First, to qualify myself:
I graduated from THE most expensive medical school in Chicago (it was when I graduated, don't know about now).
I was overwhelmed with those figures on the financial aid papers.
I accepted a 4 year HPSP scholarship
I completed a general surgery internship in the Army
I was forced to be a GMO, and did so for four years until paying back my commitment and getting out
I am now a PGY3 in General Surgery (civilian)
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Now, for any of you young souls who want to pursue a surgical career and are contemplating a military scholarship, let me make this very, very simple for you:
DO NOT DO IT!
That is NOT a typo- DO NOT DO IT!
Now, I know that might sound like a rather arrogant position, and maybe you are thinking it is to dogmatic to be good advice for everyone, but I hold firm that there is almost NO ONE interested in pursuing a surgical career that a military scholarship will benefit. Now, if you have some other reasons for wanting to be in the military, be it your family tradition or what, then fine, perhaps this is a valid option for you. But if you are just looking at the bottom line dollar amounts, DO NOT ACCEPT THIS SCHOLARSHIP!
When a friend enlightened me to the existance of this forum I felt it a worthwhile diversion from my residency duties to be sure I tried to keep as many people as I could from making the same mistakes I made.
And just to illustrate my point, one of my very good friends graduated from medical school at the same time I did, and from the same expensive school. She pursued a civilian residency in general surgery and I took the military path. In the time it took her to complete her entire residency, I was stuck rotting away in some troop medical clinic essentially babysitting and attending to runny noses and sore backs. This is of course when I wasn't deployed rotting in the desert on call 24/7. My friend has now completed 1 year of fellowship training and is working as a staff surgeon in the midwest. They live in a beautiful home and will have the loans paid off in a few years. Meanwhile, I am still looking at another 2 1/2 years of residency training. And, since the month stipend part of HPSP is the same for all residents regardless of the program you are in and where you live (this is the part that pays your room and board), being that I lived downtown Chicago I STILL ended up with medical school debt because the stipend wasn't nearly enought to even pay the rent let alone any other expenses like food. And let me tell you, the GMO tour I served was in an IDEAL location in a beautiful part of the country, so the experience that I had was in one of the best positions that the Army had to offer (the message between the lines, it could only get worse).
Now, I emphasize that this recommendation is if you want to pursue a surgical career. The reason for this qualifier is often the military DOES NOT make you do GMO time if you pursue a primary care field. So, that takes away one of the big deterents. However, you still end up a military physician, with all the rights and priviledges that WnkyBach elluded to above (ie the resentment towards the rank you are "given" and didn't "earn," FREQUENT deployments, which with the downsizing and the huge exodus of military physicians OUT of the military is only going to get worse for those IN). I have another very close friend, who also chose a military scholarship but took a primary care line and became a family practitioner. He did NOT have to do a GMO, but he is equally miserable currently serving his payback time and feels just as strongly as I do and would offer the same advice.
I could certainly get into more specifics to those of you out there who feel your circumstances are unique and maybe this advice wouldn't apply to you, and I would take the time trying to convince you just because I wouldn't want to wish that imprisonment on anybody. Take a hard look at the theme of the messages posted in this thread by those that have been through the system. I know those figures look inhibiting, but I'd rather owe the bank my money than the Army my life. And so should you.