Do I have to defer?

[template11]

Trying to keep as anonymous as possible.

I am a military reservist planning on retiring by the time I finish residency. It is not realistic to just get out since I have so much time in. I actually already had to defer medical school once because of a deployment. This shouldn't happen again, but I am in a pickle.

I have a reserve duty that will require me to be two weeks late to medical school. It may even enter the beginning of a third week.

I realize this is far less than ideal. If I had known before I paid my deposit where I did, I would have selected a school with a later start date (though I would still be a week late; med school starts so early).

Is there any value in trying to convince the school to let me show up late, or is two and possible two and a half weeks too much?

There is no way to miss the reserve duty. It isn't possible, no matter how much begging and pleading I may do. Part of this is because I am setting myself up as an IMA for the rest of medical school and residency, meaning I can pick my drill times, but in order to do that I have to complete this duty first.

Am I going to have to defer an entire year because of two weeks of duty? This is crushing me. I'm already an old dude.

@Goro

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[Goro]

Where's the wise @Gastrapathy when you need him???

 

[Dave1980]

Dude just tell them the situation. Everyone loves veterans. I would be highly surprised if they didn't say: "That's less than ideal but will be fine. Thank you for your service."

 

[LizLemongrab]

My husband is still technically going to be active duty for a whole month while in dental school because we had planned for his attendance to coincide with his end of contract under the old academic calendar. It is only the first two weeks you are asking for. Talk to the deans in charge of pre-clinical education. I am confident that they will work something out with you or just tell you it will be fine.

 

[sunshinefl]

They may accommodate you, but do you really want to start 3 weeks behind? I know if I even slack off the first week of any medical school semester, I’m already super behind. Now you’re talking about 3, at the very beginning of your first ever semester, with having to acclimate to a new apartment in a new town (I assume?). You’ll miss out on so much information in orientation, introduction to classmates, joining interest clubs, and 3 weeks of school!! Unless you’re a superhuman I wouldn’t suggest this. You mentioned already putting a deposit down. Are you holding other acceptances still that start later; can you just eat the deposit money?

 

[esob]

You should be able to talk to your CO about this and have the duty changed or excepted. I've seen people get out of duty for way less important things. I had a soldier under my command one time that was exempted from duty for several months because his wife was having trouble conceiving and thus he was allowed to basically ditch duty any time his wife indicated she might be receptive to conceiving. Run it up the chain of command until someone with some common sense realizes this is part of soldier betterment and addresses the issue.

 

[BC_89]

There is some value in talking with the Dean ahead of time about your situation. Do you have a program that at least has PowerPoint slides up on blackboard or any other online web-program recordings of lectures for the beginning of your courses?

It’d be tough, but I’ve seen soldiers manage in times past due to duty obligations. If you can, continue communicating with your 1SG and CO with at least any small chance of accommodations.

 

[template11]

There is no chance to miss this duty, as it is a training program that is required. The dates are fixed, and I could risk delaying until the summer break, but then I would have to hope there was a date that lined up or finish med school in five years instead of four.

The school has streamed lectures, but I assume I need to be there for anatomy lab.

Will 2 and maybe 3 weeks crush me, as a poster above said?

This is a pretty brutal situation. I worry that even by asking I will be creating problems for myself.

 

[deleted480308]

Trying to keep as anonymous as possible.

I am a military reservist planning on retiring by the time I finish residency. It is not realistic to just get out since I have so much time in. I actually already had to defer medical school once because of a deployment. This shouldn't happen again, but I am in a pickle.

I have a reserve duty that will require me to be two weeks late to medical school. It may even enter the beginning of a third week.

I realize this is far less than ideal. If I had known before I paid my deposit where I did, I would have selected a school with a later start date (though I would still be a week late; med school starts so early).

Is there any value in trying to convince the school to let me show up late, or is two and possible two and a half weeks too much?

There is no way to miss the reserve duty. It isn't possible, no matter how much begging and pleading I may do. Part of this is because I am setting myself up as an IMA for the rest of medical school and residency, meaning I can pick my drill times, but in order to do that I have to complete this duty first.

Am I going to have to defer an entire year because of two weeks of duty? This is crushing me. I'm already an old dude.

@Goro

Just call and ask, you are making this unnecessarily hard

 

[futuremdforme]

I heard of people who started a month late due to last minute transfers/drop outs!

 

[MusicDOc124]

Talk to both the school and your command. If you're nearing retirement, I also imagine you're high enough with a good record that should also be able to give you some wiggle room. Maybe you could work something out to meet in the middle? Miss 1 week or 1.5 instead of 2-3 by doing part of your drill or 2-week summer thing earlier with the active reserve guys at the base. As others mentioned, we've seen people get out of reserve drill duties for far less and just had them made up during the regular work week with the active reservists who will already be there.