I am currently on the Navy 4 year, and theres a guy in my class on the AF 3 year. theyre both the same program, mine is just 1 year longer.
so here's the info on the program. you get full tuition, and $16,000 a year to live on/spending money. part of that money is a 6 week annual training (AT), which in most cases consists of getting on the web and filling out orders to study at home. it's funny as heck that they even do it. the AT is a joke, you just tell the service you will be in school, and I usually apply in november so i get extra $$ for x-mas, thats because for the 6 week AT, they increase your pay while you stay at school and do nothing.
I had a lot of reservations about the whole thing for some time, untill I started school, and I live by an AF base, the benefits arent apparent till you start getting checks, and your classmates struggle with loans. I get ridiculously cheap auto insurance, huge discounts on food and gasoline, I workout for free on base. theres a ton of things that are not obvious untill you add them all up, and you end up living better on the little you have than you could imagine. I could have done it either way, but this way I get to keep all the perkins and stafford money for investment purposes. so I was able to buy a house because of the program. you will have to serve for 3 years after school, thats the downside, but in effect, when you add it all up, for the 3 years you will work for the AF, you will make about $350,000 in net pay, over 1/2 of which will be non taxable (tuition, BAS, BAH pay). You can do better in private practice or associateship, but you can also do worse, the military comes in somewhere in the middle, but it is a sure thing, and above all, i chose the security. I know that no matter what happens, my future salary is set in stone, and will not change, wont get better if I am an extremely fast and accurate practicioner, nor will it decrease if i need some years to build up my speed. I also like that for 4 years, no one can sue me if i try doing some procedures that I may not necessarily be very good at, like apicals. also, all AF clinics will have in house specialists that you can, and will learn from. the AF's goal is to get you proficient at all general procedures, not because they necessarily want to put you through an AEGD, but because you can work better for them If they send you for additional training.
so theres several factors to consider, and you must be able and want to serve, the military is a bit different way of life, but bottom line, for me, I now live, and will continue to live, a better life in dental school than anyone else i know, I have way more money, and i dont have to worry about loans. This isnt to say I couldnt, if i had to, I would get loans, and it would not bother me that much to deal with them, theyre not that difficult, and i find it obtuse when military scholars use the above line "i dont have to deal with loans" it sounds like my grandfather saying he doesnt have to deal with computers. theyre not that tough, and I am not so stupid that i couldnt have filloed out a loan app with citibank. what I am saying is that its nice to not have to bother, and its really nice to have extra money. so its a quality of life consideration on some levels, i live better now, probably a bit worse later after school, but in total i think the overall picture will have been a better living over the entire 8 years, 6 in the air force 3 year scholarship sense. its a gamble, I mean, I might have gotten out of school and scored a practice and taken home $200K my 1st year.... but who's to say I dont end up like so many other students who get out and get 80-100K? i dont know what direction things might have gone, but i do know I have seen a lot of 1st year dentists who werent fast enough to make the 6 figure mark until their 3rd year, it takes some time to get off the rubber dam and the 3 patient days. so i played it safe, i know what I will get here. and as far as amalgam lines, dont bet on that, it's just like any private practice, only you dont get paid better or worse for your production. you will be practicing on military personnell and their families, you will see a bit of everything.
with the military, you will get at more than $100K for each year of service, but that includes tuition paid for the commensurate year, your actual pay will be $65K your 1st year after school (2004), $25K of that is not taxed local or fed. in 2007 that will be 70K base pay. just remember you have to apply for the scholarship, and they do have a selection comittee that looks at grades, personal qualities etc etc, just like applying to school. you cannot have commited a felony, nor any drug related charges whatsoever, and you must be in reasonable physical condition, and good health.
hope that helps.
Tommy
