Enlisted Army Reservist to Med School

[AspiredStudent]

Hello. Currently I am in the army reserves with 4.5 years (+2 IRR) left. I graduate with my undergrad next semester. I wish to apply to med school, and I feel like have a decent application as far as GPA, clinical, research, and work experience goes.

I am concerned with drilling in the reserves and going to med school simultaneously. It would be very devasting to get pulled out of school for a 1+ year deployment. I am asking for advice on the best route to tackle this.

As far as I currently see, I have 3 options. First, I could just go to school, and risk getting pulled out by the rerserves. Second, I considered volunteering for deployment between my undergrad and grad school, thus getting access to the post 9-11 Gi bill (Currently using MGSR), and applying for med school when my contract has a lower amount of years left. Lastly, I could apply for the HPSP (can current enlisted get this?), which is currently my most appealing option.

My question is if there are any options that I am unaware of, or did not consider? Also, what would you do in my situation?

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[DeadCactus]

If you get accepted to medical school, they should convert you to a different MOS and you essentially become non-deployable. Talk to the medical recruiter and medical leadership in your state.

 

[deleted480308]

If you get accepted to medical school, they should convert you to a different MOS and you essentially become non-deployable. Talk to the medical recruiter and medical leadership in your state.

They should pretty much commission you upon matriculation

 

[AspiredStudent]

Really?! Do i have to sign a new contract? Or is it kind of just like reclassing your MOS? I'm assuming i would have to enter some sort leadership program to go from enlisted -> comissioned? Thank you a lot. I will try to get a hold of a medical recruiter.

 

[deleted480308]

Really?! Do i have to sign a new contract? Or is it kind of just like reclassing your MOS? I'm assuming i would have to enter some sort leadership program to go from enlisted -> comissioned? Thank you a lot. I will try to get a hold of a medical recruiter.

You would be commissioning as an officer, so yeah....paperwork.

You will then be required to go through the three phases of BOLC through amedd

 

[AspiredStudent]

You would be commissioning as an officer, so yeah....paperwork.

You will then be required to go through the three phases of BOLC through amedd

I see! Thank you! I didnt know my current contract could just be dropped and changed for a new one like that.

 

[dpmd]

Unless you do hpsp or some other program i would bet on things just changing over. I was pretty much in your same situation and ended up getting deployed midway through 3rd year. They didn't care that if they waited a year and a half they could have used me as a doctor. I was a practical nurse for them and they needed nurses then. I opted not to do hpsp because i had a scholarship through the school which made the finances not work out so i knew i was taking a chance (though i started school pre 9/11 so it didn't seem like that much of a chance until after that). As for drilling i was able to work out a sweet deal where i got put on orders for a period of time while going to school which gave me enough points for a "good year" towards retirement as well as giving me some extra cash. Wasn't every year though so i did do some drilling though i don't remember doing AT much (i did pldc before med school so that covered me that year). And while it sucked to get deployed during med school it wasn't the end of the world. The school worled with me and the director of the rotation i had to leave in the middle of gave me full credit for the half i did and was able to create an off cycle rotation for me to finish when i came back (and it was 2 weeks instead of 3 which helped because the length of my deployment meant it was tight to graduate on time). If you are sure you want to stay in, speaking to a recruiter to discuss your options is a good idea but it isn't the only way you have to go (i ended up getting out when i was done for a variety of reasons otherwise i would have been going into residency with a service obligation.

Side note-post 9/11 gi bill was something i found out after the fact but was able to get retroactively which was a nice chunk of change. It was actually thanks to a post on sdn that i looked into it.

 

[deleted480308]

Unless you do hpsp or some other program i would bet on things just changing over. I was pretty much in your same situation and ended up getting deployed midway through 3rd year. They didn't care that if they waited a year and a half they could have used me as a doctor. I was a practical nurse for them and they needed nurses then. I opted not to do hpsp because i had a scholarship through the school which made the finances not work out so i knew i was taking a chance (though i started school pre 9/11 so it didn't seem like that much of a chance until after that). As for drilling i was able to work out a sweet deal where i got put on orders for a period of time while going to school which gave me enough points for a "good year" towards retirement as well as giving me some extra cash. Wasn't every year though so i did do some drilling though i don't remember doing AT much (i did pldc before med school so that covered me that year). And while it sucked to get deployed during med school it wasn't the end of the world. The school worled with me and the director of the rotation i had to leave in the middle of gave me full credit for the half i did and was able to create an off cycle rotation for me to finish when i came back (and it was 2 weeks instead of 3 which helped because the length of my deployment meant it was tight to graduate on time). If you are sure you want to stay in, speaking to a recruiter to discuss your options is a good idea but it isn't the only way you have to go (i ended up getting out when i was done for a variety of reasons otherwise i would have been going into residency with a service obligation.

Side note-post 9/11 gi bill was something i found out after the fact but was able to get retroactively which was a nice chunk of change. It was actually thanks to a post on sdn that i looked into it.

Did they not have you on the books as a med student officer? Or were you still a nurse mos?

 

[dpmd]

Did they not have you on the books as a med student officer? Or were you still a nurse mos?

I remained my initial MOS because I didn't sign up for hpsp or other commissioning program. It isn't like things automatically convert.

 

[deleted480308]

I remained my initial MOS because I didn't sign up for hpsp or other commissioning program. It isn't like things automatically convert.

You got hosed. Hpsp/mdssp isn't required to commision as a med student officer. Someone should have told you that and helped you out

 

[dpmd]

You got hosed. Hpsp/mdssp isn't required to commision as a med student officer. Someone should have told you that and helped you out

Meh, on my deployment I got to meet several docs who thought they were out but still got deployed and were none too pleased about it. I don't feel hosed at all. I feel like I got to dodge a bullet I didn't know existed (and judging by most of the comments by docs in this part of the forum there are plenty of folks who would rather have had a detour in med school show them that military medicine wasn't for them than be stuck serving out their obligation and be on the hook if they fail to resign their commission or aren't allowed to).

 

[AspiredStudent]

Unless you do hpsp or some other program i would bet on things just changing over. I was pretty much in your same situation and ended up getting deployed midway through 3rd year. They didn't care that if they waited a year and a half they could have used me as a doctor. I was a practical nurse for them and they needed nurses then. I opted not to do hpsp because i had a scholarship through the school which made the finances not work out so i knew i was taking a chance (though i started school pre 9/11 so it didn't seem like that much of a chance until after that). As for drilling i was able to work out a sweet deal where i got put on orders for a period of time while going to school which gave me enough points for a "good year" towards retirement as well as giving me some extra cash. Wasn't every year though so i did do some drilling though i don't remember doing AT much (i did pldc before med school so that covered me that year). And while it sucked to get deployed during med school it wasn't the end of the world. The school worled with me and the director of the rotation i had to leave in the middle of gave me full credit for the half i did and was able to create an off cycle rotation for me to finish when i came back (and it was 2 weeks instead of 3 which helped because the length of my deployment meant it was tight to graduate on time). If you are sure you want to stay in, speaking to a recruiter to discuss your options is a good idea but it isn't the only way you have to go (i ended up getting out when i was done for a variety of reasons otherwise i would have been going into residency with a service obligation.

Side note-post 9/11 gi bill was something i found out after the fact but was able to get retroactively which was a nice chunk of change. It was actually thanks to a post on sdn that i looked into it.

That's exactly what I would like to avoid. Not that I am not against deploying or fulfilling my obligation, but it happening during medical school sounds quite inconvenient at the least. I am glad everyone worked with you so you were able to manage your drilling and come back to where you left off. At least I know it is possible to recover and carry on if that happens. I admit I am more interested in civilian medicine as opposed to military (but I am not pushing it off completely). I think my current hope is to do what was said earlier. Thank you for sharing though, it was insightful.