Army/ROTC Veterinary Science

[AggressiveLlama]

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I'm in my second semester of my undergrad and I've recently found what I feel most attached to. I am currently a Medical Technology major because of the opportunity to receive my license at the end of my senior year and commission into the Army. At first I was on the road to pre-dental but it didn't truly capture my attention like ecology research or any form of biology research and unfortunately for me, the lack of motivation effected my semester. However, I'm making a comeback compared to my two D's in my first semester after I found out about pre-vet science and its opportunities!

I plan on joining ROTC in either my sophomore year or junior year. I'm not very worried about loans or scholarships, for I'm not concerned about taking out a bundle of loans. I'm also not worried about the two failing grades in my first semester because I'm currently retaking one and so far I have an A. Sorry for rambling, but I'm curious as to how others went about joining the Army while accomplishing Veterinary school or which schools are best to tend to these needs.

Seeing as I'm only one and a half semesters in, I'm keeping an open mind. Schools I'm interested in so far are the University of Illinois, UTK, Michigan State University, Kansas State University, and Washington State University.

Hopefully this mess is understandable to some degree!

 

[FeartheDogMonky]

It sounds like you really don't have your mind set yet. You need to ask yourself why you want to pursue veterinary medicine vice ecology/biology research via MS/PhD. You don't need to convince me or anyone else here, just something I would strongly consider you take a few seconds to think about before dumping the time and energy that's necessary to prepare yourself for either route.

Not sure why you mentioned that you're "not very worried about loans" unless you're independently wealthy through whatever means, then more power to you, go for it. If you don't fall under that category, then you really need to look into the financial burden of grad school, especially professional programs like veterinary school. This topic has been beat to death throughout this forum, but you definitely need to educate yourself if you have not already done so on the crap reality that is our debt:income.

All that said, I came into this very well aware of where the profession sits, debt I will incur, salary I will weep over, and still decided to pursue. Switching gears.....

Hopefully someone that joined the Army while in vet school can come answer that portion since I'm just an old dog that's been playing this game for way too long before coming to vet school. The HPSP is where you need to start your research though (there's also another thread on that topic that's been updated very recently - search function yourself and take it for what it is). This route will most likely be the one you take if you roll straight from undergrad to vet school. Bottom line: you apply during your first year and cross your fingers that you get accepted for the final 3 years. It's ridiculously competitive though so no guarantees. Worst case scenario - join the Army as a vet when you graduate. It should go without saying, but I'll ask anyway - why do you want to join the Army? Again, just something to really think about since it's a very final thing once you sign on the dotted line and they own you for x# of years.

All vet schools have their pros and cons. I'm obviously biased towards my school and clearly think we're awesome, but they will all provide you the education you will need to be successful. Some schools have more emphasis into certain areas (i.e. research, zoo/exotics, food animal, etc.). Again, this will be something you will need to spend the time researching on your own. Use SDN as a guide, visit schools if you can, and dig through their websites to see which one(s) fit your interests the most and have backups. Again, the biggest thing you really need to consider though is COST. We will all beat that topic repeatedly. Go where you want, but most ideal is the cheapest so that you graduate and don't need to live off of ramen, bread and water 7 days of the week... instead maybe only 4 or 5. Kidding, but not. As far as the military is concerned, they want you for the degree you are working towards/have already graduated with. Maybe someone has different experience with this, but they don't really care where you went as long as you graduate from an accredited institution and pass your licensing exams so you can work.

Hopefully I helped answer some of what you were looking for. Feel free to fire more questions off if you have any, but take the time to think through your options and your "Whys." Good luck.

 

[Bismarck]

I'll add on the Army side here -- if you pursue the ROTC route, remember that the whole premise of that program is to produce line officers (infantry, armor, aviation, etc) to enter Active Duty service to the government after college. If your goal is to take charge of an infantry platoon, fly helicopters, etc this is a reasonable goal. If your goal is to become a veterinarian and go to vet school after ROTC, you may or may not get a waiver from Big Army to do so. Assuming that you did both ROTC and got a waiver to go to vet school, I'm not sure what the HPSP handbook says about eligibility to apply (I never read that portion evidently... not in my lane). Even if you did, my understanding is that you would accumulate an additional active duty service obligation that is served consecutively with ROTC. That's a long commitment for sure, especially if the Army is not so much your style. You could always save your GI bill after time in service for vet school as an option to consider.

 

[AggressiveLlama]

It sounds like you really don't have your mind set yet. You need to ask yourself why you want to pursue veterinary medicine vice ecology/biology research via MS/PhD. You don't need to convince me or anyone else here, just something I would strongly consider you take a few seconds to think about before dumping the time and energy that's necessary to prepare yourself for either route.

Not sure why you mentioned that you're "not very worried about loans" unless you're independently wealthy through whatever means, then more power to you, go for it. If you don't fall under that category, then you really need to look into the financial burden of grad school, especially professional programs like veterinary school. This topic has been beat to death throughout this forum, but you definitely need to educate yourself if you have not already done so on the crap reality that is our debt:income.

All that said, I came into this very well aware of where the profession sits, debt I will incur, salary I will weep over, and still decided to pursue. Switching gears.....

Hopefully someone that joined the Army while in vet school can come answer that portion since I'm just an old dog that's been playing this game for way too long before coming to vet school. The HPSP is where you need to start your research though (there's also another thread on that topic that's been updated very recently - search function yourself and take it for what it is). This route will most likely be the one you take if you roll straight from undergrad to vet school. Bottom line: you apply during your first year and cross your fingers that you get accepted for the final 3 years. It's ridiculously competitive though so no guarantees. Worst case scenario - join the Army as a vet when you graduate. It should go without saying, but I'll ask anyway - why do you want to join the Army? Again, just something to really think about since it's a very final thing once you sign on the dotted line and they own you for x# of years.

All vet schools have their pros and cons. I'm obviously biased towards my school and clearly think we're awesome, but they will all provide you the education you will need to be successful. Some schools have more emphasis into certain areas (i.e. research, zoo/exotics, food animal, etc.). Again, this will be something you will need to spend the time researching on your own. Use SDN as a guide, visit schools if you can, and dig through their websites to see which one(s) fit your interests the most and have backups. Again, the biggest thing you really need to consider though is COST. We will all beat that topic repeatedly. Go where you want, but most ideal is the cheapest so that you graduate and don't need to live off of ramen, bread and water 7 days of the week... instead maybe only 4 or 5. Kidding, but not. As far as the military is concerned, they want you for the degree you are working towards/have already graduated with. Maybe someone has different experience with this, but they don't really care where you went as long as you graduate from an accredited institution and pass your licensing exams so you can work.

Hopefully I helped answer some of what you were looking for. Feel free to fire more questions off if you have any, but take the time to think through your options and your "Whys." Good luck.

I have my mind made up, I'm just a rambler and tend to run off track and didn't really clarify. And to clear that up, I'm not filthy rich, I'm just aware that I'll have no choice but to take out loans! I'm geared towards the Army because regardless of the decisions I've made that's always been the goal. I want to join not only to serve and possibly make a difference, but to help. No one in my family has been an officer or gone to graduate school so I'm the first and I have many questions. I definitely have an interest in microbiology, but that's why I'm getting my degree in medical technology as a backup plan. I'm not as committed to research but I'm interested in the effects microbiology has on animals. Specifically birds, farm animals and fish. Hopefully that makes sense.

 

[AggressiveLlama]

I'll add on the Army side here -- if you pursue the ROTC route, remember that the whole premise of that program is to produce line officers (infantry, armor, aviation, etc) to enter Active Duty service to the government after college. If your goal is to take charge of an infantry platoon, fly helicopters, etc this is a reasonable goal. If your goal is to become a veterinarian and go to vet school after ROTC, you may or may not get a waiver from Big Army to do so. Assuming that you did both ROTC and got a waiver to go to vet school, I'm not sure what the HPSP handbook says about eligibility to apply (I never read that portion evidently... not in my lane). Even if you did, my understanding is that you would accumulate an additional active duty service obligation that is served consecutively with ROTC. That's a long commitment for sure, especially if the Army is not so much your style. You could always save your GI bill after time in service for vet school as an option to consider.

Thank you very much for that information! I wasn't aware of that so that definitely helps me put things in perspective.