Advice on Joining Army/Air National Guard Prior to Med School

[JToney]

Hi All,

I’m looking for some advice on whether joining the Army or Air National Guard will hinder or aide my progress for applying to med school. It will most certainly prolong the process but I’m still interested to hear others opinions. I’m several years away from applying because I need to take some prerequisite courses and my wife is currently going through school so I have some time. I wanted to serve after college but after some trouble with the law I was unable to join, at least for the position that I wanted. Fast forward to now being 30, the itch is still there and the mission of the National Guard is extremely appealing especially the state side missions. And after talking with recruiters the misdemeanor from back then isn’t so much an issue 10 years later. However, I also want to focus on becoming a doctor and I know that joining will delay that goal by training, mobilizations, or deployments. I was interested in joining as a 68W (Health Specialist/Combat Medic) in the Army or a 4N0X1 (Aerospace Medical Service) in the Air Force. This way I can gain experience while also serving. But after reading a bunch of posts on here from people with similar goals it almost doesn’t seem like the juice is worth the squeeze. In terms of the experience gained and how applicable it is to the med school application. Which made me think that a better route might be to focus on doing the best I can on my grades now and getting clinical experience. Then either apply for the HPSP scholarship or one of the other loan repayment programs that the military offers and serve afterwards to scratch that military itch. So considering how much time I have between now and applying (~3 years) does it make more sense to wait and try to join later or serve now and then go full send on the medical front? Thank you to all who take the time to read and answer.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[DMBandFan86]

I did reserves after undergrad and then did medical school. I was 68W. Just realize it is a harder route and a longer route. Initial entry training will take about 1 year, and any deployments can set you back further. You will also have to do annual training with your unit plus annual training to keep your EMT skills up to date (command depending if you can get out of AT). That will also cause interruptions with pre-med that you have to navigate around.

Does it help your resume? Sure, but so do a lot of things like research, grades, community service, work experience. You will still have to excel at all of those plus the military work. A lot of medical schools are now wanting to see how you have contributed to inequalities, helped the disadvantaged, contributed to society, etc (even if you are one yourself). Being in the army may have potential to add those things to your resume if you deploy or do missions. But you will also be delaying med school farther away by doing so.

Your unit may also not support you going to medical school unless you get commissioned through an incentives program (MDSSP). If you go that route just realize you are going to be in the military for a very long time. The extra money is nice, but eventually you end up paying it back.

Trying to go through med school as enlisted is possible, but I don’t recommend it. You can also get deployed which can cost you tuition and time.

If you are already in your 30s, I would not really advise delaying med school. Especially if you have several years to go. Pre-med, mcats, med school and residency is a long long time. The army money might sound nice now, but the headache later might not be worth it later. But then again my brain started turning off around 30 and I can’t imagine doing 6-8 hours of education and then studying all night anymore. So best of luck with that.

That being said, I did what I had to do at the time and don’t regret it. Made me a better person I believe. But the easier route would have been waiting to join in med school and skipping enlistment.

 

[JToney]

I did reserves after undergrad and then did medical school. I was 68W. Just realize it is a harder route and a longer route. Initial entry training will take about 1 year, and any deployments can set you back further. You will also have to do annual training with your unit plus annual training to keep your EMT skills up to date (command depending if you can get out of AT). That will also cause interruptions with pre-med that you have to navigate around.

Does it help your resume? Sure, but so do a lot of things like research, grades, community service, work experience. You will still have to excel at all of those plus the military work. A lot of medical schools are now wanting to see how you have contributed to inequalities, helped the disadvantaged, contributed to society, etc (even if you are one yourself). Being in the army may have potential to add those things to your resume if you deploy or do missions. But you will also be delaying med school farther away by doing so.

Your unit may also not support you going to medical school unless you get commissioned through an incentives program (MDSSP). If you go that route just realize you are going to be in the military for a very long time. The extra money is nice, but eventually you end up paying it back.

Trying to go through med school as enlisted is possible, but I don’t recommend it. You can also get deployed which can cost you tuition and time.

If you are already in your 30s, I would not really advise delaying med school. Especially if you have several years to go. Pre-med, mcats, med school and residency is a long long time. The army money might sound nice now, but the headache later might not be worth it later. But then again my brain started turning off around 30 and I can’t imagine doing 6-8 hours of education and then studying all night anymore. So best of luck with that.

That being said, I did what I had to do at the time and don’t regret it. Made me a better person I believe. But the easier route would have been waiting to join in med school and skipping enlistment.

Thank you for the feedback and I appreciate the insight. I agree that at my age it would be in my best interest to not delay getting into med school. It’s funny because at 30 I don’t feel old and am in some of the best shape I’ve been in a long time. But then I start to tally up the amount of time between me and my goals and it can feel a little daunting, but not unsurmountable.

You mentioned other things that can help with building my resume. I’ve been doing community service through my church, unrelated to applying to med school just good to know it serves a dual purpose. But for research and work experience I’ve been trying to find something that I can do on the side. I’ve been debating on getting my EMT-B cert so that I can volunteer and be exposed to emergency medical situations. That was one of the reasons I was looking at 68W since I’d get that during training. But for research what kind of opportunities exist for someone that is not at a university anymore? I’m a software engineer by trade so I thought about looking for medically related projects that might need code written. Would that even be considered relevant research experience?

Once again thank you or anybody else that takes the time to answer.

 

[TheEarDoc]

Hi All,

I’m looking for some advice on whether joining the Army or Air National Guard will hinder or aide my progress for applying to med school. It will most certainly prolong the process but I’m still interested to hear others opinions. I’m several years away from applying because I need to take some prerequisite courses and my wife is currently going through school so I have some time. I wanted to serve after college but after some trouble with the law I was unable to join, at least for the position that I wanted. Fast forward to now being 30, the itch is still there and the mission of the National Guard is extremely appealing especially the state side missions. And after talking with recruiters the misdemeanor from back then isn’t so much an issue 10 years later. However, I also want to focus on becoming a doctor and I know that joining will delay that goal by training, mobilizations, or deployments. I was interested in joining as a 68W (Health Specialist/Combat Medic) in the Army or a 4N0X1 (Aerospace Medical Service) in the Air Force. This way I can gain experience while also serving. But after reading a bunch of posts on here from people with similar goals it almost doesn’t seem like the juice is worth the squeeze. In terms of the experience gained and how applicable it is to the med school application. Which made me think that a better route might be to focus on doing the best I can on my grades now and getting clinical experience. Then either apply for the HPSP scholarship or one of the other loan repayment programs that the military offers and serve afterwards to scratch that military itch. So considering how much time I have between now and applying (~3 years) does it make more sense to wait and try to join later or serve now and then go full send on the medical front? Thank you to all who take the time to read and answer.

Concentrate on school. Get accepted to medical school. If you get accepted to medical school then either do the HPSP program or if you think you can swing the loans with a spouse who is working then just do med school and then go for STRAP for residency or wait until completely done and do reserves/guard as a full doc and get all the bennies and less payback time.

If it were me and your age, I would concentrate on school and get into medical school. Then apply for HPSP if you are wanting to make it a career or at least spend over a decade in uniform.

 

[JToney]

Concentrate on school. Get accepted to medical school. If you get accepted to medical school then either do the HPSP program or if you think you can swing the loans with a spouse who is working then just do med school and then go for STRAP for residency or wait until completely done and do reserves/guard as a full doc and get all the bennies and less payback time.

If it were me and your age, I would concentrate on school and get into medical school. Then apply for HPSP if you are wanting to make it a career or at least spend over a decade in uniform.

Thanks for the advice. That’s the approach I’m going with for now. I just started at my local community college for some of the prerequisites and I’m glad that I didn’t try to add drill weekends and activations/deployments into the mix of working full time, taking classes, and having a family. If all goes well, in 2-3 years I should be applying to medical school and then I can revisit the possibility of joining the guard/reserves.