army or navy hpsp

[bubbajones]

what do yall think? i want to be a pediatrician. I live in Texas I know the Army has got the walter reed hospital in san antonio, but is the navy a better offer?

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[brats800]

the programs are essentially the same (check out past discussions using the search feature looking for HPSP). the questions i'd ask are where would you have a better shot at getting what you want? i don't have the sites in front of me, but you could see how many slots there are each year for peds in navy and army....the one with more slots might be better.

or are you asking about which service will treat you best, regardless of your specialty? only you can decide that. i plan on doing navy (probably) HPSP or USUHS because that gives me the best shot of living near the water

 

[FutureDoctor19]

if u do navy do u have to be stuck on a boat? I heard in the army you will most likely get deployed

 

[brats800]

navy does have a lot of boats...and some oversea bases...so your chances of getting deployed are decent. (the dreaded GMO tour that everyone complains about, for instance). but i figure if you go in with a positive attitude, it'd be fun. getting deployed would only be a problem if you were married and your spouse couldn't go with you...

 

[JM.]

I picked Army, and I did so because they had the autoselect program (certain GPA and MCAT cutoffs, but no necessary acceptance letter) - I didn't get my first acceptance until March. I was owndering if there are any other Army HPSP people out there that I can talk to? Feel free to PM me.

 

[DRANTWAN]

What is the Army's GPA and MCAT cut off?

 

[brats800]

isn't it MCAT of 30 and 3.5 GPA? i thought i heard that somewhere...

 

[idq1i]

Originally posted by brats800
.................... (the dreaded GMO tour that everyone complains about, for instance). but i figure if you go in with a positive attitude, it'd be fun. .....................

How the hell can it be fun???????? You only get O N E year of training (intern), and then you are expected to take over all possible medical duties.

That's not fun in my book

 

[brats800]

stressful does not mean it isn't fun. it'd be incredible responsibility and the learning curve is probably very steep, but where else could you have such an opportunity? besides, the navy has been working on improving their ship-to-shore communications so the GMO can have real-time communications with board certified docs back at the bases to answer questions...what a cool job!

 

[idq1i]

Originally posted by brats800
..... working on improving their ship-to-shore communications so the GMO can have real-time communications with board certified docs back at the bases to answer questions...what a cool job!

Wouldn't it be easier to just train their doctors before sending them off???? I don't mean to insult anyone here who is in the Navy, but this is the dumbest, most pigheaded system ever created by the government.

 

[JM.]

Originally posted by brats800
isn't it MCAT of 30 and 3.5 GPA? i thought i heard that somewhere...

That is correct - or at least was last application cycle.

 

[brats800]

i dunno if it would be easier or would make more sense to better train people BEFORE they go out to the ship. i think that if you are in charge of everyone on the ship, regardless of what your specialty is, you will need to communicate with your peers. sure you'd need to do this less if you were better trained. but the way you learn so fast during the GMO tour seems to me something you couldn't get even doing the same thing after a residency. i've heard that (while many people complain about the GMO tour or just pick a different branch of the military), many people who have done it have loved it. my neighbor did it and said that being a flight surgeon was some of the best years of his life...and he's like some big-time doc in the area now (civilian). anyway, maybe there's a better way to do it, but you're gunna get out of it what you put into it.