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Hi,
I am in a fortunate and odd position. As a veteran and a current Army Officer (Captain with 6 years in at matriculation), I have the benefit of both the GI Bill and the HPSP scholarship. Long term, my end goal is not to be a career military physician; my end goal is to be in a small primary care practice in a medium size city (though, I obviously know what it means to be a military officer and could deal with it for a few more years). I am having a tough time figuring out which makes more sense in pure numbers. The GI Bill will cover the full cost of tuition for an in-state medical tuition (I plan on attending a state school) and pay roughly $18,000 per year in a stipend based off of my school location. I obviously owe nothing in return. On the other hand the HPSP scholarship will pay me approximately $32,000 per year (more than normal because of my current rank) and will pay approximately $97,000 per year during residency (again, more than normal because of my current rank). On the other hand I would owe the Army 4 years in return at approximately 126,000-140,000 per year depending on specialty (again, higher based on previous rank). I am leaning military because mostly because my wife and I will be having children soon and I figure it would be better to make less for a few years after residency to have the security of income during med school and residency. However, I am having a tough time finding the figures for an overall compensation comparison. I am looking for any help in this. I am not so naive to assume I know what my specialty will be (leaning strongly psychiatry or ER) but I am extremely confident that I will be a primary care physician. I would prefer to immediately work in a small-middle size city. I have read stickies in both the psychiatry and ER forums about the money lost from HPSP because of not being able to invest in a practice 4 years earlier. Any advice on this point? From those who have gone through residency with children, would you choose a more stable residency for less money in the first few years as attending and less time to invest in a practice? My thought process is that this investment is nil because the likelihood of staying in one place for many years after residency is very unlikely-any thoughts? Thanks in advance for the advice. I appologize if a previous post or sticky has answered parts of this; I just could not find a post that takes into account the significant increase in income based off of previous rank and then compares that figure to a free education through the GI Bill.
I am in a fortunate and odd position. As a veteran and a current Army Officer (Captain with 6 years in at matriculation), I have the benefit of both the GI Bill and the HPSP scholarship. Long term, my end goal is not to be a career military physician; my end goal is to be in a small primary care practice in a medium size city (though, I obviously know what it means to be a military officer and could deal with it for a few more years). I am having a tough time figuring out which makes more sense in pure numbers. The GI Bill will cover the full cost of tuition for an in-state medical tuition (I plan on attending a state school) and pay roughly $18,000 per year in a stipend based off of my school location. I obviously owe nothing in return. On the other hand the HPSP scholarship will pay me approximately $32,000 per year (more than normal because of my current rank) and will pay approximately $97,000 per year during residency (again, more than normal because of my current rank). On the other hand I would owe the Army 4 years in return at approximately 126,000-140,000 per year depending on specialty (again, higher based on previous rank). I am leaning military because mostly because my wife and I will be having children soon and I figure it would be better to make less for a few years after residency to have the security of income during med school and residency. However, I am having a tough time finding the figures for an overall compensation comparison. I am looking for any help in this. I am not so naive to assume I know what my specialty will be (leaning strongly psychiatry or ER) but I am extremely confident that I will be a primary care physician. I would prefer to immediately work in a small-middle size city. I have read stickies in both the psychiatry and ER forums about the money lost from HPSP because of not being able to invest in a practice 4 years earlier. Any advice on this point? From those who have gone through residency with children, would you choose a more stable residency for less money in the first few years as attending and less time to invest in a practice? My thought process is that this investment is nil because the likelihood of staying in one place for many years after residency is very unlikely-any thoughts? Thanks in advance for the advice. I appologize if a previous post or sticky has answered parts of this; I just could not find a post that takes into account the significant increase in income based off of previous rank and then compares that figure to a free education through the GI Bill.
