its students along with bunches of other admission info at http://www.usuhs.mil/medschool/somfaq.html .

In terms of the MCAT, I would definitely recommend some sort of structured preparation for it, whether it be your own study schedule or a prep course. The MCAT section on SDN here has a lot of info with respect to that. Otherwise, I would just recommend at least having a Human Physiology, as well as Genetics,before delving into that test if at all possible. Good luck with whatever you choose.

 

[notdeadyet]

Since Graduation, I have taken a human anatomy course online (in Iraq, received an A) and am currently retaking organic chemistry and getting an A. [/COLOR]

lsmith55uf- If you're interested in taking online/distance coursework to get back in the academic frame of mind, more power to you!

Keep in mind, though, that many med schools do not accept online/distance learning coursework for prereqs. They seem to be fine for electives, but I've seen a few slam shut doors based on prereqs done online.

I'd recommend sticking to electives for now, or doing a lot of research on the med schools you're thinking of applying to. The ones that refused online learning did not advertise that fact on their website, so contacting them directly would be wise.

Best of luck to you!

 

[boston23]

Hello all,
I looked into USUHS, but also am trying to find info on the HPSP. I can't seem to find out anything that helps me. Basically, I jsut want to know what my options are in becoming a doctor, and if I should even try with my grades. I want to make the military a career, and I think this would be a very fulfilling career choice. Also, I never took the MCAT, and I',m sure I wouldnt exactly excel if I took it today. What would a good score be?
So, I know this is a long post and is all over the place; I appreciate your time and feedback!

Hey-
You definitely have a chance of getting into USUHS, even with your grades. I think there are 2 ways to do it (and I'm saying this from my experience and my sister's):
-you either get a post bacc and do really well (look into Georgetown's, Boston University's and Drexel's), pretty much you take 1st yr med school classes. But you have to do really well, and have a fairly good MCAT score (30+).
-or...you kick butt on the MCATs, at least a 35, with really high scores in the science sections. Also, where are you taking the online courses? Try out Harvard's extension school, USUHS seems to think they're good.

USUHS admissions staff is really nice, you could always call them and explain your situation. But the 2 different ways worked (my sis got in, I had an interview last week)...

Good luck!

 

[Jet915]

Ace to MCATs (35+) which is easier said then done and that will make up for your low GPA. You have great personal experiences so that should really help but you'll need to do well on the MCAT.