Army for Vet school

[jasilverman1984]

---

Members don't see this ad.

has anyone joined the army to pay for vet school, if so I am considering it but I have some questions I want to ask of someone who has done it before I talk to a recruiter.

 

[Armymutt25A]

Well, I can answer your question pretty easily. In the order you have, it's not going to happen. Been trying to get them to do it for 6 months. You basically have three choices. 1. pay for school using loans, join the Army, and get loan repayment. 2. pay for the first year of school in loans, apply for HPSP, and hope you get the next 3 years paid for, become a vet on AD when you graduate (they also have 2 and 1 year scholarships). 3. pay for vet school with loans (see a trend?), join the reserves and receive a $75K sign on bonus and get $250K in loan repayment.

I suppose I technically have gone in the order you have above - I joined the Army, did some time, and am going to pay for a lot of it with Post 9-11 GI Bill, yes, that does work too. I don't recommend it unless you are really patient.

 

[Tobysgirl81]

I've applied for the HPSP scholarship, and am hoping to get that. But other than that, it sounds like Armymutt has better answers than myself!

 

[ARC99]

I'm also considering this option. I've always wanted to join the military, but I've never had the opportunity. I talked to a recruiter and he recommended that I apply for HPSP. They only accept about 10-12 students nationwide (last stat I heard) into the Veterinary Corps program each year, so it's very competitive! However, it's not impossible, so it can't hurt to try! I'm pretty sure you can't apply for that until after your 1st semester of your 1st year in vet school though (ArmyMutt or Tobysgirl...correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what the recruit told me). If you don't get it, you can always enlist after you graduate and use the loan repayment you'll receive (which is probably what I'll do if I don't get HPSP). I'm pretty sure the HPSP option and the option of joining after graduation involve 3 years active duty w/ 5 years of reserve...or something like that...it's been over a year since I've spoken with the recruiter, so I could be wrong.

I think any of the 3 options are awesome b/c you not only get to pay back your loans (or most of them in some cases), but you get to be a part of something that's pretty prestigious! I've included a link for you in case you want to find out more about it. It's pretty helpful, but if you have more detailed questions, it won't hurt to just TALK to a recruit!

http://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-j...inary-corps-jobs/veterinary-hpsp-student.html

 

[Armymutt25A]

First off, you won't enlist as a veterinarian. You will be a commissioned officer, a captain to be exact. Pet peeve of mine that the media uses to cause problems. Anyway, I've received recent info that if you do HPSP, you can't get loan repayment. Now, this comes from a recruiter who is a reservist, so the accuracy is questionable - empirical evidence indicates otherwise. LRP is only good for up to $120K right now. Another option is to go the income based loan repayment route. If you spend 10 years in public service (the Army is public service), you pay 15% of your income during that time and the rest is forgiven. I'm considering that route on top of GI Bill and HPSP. Take out max loans, live somewhat normally, and payback about 75% at the end. HPSP probably isn't necessary, but I want to knock out the stupid stuff like Officer Basic Course before I get on active duty again. Hopefully they will let me skip the general course requirements - aced them the first time around and wasn't very popular with the non-combat arms types. I'm a little different in personality when I'm wearing a uniform.😀