Hey
@Armyhealth !
I'm a USAR Medical Service Corp 1LT. I'm also a 1st year Vet student on the OML for HPSP. From the numbers I've seen on other forums it looks like the odds of getting picked up for either the 3 or 2 year scholarship is around 2.5- 5%. I know that you've talked about the importance of GPA and leadership before, but I'm wondering if one is more important than the other. My undergrad GPA was only about 3.3, but people keep saying that prior service applicants are rare. I've meet/ heard of enough of them to doubt that, but on the other hand the recruiter I ended up with is was pretty experienced and said that I was the first commissioned officer applicant she had processed.
If they want to pull you off of the OML do they pull a fresh set of vet school transcripts? The first recruiter I tried to work with ended up being the bed pan of USAREC/ AMEDD and we had about 4-6 weeks to complete the entire application (including Thanksgiving)... my GPA took a hit...
Since I will have an extremely high student loan debt ($400,000+) without benefits and I would love some help sorting through my backup plan(s).
I recently found out that I have 18 months of Post 9-11 GI Bill left, which is obviously great, but I have 60% eligibility and I haven't been able to nail down if that just applies to the amount of BAH paid, or the tuition cap as well. Does anyone know?
I used my Army TA for some of my B.S., but I will hit 10 years TIS and it looks like I should be able to use it again after this, but I'm wondering if anyone's encountered issues trying to do that.
Today one of the nurses, who is going back to school for NP told me about the STRAP program. Is there anything like that for veterinary students? I was thinking about trying to get into an IMA slot before I found out about this program, but the stability and the stipend are obviously a huge benefit.
I'm considering active duty. It's what I pictured doing while I was in high school and for most of college. W/o HPSP $120,000 would definitely go a long way. However-
USAR isn't a bad gig and I like food animal + pony medicine, which I wouldn't get to do a lot of on AD. USDA has a program where they'll pay $75,000 towards loans if you practice food animal medicine. Combined with Reserve Health Professionals Loan Repayment ($50,000) I would receive $5,000 more by going the USAR route. One website said that the Army gives loan repayment is given until funds run out for the FY. Have you heard of that happening? I only saw it the once, but it would suck to have it happen and not be prepared.
Do USAR veterinarians get Veterinary Corp Officer Special Pay? It looks like it might be an AD benefit, in which case, could you get it while on orders?
Am I missing out on any other major benefits? I saw something about $250,000 in student loan repayment earlier in this forum, but wasn't sure if that was part of a program available for USAR veterinarians.
Thank you so much for the help. I know that you are busy, so I really appreciate your time and advice.