Got accepted to medical school but still have 2 years left in contract in the Army

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Madbiologist

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Good afternoon,

I was fortunate enough to get an acceptance while serving as an enlisted active duty soldier. However, I still have two years left out of my 5 years AD contract and HPSP is the only way that I know to get out from my contract. Does anybody know what are other option just incase I don't get selected from HPSP? Can you request to be discharge to go to medical school? Any insight will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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Good afternoon,

I was fortunate enough to get an acceptance while serving as an enlisted active duty soldier. However, I still have two years left out of my 5 years AD contract and HPSP is the only way that I know to get out from my contract. Does anybody know what are other option just incase I don't get selected from HPSP? Can you request to be discharge to go to medical school? Any insight will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I am not too sure, you would have to go over that with the health care recruiter. I would imagine the chances of you not getting selected are extremely low.
 
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I'm not sure how it works for Army, but in the Air Force, there are AFIs (Air Force Instructions) that govern these kinds of things. For us, all we need is two years on active duty to request an early release to attend medical school. I plan to use this to get out early enough to start school with the support of my command. Check out the regs and see what they say, and keep your leadership in the loop as well.
 
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I'm not sure how it works for Army, but in the Air Force, there are AFIs (Air Force Instructions) that govern these kinds of things. For us, all we need is two years on active duty to request an early release to attend medical school. I plan to use this to get out early enough to start school with the support of my command. Check out the regs and see what they say, and keep your leadership in the loop as well.
Thank you for your response. I hope Army has that kind of reg as well.
 
If you have open good communication with your commander of your intentions with your acceptance letter in hand, I don’t see why you wouldn’t get HPSP.

As always, it’s good you have a contingency. Depending on your MOS and how it’s rated on the In/Out system through HRC portal will play a factor. If it’s a balanced (or off chance over-strengthened) MOS you can validate a packet for HPSP.

Rarely (although I’ve had a soldier do it) you could defer your acceptance based on AD service. Just explain the justification of a mishap with your packet being delayed for HPSP. I assisted my soldier in explaining that since he was drawing very close to his ETS window with a deferred acceptance (and their desire to do HPSP as a primary care physician). This worked out in his favor.

Hope it works out for the best. Congrats on your acceptance
 
You have 3 options to my knowledge. 1) Get HPSP as you mentioned. 2) You can request to do one of the enlisted to med school programs that each service has (Marines get tied in with the Navy for this one), and you already have an acceptance, which means youd possibly hop up higher on the list, though this is often by how much you have left on contract, rank, and TIS. 3) Request a deferral from the med school - however not all med schools grant them (and those that do are usually reserved for military or extenuating circumstances), and most (maybe all?) that do usually limit it to 1 year. -----> if needed, that 1 year deferral could be what you need to apply to HPSP early and get it just in case its too late now, and/or to apply early to the programs for enlisted to med school so that you get selected at the next board. The only caveat is that I believe you're required to apply to the military med school, and if you gain acceptance there, you have to go that way (though I can't verify this myself).
 
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If you have open good communication with your commander of your intentions with your acceptance letter in hand, I don’t see why you wouldn’t get HPSP.

As always, it’s good you have a contingency. Depending on your MOS and how it’s rated on the In/Out system through HRC portal will play a factor. If it’s a balanced (or off chance over-strengthened) MOS you can validate a packet for HPSP.

Rarely (although I’ve had a soldier do it) you could defer your acceptance based on AD service. Just explain the justification of a mishap with your packet being delayed for HPSP. I assisted my soldier in explaining that since he was drawing very close to his ETS window with a deferred acceptance (and their desire to do HPSP as a primary care physician). This worked out in his favor.

Hope it works out for the best. Congrats on your acceptance

Thank you very much for your response. My chain of command is very supportive in my endeavor right very quick to sign my conditional release and write me a letter of recommendation. I just wanted to have a contingency plan because like with medical school admission, HPSP is very competitive as well. As per AMEDD recruiter, my packet will be ready for the Feb board. I'm optimistic and hopeful to be selected but who knows.
I hope my school allows deferment if I don't get selected. Maybe in April, I'll write the school a compelling justification and ask to defer my acceptance till I ETS.
 
You have 3 options to my knowledge. 1) Get HPSP as you mentioned. 2) You can request to do one of the enlisted to med school programs that each service has (Marines get tied in with the Navy for this one), and you already have an acceptance, which means youd possibly hop up higher on the list, though this is often by how much you have left on contract, rank, and TIS. 3) Request a deferral from the med school - however not all med schools grant them (and those that do are usually reserved for military or extenuating circumstances), and most (maybe all?) that do usually limit it to 1 year. -----> if needed, that 1 year deferral could be what you need to apply to HPSP early and get it just in case its too late now, and/or to apply early to the programs for enlisted to med school so that you get selected at the next board. The only caveat is that I believe you're required to apply to the military med school, and if you gain acceptance there, you have to go that way (though I can't verify this myself).

Thank you very much for your response. Can you give me the name of the enlisted to med school program? I would like to check on that as well if that would be a possible option. I am already working closely with an AMEDD recruiter and told me the my packet will be ready for the Feb board.
 
Thank you very much for your response. Can you give me the name of the enlisted to med school program? I would like to check on that as well if that would be a possible option. I am already working closely with an AMEDD recruiter and told me the my packet will be ready for the Feb board.

Uniformed Services University

It looks like this might actually be strictly for prep, but it won't hurt to talk to someone about it - maybe go "through" the program, but skip to med school since you dont need the prep and already have the acceptance? Not sure how solid/strict the path is.

Good luck!
 
Thank you very much for your response. Can you give me the name of the enlisted to med school program? I would like to check on that as well if that would be a possible option. I am already working closely with an AMEDD recruiter and told me the my packet will be ready for the Feb board.

Actually... after looking at the FAQs...

"I have completed all of the premedical prerequisite courses. May I enroll in the second year of this program?

This program is intentionally structured to offer the greatest impact on a student's medical school competitiveness. If you have successfully completed the premedical prerequisite courses in a traditional classroom setting with a grade of B or higher at a U.S. college or university, you will be offered the opportunity to enroll in more advanced science classes. You must enroll for the full two years."
 
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