Air Force Scholarship

[tgalper]

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I was wondering how many of you are on the USAF scholarship, and what are the negatives with pursuing this. If there are any residents or MS III/IV students please let me know. I don't know if it is better for me to go into 200K debt or pay with my time. I know there are many benefits of this scholarship, but I would like to hear the negatives from those of you doing this scholarship.

 

[czanetti]

I was thinking the same thing about 2 months ago. I looked into the Navy, Army, and Airforce. Unless you are willing to give 4 years of your life to the armed forces, you are willing to be trained in the noncivilian realm of medicine, and are the type of person to jump into a war type situation like Iraq for instance and is ok with being over there even if they don't agree with the war then you might be ok. Every "salesmen" that I have interacted with in the armed forces made it seem great. The fact of the matter is you don't know where you are going to be in 4 years, weather you will be wanting to start a family or be in a specific location. I learned after a while that in the grand scheme of things 200,000 is not that much money and you will be able to pay it off in time. Don't sell out your freedom of choice after medical school because the money intimidates you. I'm comming from a non wealthy background and I was scared thinking about how much debt I would be in. But its good debt to have, and you will be able to pay it off over time. I made a decision of going to a cheaper tuition school that is in the location that I like and has a good reputation TCOM. Find one that would fit a similair situation for you. If you can't appy for scholarships, learn to manage your money, and do the best you can. When you get out over time just like most doctors you will be able to pay it off. Not to mention when you end up applying for jobs they will give you sighn on bonuses and other benifits that will either help you pay for your loans or take a chunk out just be smart. Unless you are dead set on doing the military scholarship thing don't do it. Here is the email of a person that is currently doing it he will give you more detail if you want.
Galo Grijalva <[email protected]>

He is currently in military medicine

 

[Dr JPH]

Best advice I ever got:

Don't do it for the money. Don't go into the Air Force unless you want to be an Air Force doc.

A recruiter told me that. 👍

 

[newyorkcougar]

Don't ask, don't tell...

 

[AF DO]

I just accepted the Air Force Scholarship. I'm not nieve about what I'm getting into, but I have to take the good with the bad.

 

[berrygirl]

I am looking into this scholorship as well and I guess I would not mind being an airforce doc after I graduate and I dont even mind the army seding me wherever they need me... I am more worried about any basic training and stuff like that i may have to do while in med school. Does anyone have any good info about that??

 

[AF DO]

I am looking into this scholorship as well and I guess I would not mind being an airforce doc after I graduate and I dont even mind the army seding me wherever they need me... I am more worried about any basic training and stuff like that i may have to do while in med school. Does anyone have any good info about that??

The "basic training" requirement (at least for the Air Force) isn't too bad at all. You have four tours of active duty (45 days a piece). These are down in the summers between years.

The first tour being COT (commissioned officers training). From what I'm told (and not just by my recruiter), it's not like the basic training you hear about in the media. You learn to be an officer in the Air Force. You have physical training (running, pushups, sit ups, etc) three days a week. Most of your time is spent in classrooms. COT is completed before the start of your first year.

The second is an introduction to Air Force and Aerospace medicine. I dont know much about this except that it is done between the first and second years.

The 3rd and 4th tours are clinical rotations at an Air Force hospital. I've talked to WVSOM and they say they accomodate these requirements into their clinical requirements.

Here are a couple links that I found useful:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_Professions_Scholarship_Program
http://lukeballard.tripod.com/HPSP.html

PM me if you have any more questions. Hope this helps!

 

[fozziewan]

Congrats on the scholarship and getting into med school!
Now for a dose of reality that your recruiter neglected to convey to you (big surprise right?). OTS: COT= 4.5 weeks of Military training. Not Summer camp. PT (physical training) 5-days a week (up at 0dark30 and marching to the drill pad for fun in the Alabama dawn)
Loads of classroom/lecture hall time. Papers, exams, 1 presentation to your flight, leadership reaction course, camping, and of course Military Drill (marching) like you wouldn't believe.
I'm prior service so I was prepared for the MTI's and their fun way of greeting and "teaching" you. I actually had one of the same MTI's I had at USAF enlisted Basic Military Training at Lackland AFB way back in 1997 while at Maxwell AFB last summer. It was a very unwelcome sense of deja vu. 😀
Seriously, OTS is a great time. I am still in touch with some of my friends I made there. I look forward to seeing them again at SAM this coming summer and hopefully during 4th year on showcase rotations.
To clarify, unless it has changed for this years cohort of scholarship peeps, the 45-days of AT between 2nd&3rd and 3rd&4th years is considered Board Preparation time. You will be paid to study for your board exams while on an Active duty tour at home. The stipend is not paid during the interim months between each year of medical school, hence the 45-days of pay to cover the gap so to speak.
Anyways, sorry to sound like an arse up front, just want to get some info out there to you all. If anyone has any questions feel free to PM me.
Cheers!

 

[berrygirl]

thanks for all the info and the link it has been very helpful!!

 

[Droopy Snoopy]

There's a whole military medicine forum further down the page, lots of pros and even more cons.

 

[kaikai128]

...and everyone keep in mind, there is quite a bit of a difference between the training in the AF, Army, and Navy (length and difficulty).

The AF training wasn't nearly as difficult as I expected it to be, but I can't speak for the Army or Navy. Just don't go in training expecting fork and knife school--those who thought that is what they were coming in for were very surprised.

Right now ideally for a 4yr scholarship:
Before medical school-COT (Comissioned Officer's Training)
Between 1st and 2nd year-SAM (School of Aerospace medicine)
Between 2nd and 3rd year-nothing, study for boards.
Sometime between July and September 4th year-Rotation @ AF hospital.
Sometime October or November 4th year-Rotation @ AF hospital.

**The last two are listed as they are because this allows one of the rotations to be in each fiscal year and are both able to be used to help you netowrk close to the time of applying for residency.

Each individual will have a little bit of a different circumstance, but the above schedule is probably ideal.

GL to everyone, and let me re-inforce...Don't go into this for the $$. I am tired of listening to my classmates bitch because they didn't read their contracts or do reserach on the scholarship before they signed.