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Af hpsp cot
- Thread starter atomi
- Start date
You can defer your COT until after your first year but only if you have a good excuse. Your excuse, however, is not a good one. COT is 30 days of training (Montgomery, AL) where you get paid as active duty for 45 days. So you will be getting paid while you are there and you get paid for 15 days that you aren't there.
Your second active duty tour is generally the school of aerospace medicine in texas (SAM) where they try to sell flight surgeon status to you.
I have a friend who deferred his COT until after his first year and didn't do his SAM after his 2nd. It just means one of two things: a) he can do another 45-day ADT or b) the 45 days will be added to his committment.
Not a big deal but I doubt your excuse for not wanting to attend COT this summer will fly.
Your second active duty tour is generally the school of aerospace medicine in texas (SAM) where they try to sell flight surgeon status to you.
I have a friend who deferred his COT until after his first year and didn't do his SAM after his 2nd. It just means one of two things: a) he can do another 45-day ADT or b) the 45 days will be added to his committment.
Not a big deal but I doubt your excuse for not wanting to attend COT this summer will fly.
If COT is full for the year then you will just do it the next year. You should be able to google AF COT and find the website for it. I recall reading about it a while back. It has information on class size, dates, protocols, etc.
I don't know. But pushing back your commission just in the hopes of not going to COT seems kind of ridiculous. This is training that you will need to go through and it is better to get it out of the way so you can do SAM and spend the maximum time 4th year doing ADTs as clinical rotations at/in residency programs that you are going to be applying to.
Plus the time between MS1 and MS2 is really your last summer break... do you really want to spend it in montgomery alabama running at 6am?
Plus the time between MS1 and MS2 is really your last summer break... do you really want to spend it in montgomery alabama running at 6am?
You will not be doing an clinical rotation between MS1 and MS2... at that point you won't know a stethoscope from a tounge depressor. Generally AF HPSPers attend School of Aerospace Medicine in that break for a month. You CAN push back COT until this time and not do SAM at all. I have a friend who didn't do COT because he was in Brazil the summer before MS1 and did COT between 1 and 2 and won't be doing SAM at all.
Another important thing to remember is that COT is REQUIRED before you do anything else through the military. If you don't do COT you cannot go to SAM or do ADT rotations.
Advice time. Do not defer enrollment based on your AF responsibilities. The Air Force will make every attempt to match your schedule as long as it pertains to school. That is why I said that 'wanting to work' wasn't a good excuse to skip COT. If you turn down the 4-year and reapply for the 3-year you will not be looked at negatively. The AF needs doctors and will almost certainly accept you for a 3-year.
And this probably needs to be said to you. If you are not 100% OK with having someone else run your life then do NOT take the HPSP. Once you sign the papers, are commissioned and have the AF pay 1 cent of your education you belong to them for at least 12 years (4IARR in school, 4AD after residency, 4 IARR after that) where they can tell you what, when, where, and how and you have little input. I must stress that this scholarship is not for everyone and that if you are just looking for a way to pay for medical school then this is not it. There are a lot of flaws in military medicine and unless you are committed to being an officer in the Air Force who happens to be a doctor (meaning being an officer is 1st) then you need to reevaluate where you are. The match is going to suck and there is a chance you won't be able to do what you want when you graduate which is rare in civilian match.
In short, make sure you know what you are getting into and that you are committed to it.
Another important thing to remember is that COT is REQUIRED before you do anything else through the military. If you don't do COT you cannot go to SAM or do ADT rotations.
Advice time. Do not defer enrollment based on your AF responsibilities. The Air Force will make every attempt to match your schedule as long as it pertains to school. That is why I said that 'wanting to work' wasn't a good excuse to skip COT. If you turn down the 4-year and reapply for the 3-year you will not be looked at negatively. The AF needs doctors and will almost certainly accept you for a 3-year.
And this probably needs to be said to you. If you are not 100% OK with having someone else run your life then do NOT take the HPSP. Once you sign the papers, are commissioned and have the AF pay 1 cent of your education you belong to them for at least 12 years (4IARR in school, 4AD after residency, 4 IARR after that) where they can tell you what, when, where, and how and you have little input. I must stress that this scholarship is not for everyone and that if you are just looking for a way to pay for medical school then this is not it. There are a lot of flaws in military medicine and unless you are committed to being an officer in the Air Force who happens to be a doctor (meaning being an officer is 1st) then you need to reevaluate where you are. The match is going to suck and there is a chance you won't be able to do what you want when you graduate which is rare in civilian match.
In short, make sure you know what you are getting into and that you are committed to it.
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