Hello fellow SDNers,
I have made the tough decision to withdraw my application from USUHS. While this is a great school with an extraordinary staff, I do not believe military medicine is right for me. This was a very tough decision for me and I would like to give my two cents to anyone struggling with the same decision.
Military medicine is truly a different breed of medicine. The internet appears to be flooded with a bimodal distribution of interpretations of those who love it and those who hate it. You can make an argument for or against it very easily. Some of the biggest positive to me were the purpose, comradery, patient population, and debt free education. The cons however won me over with one of the biggest being limited control over your career. Yes the military will never force you to "do a speciality you do not like" but they can force you to do fleet work performing minimally demanding work in a position with minimal staff and control over your clinic even after you are board certified. If the military needs a position filled, they are going to get it. I know many argue this is unlikely and indeed it might be, but there are numerous threads out there arguing the opposite. Yes, having a paid medical education is very enticing but the commitment is very long. On average it has to be around 14-15 years from the time you start medical school to the time your done assuming you do an average 3 year residence with intermittent operational tours. This is a very long time and given how much my views have changed over the last couple of years not to mention the last decade, how can I know what I will want in life in 10-15 years or even 4 years. Maybe a specific career, speciality choice that is not offered in the military, family, or location close to family. To me, the loss of complete control over your career for 15 years is very hard to swallow. The good news is if I still have a burning desire to enter the military after I have complete the residence program of my choice without deferment to, I can do it with a decent sign on bonus to pay of any lingering loans.
In conclusion, I believe USUHS is for those who are dead set on military medicine. Yes you will unlikely have one of those SDNerhorror stories, but if you do not know what you are getting into you very well might. If you enjoy the military and all of the love and hate that comes with it, USUHS is the perfect school and has some amazing opportunities to accomplish that goal. In the end, I think all of the evidence points toward physician retention rates. It is again bimodal with some doctors servering the rest of their career activity duty while you see people dropping off 17-18 years right before retirement. It should be known that a large group of those that go through HPSP or USU remain helping veterans in the VA and other facilities. These are some of the best people our country has to offer. With this, you will likely really hate it or really love it. Be sure with your decision and do it for what you want out of life knowing why your doing it and the commitment you must fulfill.
Otherwise I hope everyone good luck and this country appreciated everyone who is willing to make the commitment. We all know the commitment it takes just to pursue a medical career in general on top of a military one as well.
Good Luck!
