Any regular National Guard members?

[ladyscorpian14]

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I'm going to be in my second year of college next fall and I plan to sign on for 6 year . When I graduate Spring 2012 I will still have 3 years left how will this effect me if I get into medical school. Will it still be the normal one weekend a month drill? And I know I will be done with the GI bill but do some states have the tuition assistance program for medical school? I know about the guard medical program but I want to be done with the military after medical school.

 

[notdeadyet]

I'm going to be in my second year of college next fall and I plan to sign on for 6 year . When I graduate Spring 2012 I will still have 3 years left how will this effect me if I get into medical school.

Is there some reason that you would be non-deployable while in medical school? If not, it's an ugly thought to get deployed while in med school. It could end up costing you two years, depending on the timing.

And I know I will be done with the GI bill but do some states have the tuition assistance program for medical school?

All states have a $4,500/yr tuition allowance (funding permitting). Some state benefits vary from 0 (like California) to free med school tuition at public med school (like Illinois).

I know about the guard medical program but I want to be done with the military after medical school.

I've never heard of the Guard giving anyone a non-deployable status unless they end up owing time on the back end.

 

[notdeadyet]

.

 

[ValeRx]

They won't know and probably won't care that you are in medical school unless you try to use the HPSP. So yeah, you'll keep on doing your regular Guard drill schedule with AT and all that fun stuff.

 

[ohio23]

Hi!

I would look into the benefits your state offers for undergraduate degrees for National Guard folks. There is almost always a cap for financial assistance after the first bachelor degree (no help for masters or professional programs through the state).

Ohio for example offers 100% paid tuition and fees for undergraduate education at any school in the state. They don't offer anything beyond that. In order to qualify you sign a 6 year contract. There can be a lot of misinformation about the benefits you are eligible for due to variations in military statuses. Just double check everything and know what you are signing up for.


Traditional Guard service is great for a college student, but even one weekend a month might be much for a medical student. However once accepted to medical school you can switch to program like the Early Commissioning Program for Physicians in the Air Guard. Read the regulation here and notice it specifically indicates you are non deployable during medical school since it is a pipeline program. My guess is if you are not in a program like ECP and don't have it in writing that you're non-deployable, you are just rolling the dice.

There is also a great thread on the Army Guard's ASR student recruiter program here on SDN.

 

[koojo]

I've been in the National Guard since 12/2001. I've went through all of undergrad while being in the NG and will go through all of med school (and get paid around $230k throughout the 4 years) while in the National Guard. Sounds too good to be true? It isn't. If you haven't been to the NG thread, here it is: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=550134