Example Letter of Intent?

[73BARMYPgsp]

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So, I was finally officially offered the HPSP commission/scholarship for Clinical Psych.

The recruiter says I need to write a Letter of Intent informing them of my intention to swear in.

Of course, she gives NO guidance on formatting. Anyone have an example I can use?

Scott.

 

[Galo]

Clinical Psych??

Are you going to grad school or med school?

If its for med school, then write this:

I hearby give away my freedom to choose the residency of my choice and the ability to be trained by an ACGME approved program as well as the right to be told where to work, who to work under, and most importantly certain rights in the constitution that I will now fight to defend.



Sorry if that seems harsh, but I wonder if you really have read the forum and know what your are getting yourself into. HPSP is typically for med school, and depending on which branch, and the their needs at the time, they may say you will have to do a GMO/FS slot before you are allowed to get the residency you want, if that's even available by the time you finish school, and your GMO/FS year or years.

Are you willing to go through all that if you right now think you want to do Psych??

 

[73BARMYPgsp]

I've already been the Army for 6 years. I know how it works. Just wanted an example of the letter.

 

[delicatefade]

Although I generally discourage students from pursuing HPSP or USUHS, can we dispose of the unsolicited berating of HPSP and USUHS applicants??? This thread is a perfect example:

This person is NOT asking for advice about taking the scholarship. He came here with a specific question regarding a detail of the application process and instead of getting an answer to the question he gets a rather inappropriate response. One look at the username should have tipped you off that he is already in the Army and probably knows how the military works -- you don't always get what you want.

I would feel differently about this had he asked for advice about the scholarship or even if he had asked what military medicine or psychology is like, but to poke your head in and make some comments without even answering his question seems wrong to me. That's what the rest of this forum is for.

To be clear, I am not against steering people away from the scholarship in general, but I do recognize that HPSP can actually be a good choice for some candidates, particularly those with prior service who will make more during residency and have a much shorter time to retirement at which point they can get out and still pursue civilian practice. But this forum is already full of threads detailing multiple issues and problems with military medicine and I don't think we need to poke our heads into every single thread, especially those asking specific questions. I think a 30 second scan of the thread titles in this forum should make it quite clear how people feel about military medicine.

To the OP: I'm not sure if there's a specific format to use. I would think that you could write a simple letter stating your educational goals, your desire to pursue these goals in the Army, and therefore your intention to swear in.

 

[73BARMYPgsp]

I already wrote one and she said it was fine.

This particular recruiter has never had any answers for me, as if she has never done it before.

Hopefully she won't write back 50 times with changes I need to make to it.

 

[kzjonez]

I already wrote one and she said it was fine.

This particular recruiter has never had any answers for me, as if she has never done it before.

Hopefully she won't write back 50 times with changes I need to make to it.

To my knowledge there is no particular format . The letter needs to include Why you picked the Army? , Why do you want to be an officer ? What are you goals both academic and in the military short term and long term? Also you need to include why you are a good candidate for the Army in other words; What are you going to bring in to the institution? Hope this works for you , and yes it will be returned back multiple times for corrections.

 

[megadon]

I already wrote one and she said it was fine.

This particular recruiter has never had any answers for me, as if she has never done it before.

Hopefully she won't write back 50 times with changes I need to make to it.

Get used to that. I am sure if you have been in the Army for six years, it's not your first experience with that (personnel and pay!). If they have never done it before, it must be against the rules, until you go do your job for them and find the rule. Hate to say it, my experience is currently the same.

 

[73BARMYPgsp]

kzjones-

you are thinking of the motivational statement. I am way past that stage. have been selected, and this letter tells them I intend to accept the offer of the scholarship.

 

[IgD]

Although I generally discourage students from pursuing HPSP or USUHS, can we dispose of the unsolicited berating of HPSP and USUHS applicants??? This thread is a perfect example:

This person is NOT asking for advice about taking the scholarship. He came here with a specific question regarding a detail of the application process and instead of getting an answer to the question he gets a rather inappropriate response. One look at the username should have tipped you off that he is already in the Army and probably knows how the military works -- you don't always get what you want.

If your buddy is about to step on a mine, you don't say please. You grab him and pull him off. I think its great if he wants to join the ranks of military medicine but he should understand what he is getting into.

 

[Gastrapathy]

If your buddy is about to step on a mine, you don't say please. You grab him and pull him off. I think its great if he wants to join the ranks of military medicine but he should understand what he is getting into.

I was looking back at some of the earlier threads (avoid mil med, etc) as a newbie around here and am struck by how totally your tune has changed. Was there a major precipitating event or just the culmination of countless petty annoyances at the root of this?

 

[delicatefade]

I was looking back at some of the earlier threads (avoid mil med, etc) as a newbie around here and am struck by how totally your tune has changed. Was there a major precipitating event or just the culmination of countless petty annoyances at the root of this?

It certainly has changed. Mine has changed as well.

IgD - like I said, I'm all for informing potential applicants. The reply to the OP just seemed completely inappropriate given the information he was seeking. If something just had to be said, a simple "I encourage you to read some of the negative threads in this forum to get some more perspective before you sign" or "Check out these threads...." would have sufficed.

I'm sure there are those who disagree with me. I've said my peace and I'm moving on. 😎

 

[USAFdoc]

kzjones-

you are thinking of the motivational statement. I am way past that stage. have been selected, and this letter tells them I intend to accept the offer of the scholarship.

you are accepting the scholarship; that is the easy part.

later down the line you may find that your are accepting "alot more" than the scholarship.

But at least you know what you might be getting into.

Good luck.👍

 

[73BARMYPgsp]

Interesting--the direction this thread went.

As I mentioned before, I have been in the Army for 6 years. Did 4 on active duty as a "91X--mental health specialist."

At the time I went in, I already had an MA, and they paid off my student loans (about 65,000). It was strange being a master's level clinician AND enlisted. But the Student Loan Repayment deal was too good to pass up.

Now I am a 3rd year PhD and just got awarded HPSP. I ALWAYS knew I wanted to go back, so all the debating about what military medicine is like just rolls off my back at this point. Besides, calling clinical psychology "medicine" is like calling psychiatry "help."--please get that joke--it's just a dig. Of course psychiatry helps--many of my patients are on meds, and it makes my job quite a bit easier.

The military is not for everyone. But I love it. You even have to kind of "love" the B.S. a little, by laughing at it.

 

[USAFdoc]

Interesting--the direction this thread went.

As I mentioned before, I have been in the Army for 6 years. Did 4 on active duty as a "91X--mental health specialist."

At the time I went in, I already had an MA, and they paid off my student loans (about 65,000). It was strange being a master's level clinician AND enlisted. But the Student Loan Repayment deal was too good to pass up.

Now I am a 3rd year PhD and just got awarded HPSP. I ALWAYS knew I wanted to go back, so all the debating about what military medicine is like just rolls off my back at this point. Besides, calling clinical psychology "medicine" is like calling psychiatry "help."--please get that joke--it's just a dig. Of course psychiatry helps--many of my patients are on meds, and it makes my job quite a bit easier.

The military is not for everyone. But I love it. You even have to kind of "love" the B.S. a little, by laughing at it.

sounds like the psych world is a little different from the USAF FP world. I understand your "surprise" at some of the responses you got on this thread. At the same time, you must consider that many MDs in the non-psych milmed world have witnessed first hand things that should never happen in milmed, or any med for that matter, and when we see someone about to walk the HPSP "gangplank", we now have this "reflexive" action to steer them the other way.

best wishes for your milmed career. the troops need you. Good luck.🙂

 

[megadon]

Wow, those of us with prior time already are a different story, but man, you walked a really different road. Congratulations, you deffinitely were too qualified for your job. So yeah, I think you are pretty well informed of all the shortcomings of taking this scholarship. By the way, I do not remember ever having to write this letter of intent, but maybe it's a service thing.

By the way, as of 1400 and finishing my bio-chem exam, I am now officially an M-2! Thank God! Oh crap, one year till step one, gotta go study (I mean sober up).