Prior Service Army Med

[ltraptor]

Hello, wanted to reach out as I have to make a decision on whether or not to accept my 3-year ROTC scholarship in the next few days. I am pre-med and have been interested in the field for some time now. Originally, I was planning on going straight to med school out of undergrad, but my pre-med classes don't line up anymore.

Also, it seems like the age of med school matriculants has been steadily increasing. I have been trying to find some prior service folks who served as officers and then entered med school with HPSP. A lot of what I've found on this forum tends to be enlisted guys, but I would be serving as an officer before going to med school. Also, how would it work if I had served for 4 years after commissioning, as my MCAT would be invalidated? Would I have to take another year off for a post-bacc program and do the pre-med requirements again? Looking for any and all advice here, thanks!

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[deleted480308]

I wouldn't take ROTC if you want to be a doc......it can crush your timeline if you get stuck serving your obligation in a line slot before going back to retake an mcat. Just take the loans in undergrad and then decide if you still want to be in the army after you get an acceptance.

 

[HighPriest]

I have not personally taken this route, however I know a few people who have. Two, in particular, come to mind:

One did ROTC, completed his ADSO, and then went to med school -without- HPSP. He was staunchly against allowing the military to pay for any of his additional schooling, and felt like he had delayed his matriculation more than he should.

One did ROTC, then went straight into HPSP, Army residency, fellowship, and then owed the Army more time than Prometheus owes the mountain. He's one of the most staunchly anti-military people you'll ever meet.

Neither one was happy they did ROTC. I don't know if that's because of ROTC or because of the Army or because of their overall experience. Nonetheless, I would stay away from it.

 

[pgg]

ROTC will not help you become a doctor.

What do you mean when you say your pre-med classes don't line up any more? Sounds like you're a sophomore ... surely it ought to be possible to knock out the prereqs in the next 3 years with your degree.

 

[jcve34]

I'm probably too late.

I did ROTC and just got accepted. It's true ROTC screws up the timeline (maybe not in terms of classes). You have to apply for Education Delay but you won't find out if you get it until it's too late in the cycle. You have to spend the money on applying and secondaries without ever knowing if the Army will let you actually go to school. At this point you might as well do HPSP since you already have to serve (might as well do it debt free) but HPSP isn't through Cadet Command. Which means you have to work with a whole other beast.

That being said I loved ROTC. I have leadership experiences that I can talk about, I got to jump out of airplanes, shadow the special forces qualification course (they also wrote me letters of rec), and my best friends are through ROTC.

Sorry I'm so late to the post.