Health Professions Scholarship Program

[Armyhealth]

Here to answer any questions you may have on HPSP for medical school. Let me help answer any questions you may have! I am a Army Healthcare Recruiter so I can only tell you about the Army but I will do my best to only give you only researched and honest answers. I have someone who is going through the process now who is on SDN also and can answer any questions you may have about the process from his side.

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[Mclovin0351]

For those applicants selected on the first board, what is the timeline for approval of their waivers?

 

[OxToCA]

@Armyhealth is a great resource, and I'm the poster that he mentioned and can answer questions via pm, too 🙂

 

[IlDestriero]

This ought to be interesting.


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Il Destriero

 

[lancecorpsman]

 

[Gastrapathy]

Be sure you spend several hours reading the mil med forum and then ask your questions there before making a decade long commitment to the military.

 

[Armyhealth]

For those applicants selected on the first board, what is the timeline for approval of their waivers?

Depends on the type of waiver, I don't want to give you a vague answer. Could you PM me?

 

[Armyhealth]

View attachment 215821

I see you already fell for the "trap" once!

 

[OxToCA]

This ought to be interesting. --Il Destriero

I'm curious about your opinion on a combined ER/anes military residency ref. https://forums.studentdoctor.net/th...sthesia-er-residency-civ-vs-military.1245949/

To everyone else, I'm going to the USUHS open house on Friday and possibly meeting HPSP recruiters in DC on Thursday. If anyone wants to meet up or go to the latter in/near Bethesda, feel free to pm me; the above thread I linked goes into a few more details.

 

[Helpful Troll]

I'm curious about your opinion on a combined ER/anes military residency ref. https://forums.studentdoctor.net/th...sthesia-er-residency-civ-vs-military.1245949/

OxToCA - Don't apply Army HPSP or USUHS if your intent is any type of combined residency. Per the Army GME Slideshow Civilian Deferments - "Not authorized for combined training programs".

Edit: OxToCA - Please disregard my post above as I see from other posts you are interested in "clinical pharmacology fellowship at WRAIR via the HPSP or USUHS" rather than MD/DO HPSP or USUHS.

 

[OxToCA]

OxToCA - Don't apply Army HPSP or USUHS if your intent is any type of combined residency. Per the Army GME Slideshow Civilian Deferments - "Not authorized for combined training programs".

Edit: OxToCA - Please disregard my post above as I see from other posts you are interested in "clinical pharmacology fellowship at WRAIR via the HPSP or USUHS" rather than MD/DO HPSP or USUHS.

Good observation, and thanks for the feedback. You are a helpful troll 😉

 

[itscleanslateme]

what's the timeline to apply for a 3 yr scholarship?

 

[Armyhealth]

what's the timeline to apply for a 3 yr scholarship?

For medical students the three year scholarship is not a specific board date so you can apply as long as there are still scholarships available. For this year there are 20 slots, 10 have been filled so far and there are 9 other in the system as "applying" so if you want to guarantee a chance to get the scholarship I would start applying very soon.

Timeline goes something like this

Step 1- go over initial qualifications and have initial appt with healthcare recruiter
Step 2- Healthcare recruiter will give you a list of documents you need to complete/acquire
Step 3- Do physical at MEPS or medical treatment facility
Step 4- finish up small paperwork, recruiter will put together packet
Step 5- packet will go through quality control process and await on next available board date
Step 6- await for board results

after that you await your scroll and appointment orders, sign your contract and do your oath, do the OPAT and get all your enrollment documents sent to the HPSP coordinator.

 

[itscleanslateme]

For medical students the three year scholarship is not a specific board date so you can apply as long as there are still scholarships available. For this year there are 20 slots, 10 have been filled so far and there are 9 other in the system as "applying" so if you want to guarantee a chance to get the scholarship I would start applying very soon.

Do you have data for other branches as well? And wow, I didn't realize there are such few slots!

 

[Armyhealth]

Do you have data for other branches as well? And wow, I didn't realize there are such few slots!

No, I don't have the numbers for the other branches. Usually the numbers are pretty similar for Army/Navy. Air Force usually fills up first so I would expect them to be closed if not very close to closed.

 

[aj42DO]

@Armyhealth I'm a sophomore pre-med who is also a contracted Army ROTC cadet. Through outside and ROTC experiences, I've affirmed that medicine is the life for me. Do you have any advice or know anyways where I could facilitate going to medical school straight out of college? I have a little knowledge about the ed delay, but it would be very helpful to hear all the possible routes through a recruiter.

 

[Helpful Troll]

@Armyhealth I'm a sophomore pre-med who is also a contracted Army ROTC cadet. Through outside and ROTC experiences, I've affirmed that medicine is the life for me. Do you have any advice or know anyways where I could facilitate going to medical school straight out of college? I have a little knowledge about the ed delay, but it would be very helpful to hear all the possible routes through a recruiter.

Not a recruiter but your options are simple - though there is risk to all options listed in numerous previous posts. Use the keyword search features.

Med School straight out of college - Do the same things non ROTC students do to get into med school without a gap year - EC's (research, volunteering, shadowing), high GPA including all prereqs, and a good MCAT score. Drop ROTC or take summer school every summer and 19-21 credits some semesters. Prep for MCAT and take it before June after your Jr year. Avoid an MCAT retake.

OPTIONS for med school without a gap year:
Active Duty via Ed Delay with HPSP
Active Duty via Ed Delay to USUHS
Active Duty via Ed Delay and pay for school with loans
Reserves with loans for med school
Reserves with benefits (stipend and maybe loan repayment options) and loans - I will defer to recruiter for this.
NG with loans for med school
NG with benefits (stipend and maybe loan repayment options) and loans - I will defer to recruiter for this.

OPTIONS for med school with a gap year - but there are additional risks regarding training and deployment until your position is coded as a med student:
Reserves with loans for med school
Reserves with loans and military benefits (stipend and maybe loan repayment options) - I will defer to recruiter for this.
NG with loans for med school
NG with loans and military benefits (stipend and maybe loan repayment options) - I will defer to recruiter for this.
Reserves to USUHS on Active Duty

Every year some of the med school Ed Delay recipients are not accepted to medical school and are accessed July- September for active duty in one of the 17 initial branches (IN, AR, FI, MS, MI, AG, ADA, CM, FA, ...).

 

[Armyhealth]

@Armyhealth I'm a sophomore pre-med who is also a contracted Army ROTC cadet. Through outside and ROTC experiences, I've affirmed that medicine is the life for me. Do you have any advice or know anyways where I could facilitate going to medical school straight out of college? I have a little knowledge about the ed delay, but it would be very helpful to hear all the possible routes through a recruiter.

Your process is not much different then anyone else, the only change for you is you have to apply for your educational delay between your third year and forth year meaning you have no option to take a gap year. You have to make sure you have a qualifying MCAT when you apply for the educational delay so most who do this program take the MCAT late junior year. You will also have to get a letter of recommendation from your ROTC commander.

 

[Helpful Troll]

Your process is not much different then anyone else, the only change for you is you have to apply for your educational delay between your third year and forth year meaning you have no option to take a gap year. You have to make sure you have a qualifying MCAT when you apply for the educational delay so most who do this program take the MCAT late junior year. You will also have to get a letter of recommendation from your ROTC commander.

Armyhealth - Please add your comments if anything written below is incorrect -

ROTC 'premed' cadets also have the option of requesting Reserves or NG during accessions. I see cadets every year take this option to improve their MCAT or Med School application in a gap year - or two. This does not require an Ed Delay from ROTC but does require their Reserve Commanders approval to apply for HPSP with the active duty commitment. Or, they can pursue NG/Reserve medical school 'benefit programs'.

As with all the options there are risks going via Reserve/NG. But, for those missing a prerequisite course/s or missing a necessary EC (shadowing, volunteering, research... ) Reserves/NG may be a better option.

Failing to get into med school immediately, having been granted an Ed Delay, puts these 2LT's on at least a 4 year delay for med school to complete their ROTC obligation on active duty.

 

[Armyhealth]

Armyhealth - Please add your comments if anything written below is incorrect -

ROTC 'premed' cadets also have the option of requesting Reserves or NG during accessions. I see cadets every year take this option to improve their MCAT or Med School application in a gap year - or two. This does not require an Ed Delay from ROTC but does require their Reserve Commanders approval to apply for HPSP with the active duty commitment. Or, they can pursue NG/Reserve medical school 'benefit programs'.

As with all the options there are risks going via Reserve/NG. But, for those missing a prerequisite course/s or missing a necessary EC (shadowing, volunteering, research... ) Reserves/NG may be a better option.

Failing to get into med school immediately, having been granted an Ed Delay, puts these 2LT's on at least a 4 year delay for med school to complete their ROTC obligation on active duty.

You are right on the button as usual. The only thing I would add is that you can request reserve or national guard but if you took a full scholarship for ROTC then you are at needs of the Army. Your likely high GPA and other credentials will put you in the top 10% of all other ROTC students meaning you stand out when they start branch assigning. I have met two officers who were pre-med, applied for reserve and now are in active duty. One is a engineer officer at Fort Drum the other is in Germany and both are reapplying for med school and HPSP right now with me.

 

[Helpful Troll]

You are right on the button as usual. The only thing I would add is that you can request reserve or national guard but if you took a full scholarship for ROTC then you are at needs of the Army. Your likely high GPA and other credentials will put you in the top 10% of all other ROTC students meaning you stand out when they start branch assigning. I have met two officers who were pre-med, applied for reserve and now are in active duty. One is a engineer officer at Fort Drum the other is in Germany and both are reapplying for med school and HPSP right now with me.

You might ask those two applicants some probing questions regarding their ROTC accession application for Reserve Forces duty. Did they initially apply to Ed Delay and were part of the non select cohort for Ed Delay? If they were Ed Delay applicants, they had already committed to AD with their Ed Delay packet. Did they have a Reserve line and position number when they accessed? Likely not. Were either Green to Gold AD scholarship recipients? - Per their contract they are not eligible for Ed Delay.

The most recent ROTC accessions brief indicates that AD eligible applicants that were eligible for and applied Reserve Forces were assigned NG or Reserves. I do agree it is a risk that has to be considered which is why med school quality students should not enroll in ROTC if they will only be happy as a physician - and they should understand the risks.

 

[aj42DO]

@Armyhealth I've been given a lot of info on ed delay, so I have a good idea on that. I was wondering how well going NG or Reserves works for those interested in medical school.
I'll give a little background to make a thoughtful question easier. I entered university with no scholarship whatsoever, then was offered a 3-year AROTC scholarship this past May. I contracted in October. I'm now going to CULP/waitlist for Airborne. I am also planning on taking the MCAT this summer (to have before Advanced Camp).
Do you know what happens if a cadet applies for ed delay, doesn't get it, but gets into Medical School? If I have a really strong chance for DO schools, but lackluster for MD could I still get an ed delay? Could you also explain to me all possible ways to go to medical school straight from college (Active/EdDelay/USUHS/HPSP/NG/reserves)?
Thank you so much and if others like @Helpful Troll or @Homunculus could chime in, that'd be great!

 

[Helpful Troll]

Do you know what happens if a cadet applies for ed delay, doesn't get it, but gets into Medical School? If I have a really strong chance for DO schools, but lackluster for MD could I still get an ed delay?

It is likely only CC knows how they handle 2LT's denied Ed Delay but with an acceptance to Med School. You might have to reach out to CC through your PMS/Cadre to answer that question. Though, @Armyhealth as an AMEDD Recruiter might be able to query CC. Timing is an issue if this occurs because you could get June orders for BOLC after a May graduation and be on AD before you even hear back from waitlists.

I know about 17 Army ROTC graduates (2011-2015) in med school and residency now. More than half are DO or at USUHS so a strong application for DO is not a handicap for Ed Delay. If your CV does not identify you as competitive for med school you won't get the Ed Delay. If you are missing or weak in any significant part of the application (MCAT, gpa, prereqs, shadowing, good letters of recommendation, ... ) you won't get the Ed Delay or into med school.

I suspect the Ed Delay board includes participants that are familiar with both DO and MD med school entrance criteria. The reality is (in my opinion) a med school acceptance is significantly more difficult than the Ed Delay designation.

@aj42MD - How are you going to study for the MCAT, participate in CULP/airborne, complete LDAC/Advanced Camp/CLC, apply for med school, and complete some secondaries all in one summer? These conflicts are a struggle for every ROTC applicant! If your semester ends in April you might be able to complete all this but you will be tired. Fall semester Sr year will be difficult too, missing class for interviews and completing secondaries upon receipt.

Read page 34 of this linked document. Accessions Brief CC may have made a change in forcing Ed Delay non selects or recipients with no med school acceptance onto AD. As Armyhealth indicated though it's based on 'needs of the Army'.

@Armyhealth - What is the current breakdown of HPSP scholarship recipients between DO and MD? How many of the HPSP scholarships each year are given to Army Ed Delay recipients without a gap year? - about thirteen per year of the 25 granted Ed Delay? How many HPSP scholarships each year go to Reserve Forces Officers released from the Reserves to accept the scholarship and complete their obligation on AD?

 

[Armyhealth]

@Armyhealth I've been given a lot of info on ed delay, so I have a good idea on that. I was wondering how well going NG or Reserves works for those interested in medical school.
I'll give a little background to make a thoughtful question easier. I entered university with no scholarship whatsoever, then was offered a 3-year AROTC scholarship this past May. I contracted in October. I'm now going to CULP/waitlist for Airborne. I am also planning on taking the MCAT this summer (to have before Advanced Camp).
Do you know what happens if a cadet applies for ed delay, doesn't get it, but gets into Medical School? If I have a really strong chance for DO schools, but lackluster for MD could I still get an ed delay? Could you also explain to me all possible ways to go to medical school straight from college (Active/EdDelay/USUHS/HPSP/NG/reserves)?
Thank you so much and if others like @Helpful Troll or @Homunculus could chime in, that'd be great!

As long as you meet the HPSP criteria of 3.2 GPA, 500 MCAT/124 in each category chances are you will be granted the ED delay. If you are awarded the Ed delay but then not accepted into a medical school you will be branch assigned and have to report. You can apply to the next cycle and then put a 4187 for conditional release through your branch to release you upon acceptance to the next cycle of HPSP/med school. That one is tricky because your branch will have to release you to attend but is possible.

Also you asked for a breakdown of all the ways you can go into medical school. Helpful troll actually answered this really well and not much to add except that if you do get branch assigned you can reapply the next cycle with a conditional release 4187 (active) or DD368 (reserve or national guard)

@Helpful Troll I don't have access to that data right now, I will see if I can get those numbers. For my office alone we have about 2-1 DO/MD applicant, not sure on the ed delay selection numbers. I have yet to meet a pre-med that has the HPSP qualifications that did not get selected for ED delay.

 

[Helpful Troll]

As long as you meet the HPSP criteria of 3.2 GPA, 500 MCAT/124 in each category chances are you will be granted the ED delay. If you are awarded the Ed delay but then not accepted into a medical school you will be branch assigned and have to report. You can apply to the next cycle and then put a 4187 for conditional release through your branch to release you upon acceptance to the next cycle of HPSP/med school. That one is tricky because your branch will have to release you to attend but is possible.

@Helpful Troll I don't have access to that data right now, I will see if I can get those numbers. For my office alone we have about 2-1 DO/MD applicant, not sure on the ed delay selection numbers. I have yet to meet a pre-med that has the HPSP qualifications that did not get selected for ED delay.

Thank you Armyhealth!

OP - The Ed Delay/HPSP criteria of 3.2 and 500/124 won't get you an interview at many medical schools, even DO. Go read all the WAMC threads and even premedfaq.com. This does justify my belief that a med school acceptance is more difficult to attain than the Ed Delay. However, what's done is done - you have an ROTC commitment. When you get your MCAT score back, early summer after your Jr year, you can evaluate your competitiveness for medical school and apply for the Ed Delay, or not.

 

[OxToCA]

Bump; I attended USUHS's open house last week, and also met an HPSP representative/practicing navy physician.

USUHS is across the street from the NIH, and its medical students can do research there; I'm going to look into whether HPSP students at other medical schools can do the same and post what I find out. If you want me to send any questions to the above Doctor, feel free to ask/pm me and I'll look into that, too.

 

[OxToCA]

Bump; I attended USUHS's open house last week, and also met an HPSP representative/practicing navy physician.

USUHS is across the street from the NIH, and its medical students can do research there; I'm going to look into whether HPSP students at other medical schools can do the same and post what I find out. If you want me to send any questions to the above Doctor, feel free to ask/pm me and I'll look into that, too.

Although I'm still researching the above, I wanted to bump this thread with an update since there has been a lot of talk on other sub-forums (e.g. Physician Scientists: NIH Could Face $6 Billion cut in new budget & Business: Should I do a MD/MBA if I want to have my own Pharmaceutical company? & the Sociopolitical Lounge: https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/opinion-on-new-fda-commissioner.1247385/) about the recent 20%/$6 billion NIH budget cut.

Defense-related research funding will not be affected and is most likely going to get a boost; posters in all of the above linked threads have stated the same, including moderators. So IMO, the HPSP is a route toward a research career since a lot of non-MD/PhDs do research (e.g. as clinical assistant professors) and have labs @Armyhealth

 

[IlDestriero]

Attending a research focused medical school, completing a residency at a research heavy quaternary care center, +/- a research focused fellowship, followed by an academic attending job at another tertiary or quaternary care center is the easiest path to a real academic career in medicine for someone who doesn't want to do an MD PhD.
The military isn't the best path to academic medicine if your dream is to have your own lab, etc. It's not even a good path.
The military's focus is and will always be on putting ordinance down range. Supporting the humans that do that is only a minor piece of the pie. The majority of military physicians have little interest in real research and even less support for it. Understand that those that have their own labs and grants, etc. are significant outliers in the .mil.


--
Il Destriero

 

[KingOfTheNorth]

Here to answer any questions you may have on HPSP for medical school. Let me help answer any questions you may have! I am a Army Healthcare Recruiter so I can only tell you about the Army but I will do my best to only give you only researched and honest answers. I have someone who is going through the process now who is on SDN also and can answer any questions you may have about the process from his side.

What are the requirements for pre-dental students? Is there a GPA or DAT cutoff?

 

[Armyhealth]

What are the requirements for pre-dental students? Is there a GPA or DAT cutoff?

You have to have a 3.0 GPA, 19 DAT to apply.

 

[frogboi]

Here to answer any questions you may have on HPSP for medical school. Let me help answer any questions you may have! I am a Army Healthcare Recruiter so I can only tell you about the Army but I will do my best to only give you only researched and honest answers. I have someone who is going through the process now who is on SDN also and can answer any questions you may have about the process from his side.

What are the options for someone who wants to get an MD/MBA joint degree? I know the military will not cover the tuition for the masters, but would they even allow you to pursue one? Is there a difference if it is a 4 yr vs a 5yr path ?

 

[Armyhealth]

What are the options for someone who wants to get an MD/MBA joint degree? I know the military will not cover the tuition for the masters, but would they even allow you to pursue one? Is there a difference if it is a 4 yr vs a 5yr path ?

You can apply however you would have to apply between your first and second year because the Army can only pay for 4 years. However it will be looked as a positive for competitiveness.

 

[Gastrapathy]

That is definitely different than the Navy policy. Might want to double check that answer.

 

[Isaiah17]

Here to answer any questions you may have on HPSP for medical school. Let me help answer any questions you may have! I am a Army Healthcare Recruiter so I can only tell you about the Army but I will do my best to only give you only researched and honest answers. I have someone who is going through the process now who is on SDN also and can answer any questions you may have about the process from his side.

Hi. How do I repay my commitment to the military after I graduate med school?

 

[Armyhealth]

Hi. How do I repay my commitment to the military after I graduate med school?

You would serve your commitment as a physician after you complete your residency.

 

[@n!lo]

You have to have a 3.0 GPA, 19 DAT to apply.

What would be the process to apply for a pre-dental student who complies with the GPA and the DAT?

 

[Armyhealth]

What would be the process to apply for a pre-dental student who complies with the GPA and the DAT?

PM me, I will go over the qualification questions with you and get you connected with a healthcare recruiter!

 

[gfritz]

Here to answer any questions you may have on HPSP for medical school. Let me help answer any questions you may have! I am a Army Healthcare Recruiter so I can only tell you about the Army but I will do my best to only give you only researched and honest answers. I have someone who is going through the process now who is on SDN also and can answer any questions you may have about the process from his side.

My questions are

1: If I am not accepted to the HSPS can I still join the army after completing university? And will they reimburse my schooling?
2: If that were the case, do I apply for an army position in my first/second year (same as I would do for HSPS) or when I finish vet school?
3: I'll be 33 by the time I graduate. How much of a factor does age play in getting accepted? I understand the cut off for joining is 35.
4: Would acceptance chances increase if prior work with the army were a factor? If so, any recommendations?
5: I assume the HSPS is a nationwide pot, estimatimation of applications versus acceptance?
6: My uncle is a Major (my reference letter) I have a 3.7 GPA, I've done a lot of overseas humanitarian work, I'm very physically fit, and have a bachelors in Animal Science. What can I do to make myself more competitive? Is there any summer or one-year program, or perhaps volunteer work? What are your recommendations?

Thank you for your time and answering these questions.

 

[MedicalDoge]

Which branch would be the best for someone interested in Infectious Disease? Exploring the idea of doing the HPSP after my first year