Internship Year

[pawprint]

Hey everyone, I have a question that I need clarification on.

Since I'm doing HPSP and the Navy is paying for all 4 years of medical school, is a military internship guaranteed? I ask this because I want to know what would happen if I don't match into a military internship. I just started medical school and am not really worried about not matching (not yet anyway) but I was just curious. I understand I have to reapply after my internship year and understand how everything works after intern year (such as GMO tour, etc), but I can't find much about the transition between 4th year of medical school and internship year.

Any help would be appreciated!

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[colbgw02]

It's not guaranteed. The overwhelming majority will get one, but it's not guaranteed for HPSP recipients. Most of the time not matching to an internship is a bad thing, but I do know at least one person who matched to a civilian internship and a relatively competitive residency as an MS4.

 

[deuist]

The numbers are even worse in the Air Force. When I was a fourth-year medical student, 25% of us were not given internships by the military and had to find our own.

 

[pawprint]

Thanks for the answers! So if its not guaranteed that we get at least a military internship, if we don't match into a military internship OR a civilian internship, what does the military do? They paid for 4 years of my medical school so I have to work for them, but if they don't grant me an internship, how would I continue working for the military?

This is why GMO tours make sense to me after the internship year. If they can't land their doctors into residencies, they can just have them work as GMOs. This is why I thought the internship year was possibly guaranteed, since the military will have already spent a ton of money training me for 4 years in medical school, it wouldn't make sense to me for them to have people in limbo between 4th year and intern year.

 

[SuperSoccer19]

Funny. Most people BEG for deferrments. Know a a handful that got a deferrment who didn't want one, but most were deferred for the whole residency--not just internship.

 

[deuist]

This is why I thought the internship year was possibly guaranteed

Nope, not guaranteed. If you fail to match in an internship in the Air Force, you are entirely on your own to scramble into one. You are required to do this. You cannot work in any clinical capacity without having completed at least an internship. The only people who are guaranteed internships are USUHS graduates.

 

[colbgw02]

Thanks for the answers! So if its not guaranteed that we get at least a military internship, if we don't match into a military internship OR a civilian internship, what does the military do? They paid for 4 years of my medical school so I have to work for them, but if they don't grant me an internship, how would I continue working for the military?

If you are deferred for internship and then fail to get into a civilian one, you are most likely to be reclassified into a different branch. This is rare, but I'm sure it happens from time to time. In the Army, these people mostly end up serving their obligation in the medical service corps, but I'm not sure what the Navy or Air Force equivalent is. They're going to get their pound of flesh of you regardless, so it obviously behooves you to find a way into a civilian internship.

 

[colbgw02]

Funny. Most people BEG for deferrments. Know a a handful that got a deferrment who didn't want one, but most were deferred for the whole residency--not just internship.

Getting deferred for residency and getting deferred for internship are quite different animals. The former is highly sought after, while the second is typically the military's way of saying, "you're going to GMO land and we're not even going to bother to train you first. you're on your own." Occasionally, someone will match into a military residency beginning with PGY-2, but will be deferred for their internship, but that is relatively rare.

 

[krwhite]

Hey everyone, I have a question that I need clarification on.

Since I'm doing HPSP and the Navy is paying for all 4 years of medical school, is a military internship guaranteed? I ask this because I want to know what would happen if I don't match into a military internship. I just started medical school and am not really worried about not matching (not yet anyway) but I was just curious. I understand I have to reapply after my internship year and understand how everything works after intern year (such as GMO tour, etc), but I can't find much about the transition between 4th year of medical school and internship year.

Any help would be appreciated!

I wouldn't worry about this at all. It's very rare not to get an internship spot. Yes, USUHS kids are guaranteed internship spots while HPSP kids aren't necessarily, but it would still be rare. The Navy wants you to train with them. It's not like the Air Force, where lots of people are deferred to civilian internships.