NHSC Application 2016 is Officially Open!

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hellofuturedentists said:
It's much easier to take a lower salary and help underserved when you don't have hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt to worry about repaying. And I'm pretty sure you yourself find a job at an approved site and if you can't find one, they place you.
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True, that's why I initially wanted to do this because you don't have to worry about the loan and you get a hell of a lot of practice on top of helping underserved populations. But my dentist kind of talked me out of it by saying "why work somewhere else when you can establish yourself here and open a practice after a few years" coming out of nhsc you will have to start over as an associate but in an area that you'd prefer to work and only then will you start establishing patients.
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HookahLungs said:
coming out of nhsc you will have to start over as an associate but in an area that you'd prefer to work and only then will you start establishing patients.
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Well I don't think you can get the same patients anyway because you cannot compete within 10-15ish miles radius?
 
hannah_hoac said:
Well I don't think you can get the same patients anyway because you cannot compete within 10-15ish miles radius?
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I'm not sure what you mean by that? And if you're saying I can't open a dental practice anywhere near the place where I work now, then you're wrong. There are plenty (20-30) of dental buildings in my town and it's probably like a ten mile radius.
 
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HookahLungs said:
I'm not sure what you mean by that? And if you're saying I can't open a dental practice anywhere near the place where I work now, then you're wrong. There are plenty (20-30) of dental buildings in my town and it's probably like a ten mile radius.
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Usually the dentist whom you work for as an associate will make you sign the non-compete clause which states that you cannot work within "x" miles from their practice.
 
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HookahLungs said:
My dentist (also my boss) strongly encouraged me not to apply for this. His list of cons:
-within 4 years you can have an established patient base
-you'll live in a rural area
-you'll be away from family
-you'll make more than enough money working as an associate to pay loans
-After 4 years as an associate you can open your own practice and have established patients

So I decided not to apply for this even though I had finished all but one essay. I even had the letters of rec ready. My dentist strongly persuaded me to not apply, he offered me a job at his practice for an hourly rate and he told me how much he would pay me and even said it may be more, which is much more than what anyone expects as a starting salary. He said the only reason anyone should apply for this should be that the school totals 500-600k
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there's a sucker born every minute
 
hellofuturedentists said:
Lol ya I was about to say a nice, suburban town can't be in that dire need of a dentist. Still lots of non-rural places though!
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I did some Googling on my town and apparently we are considered rural. I also looked up the last place I lived that I thought was suburban and that was rural as well.

Apparently I have no idea wtf a suburban area looks like. My mind is blown. Guess that explains all of the farms...
 
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hannah_hoac said:
Usually the dentist whom you work for as an associate will make you sign the non-compete clause which states that you cannot work within "x" miles from their practice.
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Oh really?? I didn't know that, thanks for the heads up.
Scumbag_Steve said:
You don't get "placed", you actively search for a position at one of the designated sites. You can work in New York City or Mississippi, it is completely up to you. There are no "chances". You are correct that you can help people without the scholarship but you're not likely to be able to with $400k in loans. Not that people who do the NHSC are morally superior but there is altruism there. If there weren't any, they'd just go work for corporate
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I also did not know this. Wow, I should've done a little bit more research prior to not applying entirely -.-
 
Scumbag_Steve said:
We live and we learn brah. You can always apply during school for a scholarship length of under two years, I believe.
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Yeah I definitely can. Thanks for letting me know that btw guys and ladies.
 
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When do we hear back for anything?
 
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This wait is BRUTAL!!!!
 
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I looked last year it seems the end of July is when they send emails telling if you got it or not.
 
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Spending all of last summer eagerly waiting to hear back from dental schools for interviews wasn't enough, so now we get to spend this summer eagerly waiting to hear back from NHSC. Yippy!
 
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Do they do interviews at all? Or is it if you got it or not type thing?
 
zEkii said:
Do they do interviews at all? Or is it if you got it or not type thing?
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I think they used to do interviews but they stopped doing them for the past few years, I could be wrong though
 
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I haven't seen anything talking about interviews. I don't think they do those anymore.
 
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Anyone had their credit checked yet? They did it around this week last year?

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Credit Karma! You can check once a week for any updates to your credit score, including hard inquiries. :)
 
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My credit has not been checked yet.
 
Will we get an email if our credit is checked?
 
dqn17 said:
Will we get an email if our credit is checked?
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No email! Just a little something we can use to put us at ease while we wait for correspondance from NHSC later this summer.
 
2th_fairy said:
No email! Just a little something we can use to put us at ease while we wait for correspondance from NHSC later this summer.
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So have they official done credit reports for everyone? Has anyone on here got their credit checked? What does it mean if you credit is checked?
 
shivshiv92 said:
So have they official done credit reports for everyone? Has anyone on here got their credit checked? What does it mean if you credit is checked?
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No, I don't think they have done any credit checks yet. At least they haven't done mine anyway. To answer your last question, I think they just pull your credit to ensure you haven't defaulted on any past obligations. I don't think they analyze your credit score and count up all your late payments or anything. I don't know that for a fact but the only mention I can find of checking your credit in the application guidance document they posted was when they said having defaulted on any past obligations would automatically disqualify you.

I created an account on Credit Karma the other day for the first time and I love that site. I actually found an error that I have already disputed. Even if nothing else comes from this application, I will have improved my credit score as a result of it! I think we are all looking for documentation of a "hard inquiry" from HRSA to show up on our report.
 
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shivshiv92 said:
So have they official done credit reports for everyone? Has anyone on here got their credit checked? What does it mean if you credit is checked?
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I just checked my report on credit karma and there is nothing...nada :( I'm assuming it's also early...From reading through last years thread, the presumption is that if you got your credit checked by HRSA then you are being seriously considered for the scholarship. Idk how much that is true though....anyone got their credits checked? If so, plz list the date.
 
I looked at last year's and I think it was around June 10 so we're still early. I'm guessing UKalum will get this scholarship, so if his credit hasn't been checked yet, I'm not worried about mine lol
 
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hellofuturedentists said:
I looked at last year's and I think it was around June 10 so we're still early. I'm guessing UKalum will get this scholarship, so if his credit hasn't been checked yet, I'm not worried about mine lol
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I'm sure there are many equal or better applicants. I appreciate the confidence though. lol
 
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FatherOrangeJuice said:
So who besides me and @hellofuturedentists applied without disadvantaged status? I wonder what percentage of applicants actually apply with disadvantaged status.
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I did. And not to bum you out but 15 people from our D1 class applied and all but one of us has disadvantaged status. I would looooooovvvvveeee to receive this scholarship but I'm trying not to get my hopes up. I wish I went to dental school 15 years ago when everyone that applied for this essentially got it.

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dental004100 said:
I did. And not to bum you out but 15 people from our D1 class applied and all but one of us has disadvantaged status. I would looooooovvvvveeee to receive this scholarship but I'm trying not to get my hopes up. I wish I went to dental school 15 years ago when everyone that applied for this essentially got it.

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exactly. That's why my hopes aren't too high. However, I figured I should apply anyway on the off chance they take me.
 
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hellofuturedentists said:
exactly. That's why my hopes aren't too high. However, I figured I should apply anyway on the off chance they take me.
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Don't get bummed out about it. Being identified as having come from a disadvantaged background doesn't matter at all if the scholarship committee has no reason to believe they will serve in HPSA after their service obligation. You made the right decision to apply.
 
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UKalum said:
Don't get bummed out about it. Being identified as having come from a disadvantaged background doesn't matter at all if the scholarship committee has no reason to believe they will serve in HPSA after their service obligation. You made the right decision to apply.
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True but I'm sure they will find more than enough qualified applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds. I know I wasn't wrong to apply. You never know if you don't try, especially since the application was free lol. It'd be nice to win, but if I don't, I'll enjoy knowing people got it who deserved it more than I did :)
 
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dental004100 said:
I did. And not to bum you out but 15 people from our D1 class applied and all but one of us has disadvantaged status. I would looooooovvvvveeee to receive this scholarship but I'm trying not to get my hopes up. I wish I went to dental school 15 years ago when everyone that applied for this essentially got it.

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How could you possibly know that information about 15 people in your class applying for it? My class is pretty tight knit but nobody would have that type of information....
 
FatherOrangeJuice said:
How could you possibly know that information about 15 people in your class applying for it? My class is pretty tight knit but nobody would have that type of information....
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We have all talked to each other about it and all had a meeting together with our Academic Dean about the application. Plus our financial aid office that fills them out said everyone that applies usually has disadvantaged status. lol
 
dental004100 said:
We have all talked to each other about it and all had a meeting together with our Academic Dean about the application. Plus our financial aid office that fills them out said everyone that applies usually has disadvantaged status. lol
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Wow... That's crazy. I wonder if 15 from each school is the norm. I just can't picture 14 other people from my class applying
 
I'm still pretty sure I remember seeing that the top thing they look for is if you're from a disadvantaged background, then they move to how committed you are. I'm just assuming there are enough committed, disadvantaged-background people to pick over me lol. Oh well. I tried!
 
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FatherOrangeJuice said:
Wow... That's crazy. I wonder if 15 from each school is the norm. I just can't picture 14 other people from my class applying
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Ya I'm not sure. Our academic Dean used to be on the NHSC board or something so he has really advertised it at our school. It sucks I wished there were a lot less people from our school applying. But good news is maybe its easier to get 3 year scholarships vs 4? Not sure.

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dental004100 said:
Ya I'm not sure. Our academic Dean used to be on the NHSC board or something so he has really advertised it at our school. It sucks I wished there were a lot less people from our school applying. But good news is maybe its easier to get 3 year scholarships vs 4? Not sure.

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Lol that might explain it. If you feel comfortable sharing, what school is that?
 
dental004100 said:
Ya I'm not sure. Our academic Dean used to be on the NHSC board or something so he has really advertised it at our school. It sucks I wished there were a lot less people from our school applying. But good news is maybe its easier to get 3 year scholarships vs 4? Not sure.

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I'm pretty sure that I read somewhere that they consider each new application as a 1 year commitment. They don't consider it in terms of a 3 or 4 year scholarship. I will try to find that source.
 
On page 11 of the Application and Program Guidance document, it says that once an application is accepted and received, a contract is then offered to sign. At this time, you can choose how many years you would like to agree to be under contract. Before this point, they don't ask you how many years you wish to receive funding.
 
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Oh cool did not know that thanks. Im just hoping we all hear good things soon.

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