Yup, I'm a "he" indeed. Kakurubird asked me about the Army Icon next to my forum handle and it's available to those with a .mil email address (there are some forum upgrades associated with it too).
Summary of what I PM'ed earlier as follows:
As for the application process, sometime during your first year (fall likely) an Army Healthcare recruiter should make a visit to your school to give a presentation on the Veterinary Corps and what the scholarship program entails. Note: that I said
Healthcare recruiter. Talking with a general recruiter will likely get you nowhere (most are not HPSP savvy, much less Vet HPSP saavy) or worse, moving toward enlisting (and you don't want that).
From there, you will start the application process. You will start a pre-screening process where you disclose your medical history and give fingerprints. This is to establish you aren't actively wanted by law enforcement locally and to decide whether you are eligible for a physical exam through MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Facility). At MEPS, you will be given a thorough exam to see if you have any disqualifying conditions (i.e. things that would preclude you from military service). Be upfront about surgeries, conditions, etc as you can possibly get a waiver approved for them (I did for an eye condition as did one of my classmates who was not selected). Anything you lie about/omit will come back to bite you in the ass for sure. I can answer specifics on this as they arise.
On the paperwork front, you have to complete a ~65 page packet for your recruiter that details your education history, any military service you've had prior, financial troubles, professional references, trouble with law enforcement, and living/residence history (with 1 contact who has known you there) going back 10 years as well as beneficiaries and requesting locations for assignment. This is for the exhaustive background check that happens after board selection. All of this info will be used by your recruiter to create your formal HPSP application.
As for the selection process, it is based on your academic performance (GPA, GRE) in part. You don't need to be #1 in your class (at least at Cornell) but you should shoot for top 10%. Other factors that are important are solid leadership skills (make sure you have a few on your resume), solid letters of reference that talk about you being a leader, dependable, etc. It may also help to have other service activities with your application as well. Your personal statement should discuss what you bring to the Army and why you're an ideal fit for the program. You should bring in a healthy dose of patriotism in your statement FYI (I referenced prior family military history in mine).
As for board selection, the board every year meets in April (April 9th this year) with about a two week turnaround for results. You are notified via your recruiter. It takes a few weeks for all the paperwork to be drawn up before you get a formal contract to sign and accept the oath of commission/scholarship if you so choose.
I'll tackle more questions as they arise. I don't know if there are any other active HPSP on the forums, though Dr. Garber sometimes posts; he's a HPSP graduate (now an Army Captain) with a blog you might have seen before located
here. Take a peek as he wrote a series on applying for this scholarship that was very informative for me.
Hope this helps.
