- Joined
- Feb 19, 2009
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- 291
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Here's the situation:
I'm at Midwestern-AZ, class of 2015 with an Army HPSP 4 year scholarship. At MWU-AZ we get our first summer off (3 months) to study for the boards. Since boards are now pass/fail, I don't need 3 months to take boards so I can do the 6 week BOLC training. I signed up for BOLC in December, but I won't hear back until late April if I'm in.
But now I'm having second thoughts because of two things:
1. They're shortening BOLC to 26 days instead of 6 weeks starting 2013 according to this post:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=860147
And here's the full quote:
2. I've heard rumors that the Army is going to change uniforms sometime in the next few years. I've spoken with an HPSP grad who did BOLC before dental school and bought his uniform then. But by the time he'd graduated, there were new uniforms and he had to buy them again, but this time out of pocket...
At MWU we get our first summer off, but we don't get any other summers off. If they make BOLC "mandatory while in HPSP" does that mean we'd have to miss time at school to go get trained for 4 weeks? I'd rather not miss time in clinic to do training. Has anyone known someone who was forced to do BOLC during school instead of at the end of the 4 years, even though it took them away from their program? Our Dean says that one student from a prior year declined to do BOLC their first year during our break and they were forced to do it between their second and third year and miss the first 6 weeks of clinic.
I'd prefer to do BOLC after dental school so I only have to do 4 weeks and to avoid having to buy uniforms twice. But as I write this, I'll probably do it this summer to avoid being pulled out of school and falling behind in clinic.
Sorry for the long post. I know that working for the Army means living with uncertainty and that this might all be just speculation, but does anyone have more information on any of this? Or advice? Thanks!
I'm at Midwestern-AZ, class of 2015 with an Army HPSP 4 year scholarship. At MWU-AZ we get our first summer off (3 months) to study for the boards. Since boards are now pass/fail, I don't need 3 months to take boards so I can do the 6 week BOLC training. I signed up for BOLC in December, but I won't hear back until late April if I'm in.
But now I'm having second thoughts because of two things:
1. They're shortening BOLC to 26 days instead of 6 weeks starting 2013 according to this post:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=860147
And here's the full quote:
2. I've heard rumors that the Army is going to change uniforms sometime in the next few years. I've spoken with an HPSP grad who did BOLC before dental school and bought his uniform then. But by the time he'd graduated, there were new uniforms and he had to buy them again, but this time out of pocket...
At MWU we get our first summer off, but we don't get any other summers off. If they make BOLC "mandatory while in HPSP" does that mean we'd have to miss time at school to go get trained for 4 weeks? I'd rather not miss time in clinic to do training. Has anyone known someone who was forced to do BOLC during school instead of at the end of the 4 years, even though it took them away from their program? Our Dean says that one student from a prior year declined to do BOLC their first year during our break and they were forced to do it between their second and third year and miss the first 6 weeks of clinic.
I'd prefer to do BOLC after dental school so I only have to do 4 weeks and to avoid having to buy uniforms twice. But as I write this, I'll probably do it this summer to avoid being pulled out of school and falling behind in clinic.
Sorry for the long post. I know that working for the Army means living with uncertainty and that this might all be just speculation, but does anyone have more information on any of this? Or advice? Thanks!
