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2015-2016 Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Application Thread
- Thread starter Ismet
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Hello guys! Just found out Iam on the alternate waitlist. I am glad to hear that, though being on the primary waitlist would have been ideal. I hope the list moves fast enough that eventually it will grant me a spot. If not.... Well, I will asure I am a stronger applicant for next cycle!
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Hey! Congratulations @CosmicGenes! Wishing you the best of luck! Which branch did you list as your #1 choice?
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Air Force was my number one choice, and Army was number two but with a commitment of #1. Does anyone know the insight, history or statistics regarding movement from the alternate list?
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Yes. Wait list is very intense since you dont know the outcome. Now, if you are on primary list chances are you are in!! On the other hand... I have no idea on how the alternate list works haha. So at this point Im not sure what to expect. Though im excited and honored to have made it on the alternate waitlist.
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I e-mailed LTC Saguil about this and this was his response to me on January 26th.
"Each branch currently has 30 to 50 students on the wait list, with Navy having the most."
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It is interesting how bimodal people's experiences tend to be in the Navy compared to other services. Anyone have any input? Even some of the post here were either on one extreme or the other. I found one bellow on reddit for an example, sounds like they are either family or personally directly involved in navy medicine. Hopefully making a good conversation about why we all love navy medicine will help keep our minds off April 30th
PRO:
"VonGator 3 points 1 year ago
Hi there! My husband is a Navy doc, in his second year of his Family Medicine residency. He did the HPSP program and we are very happy how it all worked out for us!
I'm not sure what the Army recruiter was talking about, but there is NO gap year between Med School and residency.
As far as pros go, being with the Navy is pretty darn great. You are most likely going to get stationed in a pretty nice location (by the water), unless you are with the Marines, but even then it's not so bad. Also, you have opportunities to be trained in Dive Medicine or Flight Medicine, which are unique to the navy as well. I've also heard that the overall level of care is much better with the navy than with the Army, but I could be biased on that side of things.
Also consider what specialty you may want to go into. Research where the residencies are for that specialty and how many spots are at each location.
I was very involved with my husband through med school and residency decision making, so if you have any specific questions, shoot me a PM. Best of luck to you!"
CON:
soylentdream 1 point 1 year ago
If one is looking at taking HPSP for financial reasons, you have to seriously evaluate the cost of paying off med school student loans vs. the (economic and noneconomic) cost of the military service obligation. Being a military doc is notthe same as being a civilian doc. A family doc in the military is pretty close to a family doc in the civilian world. But, in the military, you still have to factor in the (all too real costs) of having to go where the military wants to station you, forced moves, and deployments (possibly multiple). You have to think about the cost of the time you're losing at the end of your career (hopefully) being a partner in your own practice.
If you want to do a competitive residency, you'll be competing against guys who have been out being a GMO and/or a higher rank and thus who get bonus points when you're all in front of your service's selection board competing for a limited number of training slots. And then, if the selection board lets you train in your desired field, you'll have to actually find a residency slot.
And then, the further you get from primary care, the more divergent a military practice is from a civilian practice. Sure, there are places where you can closely replicate a civilian specialty practice, but those are the exception, not the rule. For example, the hospital where I'm stationed touts itself as the "flagship medical center" of my branch of service, but, for example, the neurosurgeons each only gets 3 OR days per month, and that's doing pretty rudimentary surgeries, since we don't have a neuro ICU (from what I can tell, the surgeons don't really trust the SICU to not kill their patients). It isn't unheard of, for example, for the DOD to train a pediatric oncologist and then stuff them into an assignment where there's no possibility of, you know, practicing pediatric oncology. And, at least in my branch, the leadership isn't equipped by training or by experience to understand the practice and career-development needs of the physicians. My boss's boss, for example, used to be a physical therapist, and can't fathom why the docs need to attend national meetings for CME. When the docs can't quit, the hospital really has little incentive to accommodate its physicians.
On a personal note: I loved going to work every morning during my residency and fellowship. I loved moonlighting during fellowship. These days, though, I dread going to work. Most of the time I feel like I'm a bit player in a giant fraud on our patients and on the American taxpayer. When I joined the military I didn't have enough knowledge about the medical field or about who I'd be as a physician to make an informed decision. If I could go back in time, I don't think younger-me would be able to hear what older-me would be trying to tell him. Older-me would probably have to chloroform younger-me and stuff younger-me into a closet until the recruiter left campus.
PRO:
"VonGator 3 points 1 year ago
Hi there! My husband is a Navy doc, in his second year of his Family Medicine residency. He did the HPSP program and we are very happy how it all worked out for us!
I'm not sure what the Army recruiter was talking about, but there is NO gap year between Med School and residency.
As far as pros go, being with the Navy is pretty darn great. You are most likely going to get stationed in a pretty nice location (by the water), unless you are with the Marines, but even then it's not so bad. Also, you have opportunities to be trained in Dive Medicine or Flight Medicine, which are unique to the navy as well. I've also heard that the overall level of care is much better with the navy than with the Army, but I could be biased on that side of things.
Also consider what specialty you may want to go into. Research where the residencies are for that specialty and how many spots are at each location.
I was very involved with my husband through med school and residency decision making, so if you have any specific questions, shoot me a PM. Best of luck to you!"
CON:
soylentdream 1 point 1 year ago
If one is looking at taking HPSP for financial reasons, you have to seriously evaluate the cost of paying off med school student loans vs. the (economic and noneconomic) cost of the military service obligation. Being a military doc is notthe same as being a civilian doc. A family doc in the military is pretty close to a family doc in the civilian world. But, in the military, you still have to factor in the (all too real costs) of having to go where the military wants to station you, forced moves, and deployments (possibly multiple). You have to think about the cost of the time you're losing at the end of your career (hopefully) being a partner in your own practice.
If you want to do a competitive residency, you'll be competing against guys who have been out being a GMO and/or a higher rank and thus who get bonus points when you're all in front of your service's selection board competing for a limited number of training slots. And then, if the selection board lets you train in your desired field, you'll have to actually find a residency slot.
And then, the further you get from primary care, the more divergent a military practice is from a civilian practice. Sure, there are places where you can closely replicate a civilian specialty practice, but those are the exception, not the rule. For example, the hospital where I'm stationed touts itself as the "flagship medical center" of my branch of service, but, for example, the neurosurgeons each only gets 3 OR days per month, and that's doing pretty rudimentary surgeries, since we don't have a neuro ICU (from what I can tell, the surgeons don't really trust the SICU to not kill their patients). It isn't unheard of, for example, for the DOD to train a pediatric oncologist and then stuff them into an assignment where there's no possibility of, you know, practicing pediatric oncology. And, at least in my branch, the leadership isn't equipped by training or by experience to understand the practice and career-development needs of the physicians. My boss's boss, for example, used to be a physical therapist, and can't fathom why the docs need to attend national meetings for CME. When the docs can't quit, the hospital really has little incentive to accommodate its physicians.
On a personal note: I loved going to work every morning during my residency and fellowship. I loved moonlighting during fellowship. These days, though, I dread going to work. Most of the time I feel like I'm a bit player in a giant fraud on our patients and on the American taxpayer. When I joined the military I didn't have enough knowledge about the medical field or about who I'd be as a physician to make an informed decision. If I could go back in time, I don't think younger-me would be able to hear what older-me would be trying to tell him. Older-me would probably have to chloroform younger-me and stuff younger-me into a closet until the recruiter left campus.
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The simple solution to resolve this discrepancy is to not join the Navy or the Air Force for that matter... Just plugging my own branch if you can't tell.
The people who are going to be happy about either situation are the ones who get what they want initially or see completing the GMO tour as a second chance to get a competitive specialty especially when they faced indecision at match time. The match process works so that 4th year medical students aren't really competing with GMO's and interns because the former gets continuous training or first year only contracts while the latter gets PGY2-on training contracts, generally speaking. Ultimately there is neither good nor bad, you will just be happier if you think that the Navy's way of training physician better fits your values than any of the other branches.
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Interesting, I was not previously aware of this. I personally love the idea of GMO but that is nice to be aware of.
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Sooo... got this just now
What does this mean? I've never been contacted about anything having to do with AF and have been on the primary waitlist since November with Army as top choice.
What does this mean? I've never been contacted about anything having to do with AF and have been on the primary waitlist since November with Army as top choice.
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I just got the exact same email... I don't want to get excited because I'm on hold and have Army as top choice. I'm guessing it was sent in error, I'm going to email my counselor in the morning.
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Why would they do this to us? AF is the cruelest branch..
I came on to say the same thing, I interviewed in January with AF as my top choice but was never contacted about a conditional acceptance or anything. Typo? Fluke? Hope?
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... the cruelest branch...
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I'm guessing it was a mass email sent in error, probably meant to send it to one person that actually got accepted and accidently sent it to the entire mailing list or something. Or they just wanted to hear the sound of rising hopes and crushing dreams.
Edit: Did anyone reply to Lt Col Labbe? If so, please post her reply. I didn't want to send her an email back because I figured a lot of people would be emailing her back.
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I got it too, but AF is my top choice. Fingers crossed here for a real acceptance tho
I am in the same position... Primary waitlist for AF. Glad I came on here to check before I got too excited.. I did e-mail her back asking for clarification so we'll see what she says.
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I emailed back asking for confirmation. Will report here when I hear back.
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Just got the email as well. I emailed Dr. Saguil that I would gladly join any uniform service though. Why do you think this is an error? That would be strange. They could have sent real conditional acceptances to a handful of people to be efficient.
Last edited:
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Well, I'd love to serve with you, my optimistic friend.
I just got the same email. Interviewed in September was placed on hold and haven't heard of any status changes or anything since then... Air Force was my first choice.
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Not to crush people's hopes but I got the email as well and have already been unconditionally accepted to navy
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well dang, that excitement was shortlasted
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Ugh, I got the same email. Interviewed 1/14 and haven't heard anything until this. Why you gotta do that to me USUHS? 🙁
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Same email here, too. I thought that was a little odd.
Her response was this.
"Thank you for your quick reply.
For clarification purposes, the Air Force requires verification of name, social security number and military history prior to processing any military documents. Once the information is verified, it can take some time to have the scroll process completed so that orders can be issued, and therefore this verification has to begin early in the year for all applicants who are still wait listed or on an alternate lists (conditionally accepted).
You have not yet been awarded a seat in the Air Force 2016 entering USUHS class, but are on the list of applicants that USUHS is considering for a position.
If you are interested in continuing your application through the Air Force, then I will contact you again for further documentation."
"Thank you for your quick reply.
For clarification purposes, the Air Force requires verification of name, social security number and military history prior to processing any military documents. Once the information is verified, it can take some time to have the scroll process completed so that orders can be issued, and therefore this verification has to begin early in the year for all applicants who are still wait listed or on an alternate lists (conditionally accepted).
You have not yet been awarded a seat in the Air Force 2016 entering USUHS class, but are on the list of applicants that USUHS is considering for a position.
If you are interested in continuing your application through the Air Force, then I will contact you again for further documentation."
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Based on the response I received from LTC Labbe, it seems the letter was meant for those who are still under consideration, including conditionals, waitlisted, alternate listed. This doesn't explain MRpremed-dudeguy, who was unconditional Navy.
Frankly, I'm still confused. But she did confirm that I've not been offered a seat with the Air Force.
Frankly, I'm still confused. But she did confirm that I've not been offered a seat with the Air Force.
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Well, the feeling I felt from receiving the initial email was amazing. As disheartening as it was realizing that it was not true, I will remember how I felt reading the words "As you know, USUHS has selected you among their hundreds of applicants to be conditionally accepted" for a long time. As disappointing as it was finding out that it was a mistake, I'm going to remember that good feeling I had and use it as motivation. I hope others do too and don't allow themselves to be discouraged.
On a less serious note, now we can relate to this more:
On a less serious note, now we can relate to this more:
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Bahahahaha. ^ Yessss. Anwho. I'm in the same boat as all of you, and I also just read the update from LTC Saguil confirming it was a mistake. 🙁 Hurrah for the faux hopes. Well. It felt nice while it lasted.
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Did anyone get a call from Col. Saguil today? I missed one around 3:00pm ET, and the message just mentions that he wants to talk about an "application update". O_0
Should I be expecting good news or bad news?
Should I be expecting good news or bad news?
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What are you doing posting here when you could be calling him back?
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I think the office is closed; I just get a voicemail. This is going to be a long weekend. X_x
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Oh no! Well, it's probably good news. I don't think rejections usually get phone calls, has anyone had experience with that?
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He usually only calls for acceptances, other needed information is handled by emails or snail mail, so here's a preemptive Congratulations! What was your top choice branch?
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They wouldn't call about a rejection. I'm close to 100% sure this is an acceptance. I don't think LTC Saguil would personally call unsolicited for any other reason.
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God I hope so. I ranked NPHS with Navy as a close second. I figure Navy is more likely haha.
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Were you wait-listed, or were you still waiting on a decision after your interview?
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Primary wait-listed.
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Congratulations on wait-listed! Still an awesome accomplishment. 🙂 Sorry it wasn't an acceptance =\
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I was primary wait-listed a long time ago. I still don't know if the call was an acceptance or not! I just have to wait until Monday when the office opens again.
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Ohhh ok, even more awesome! Yay! Can't wait to hear the good news!
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AAAHHHH YOU WERE ACCEPTED NAVY? What else did he say?! How many seats opened up?! (I'm on the Navy waitlist...)
