How does the army "rank" its HPSP'ers?

[evescadeceus]

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I'm an M1 without prior military experience who is leaning toward navy, but I spoke with an army recruiter yesterday because I intend to at least look at this option (3 yr air force scholarships are gone in my area).

Nearly the first questions out of the army recruiter's mouth were, "What was your undergrad gpa?" "What were your MCAT's?" and "What's your current standing?" I felt rather bad, because my undergrad gpa was average, MCAT 28, and I am passing (most likely in the lower middle 50% of my class, based on one qtr of work, but that's all a big secret until the end of our four years). If the army is going to perceive me as "bottom of the barrel", it doesn't seem likely that I would be evaluated highly for competitive residencies. My navy recruiters haven't even brought up this sort of thing yet.

My gut instinct is that internal army culture and expectations may be more competitive in army, and I would rather demonstrate that I can be a competent physician despite average test taking skills. Does anyone have more experience impressions they could share?

 

[KerleyB]

How residency programs rank applicants, Army or otherwise, is still a bit of a mystery. The only definate is that they certainly use numbers, USMLE is supposed to be the same test for everyone, and thus the only truly equal measure of applicants. That said, we all know that board scores and class rank dont always make good doctors, but whats the alternative really.

I think this is true, however, there are more residency positions in Army GME versus other branches. Army GME seems to be expanding at a time when other services are cutting back their GME. Army for example didnt fill its 12 radiology slots this year, and some other posts indicate only 1 unmatched applicant for derm in the past. Clearly, you may have a better shot at a competetive specialty in the Army match with lower numbers.

Hope that made sense (just came out of a long ER shift followed by mind numbing lectures). Good luck!

 

[GeoLeoX]

The Army has minimal criteria that they use to accept students, they claim that if you meet these criteria you will get a scholarship. However, this doesn't preclude the awarding of a scholarship to someone who does not meet the minimum criteria.

Geo