Simultaneous Membership Program

[Yahtzee14]

Hi guys, been frequenting the forum a lot lately and recently heard about SMP and found little satisfactory information on it and was wondering if anyone had any experience with in or informed opinions.

Preface: Rising sophomore, pre-med, planned on doing AMEDD with HPLRP (if its even still around) once out of residency with the Guard.

I recently heard about this where you can get drill pay and loads of benefits without the chance of deployment messing up your schooling. Don't get me wrong, I understand deployment and am completely open to it once I have finished my training, I just do not want my schooling to be interrupted by it, which is why I didn't just join the Guard at the beginning of my collegiate career.

From what the recruiter at my school told me (please help me verify any of this), I could go to Leader's Training Course this summer and then start with the ROTC program next fall. I would take classes, do PT, and other leadership activities with the guard for 2 years while receiving full tuition, a monthly stipend, and E-5 pay, along with health insurance (wow). And then graduate as a commissioned 2LT in the Guard.

This is where I started to think his facts might be off, he said IF I have a acceptance to a US med school in hand I can defer my incurred obligation until after med school AND residency. He also said that after I am a full fledged physician and begin my 6 year repayment I would be eligible for HPRLP without incurring more years of service.

If this is true, sign me up tomorrow. But this seemed way WAY too good to be true and I am having a lot of trouble finding too much info on it. Does anyone have experience with this? My only issue would be what happens if I don't get into med school, and I don't know if I like the idea of committing 35 year old me to something at 19. However, the deal just seems unbelievable if any of it is true.

Thanks guys

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[Yahtzee14]

Bump. Does anyone recommend any path that start with joining the guard in undergrad as opposed to waiting? The benefits now would be tremendous. I was told I would get free tuition (10k value), a stipend for boarding (10k/year), I would still get all my scholarship money (lets just say 10k-12k a year), my drill and ROTC pay (10k/year), and health insurance. That's like 40k per year I could get for my last two years of schooling. He then was saying the guard had an HSPS program but I think he was confused with the details of it and it being for active duty Army. But he kept saying "the guard will pay for your schooling while in med school and you'll be getting a stipend" is this some program I don't know about that is state dependent? I don't see anything referencing a program like this on the guards website.

Any information about SMP or joining the guard in undergrad is welcome.

Thanks in advance.

EDIT:

I saw a great response for a second but I'm assuming there was a forum glitch or the poster had deleted their response, essentially they were saying don't do it for the money and said that all I talked about was the money. This is 100% true, I apologize for not making my intentions more clear. Basically I have always had a strong desire to serve in the military, I was originally going to join before college and then go on the pre-med track but then circumstances arose and I chose to wait and (hopefully) join as a physician. I have a very strong desire to serve and to serve right now, my questions essentially revolve around "If I join now am I going to get screwed over as opposed to waiting?" I would love to join now, I want to join now. My only concern is that by not waiting I will lose out either monetarily or by being deployed while in my schooling and training. I don't want to lose out on some of the incentives you get by serving by being too eager and starting to soon. I apologize for not making this clear the first time.

Thank you to whoever posted that response!

 

[TRIPNOMORE]

I did Guard while in undergrad as an enlisted man. I didn't do ROTC/OCS for two reasons.

1. End goal is medical school, doing ROTC extends my contract time and might hinder that process. If I do ROTC for the scholarship and stipend I already owe the Guard 6 years. I cannot take the HPLRP until my first repayment time is up (for ROTC). THEN I can start the HPLRP which helps pay back up to 240k in loans (this is taxable income) if I do the whole six years. This means you cannot start HPLRP until you finish your initial contract time for ROTC. In essence you have to wait for your 6 year commitment to be up before you start HPLRP. This means you cannot double dip, ie be under two federal incentive programs at the same time. Meaning your loans will accrue interest during that time. That makes waiting for the HPLRP not as feasible due to the amount of time you have to wait and interest accrued. While in med school if you aren't actively drilling then you aren't paying back your commitment.

2. Service obligation payback time. As an enlisted man I was still doing my monthly drills, thus eating away at my service obligation. I got all the benefits of the GI Bill/FTA but I also got screwed over going to drill during undergrad. Getting into med school was harder because I was pulled everywhere. Big thing was I didnt owe the Army time after my initial stint but got college covered for. If I want to do HPLRP I can jump in when I want to and leave when I want to since I served over the MSO (8 years).

Guard doesnt have a HPSP. They have MDSSP which is a stipend for Medical/Dental students. You owe 2 years of service for every 1 year that you take it. Not worth it IMO.

SMP is Simultaneous Membership Program. From what I remember you have to go through basic/AIT and then come back to college right after and do ROTC.

TLDR: Hinging life on acceptance into med school right out of undergrad. Deferred obligation time is bad. You would accrue interest along the way as well.

PM me if you need more info.

 

[Yahtzee14]

@TRIPNOMORE

Thanks for the response! Nice to meet someone who is on that path. Are you not worried about deployment while in undergrad, I believe if you aren't in SMP you are 100% deployable just like any other active member, correct? Also, from what I understand, I believe any public med school in NJ is free if you are in the guard. Like Rutgers for example. I read that in this article: http://whitecoatinvestor.com/army-national-guard-physicians/ So I think if you get in there you would not have to take HPLRP, just an added boost for serving in such a busy time (med school).

I'm sure I'll be PMing you with questions!

 

[DeadCactus]

I would wait to join in medical school.

1. Undergraduate benefits are garbage compared to medical school and physician bonuses. The vast majority of bonuses, including HPLRP to my knowledge, aren't available until you've finished paying back your previous obligations. Trading 6 years of service for $80k is stupid if you're planning to go to medical school. A 6 year obligation for a physician is worth 3 to 4 times that much.

2. A pre-med in undergrad has enough to do without worrying about summer training, morning PT, etc.

3. Joining as a medical student skips the transitional process where their ineptitude or malice could screw you.

Join once you're accepted to medical school. Take no bonuses that incur an obligation at that time. Drill during medical school, make use of whatever state benefits you get, and knock down time toward your initial 6 year obligation during medical school and residency. This gives you a low risk - low/moderate reward chance to test the waters. If you get to the other side and decide you want to keep going, look at STRAP/HPLRP.