Not sure if anyone still replies to this thread, but I'm about to enter medical school in August and have received an HPSP scholarship (Army). I'm set to sign the paperwork next Thursday but the thing is, the medical school I've been accepted to has just offered me a full tuition scholarship. I went with HPSP because I have in interest in the military, not just for the money, so I'm still leaning toward taking it instead of the school's scholarship (obviously the school wouldn't give me a stipend or signing bonus, either).
Oh, God, don't take HPSP. If you have a passion for the military AND are looking at a big student loan burden from med school AND know you will be going into a specialty on the lower paying end, HPSP MIGHT make sense. Otherwise, it just doesn't.
A few things to keep in mind as you make your decision:
1. Your involvement in the military in HPSP is very limited. Do not view joining later as a big impediment or lost opportunity.
2. You can join the military later as a resident via FAP, availability permitting. The money paid in FAP, plus resident salary, would more than make up for loans you took out for living expenses during medical school. The advantages to doing this are:
- You will be doing a civilian residency, which gives you MUCH greater opportunity for location and quality and fit
- You will not be forced to do a GMO tour
3. You can join the military even later after residency and get a sign-on bonus from $200-$400K, which would (obviously) more than make up for the loans you took out for living expenses in medical school. And by then you would have a much better idea what you want for a career and if the military is part of that plan.
It's highly debatable what the actual numbers are, but it's hard to argue that MANY people regret taking HPSP. The problem with this is:
- You have no idea what the military, military GME, etc. will look like that far out
- You have no idea what specialty you will be going into and while some military training for specialties is fair-to-good, there are some that are substandard to opportunities you'd have as a civilian.
- You have no idea what your life (spouse, children, hobbies) will be like by the time you finish residency and what you want to do with it.
It may (or may not) be worth rolling the dice on these issues and signing up for HPSP and losing some control over your residency training and early career, for the sake of eliminating student loans and serving your country. But if you have no tuition loans to speak of and are only looking at living expenses, you can easily pay for this with reimbursement programs later (either via the mechanisms above, or with part-time service via the National Guard/Reserve and it's $240K student loan repayment plan) which will STILL allow you to serve via the military without the loss of control aspect.
Others may disagree but I would find it hard to make a case for HPSP in a tuition-free environment.