Hpsp Faq

Panacea Financial Contract Review
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
In the United States, a "military doctor" is a physician/surgeon commissioned as an officer in either the Army, Navy, Air Force or Public Health Service.

The DoD, VA, PHS, and many other federal government agencies also employ civil service and contract physicians/surgeons, but they are generally not regarded as being "military doctors".
 
What kind of scores does a DO need to feel confident on getting the scholarship? on par with MDs??
 
aklark said:
This job is for a Department of the Army civilian. The person hired for this job will "work for the military" but they will not be "in the military".

https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/374087700

Most of the discussion on this page is about active-duty military physicians who wear a uniform and are current members of the Armed Forces.
Click to expand...
denali said:
In the United States, a "military doctor" is a physician/surgeon commissioned as an officer in either the Army, Navy, Air Force or Public Health Service.

The DoD, VA, PHS, and many other federal government agencies also employ civil service and contract physicians/surgeons, but they are generally not regarded as being "military doctors".
Click to expand...

Im sorry but ice reread these statements a couple So I'm still a little confused. If one receives the HPSP scholarship, do they not begin med school as an officer in whatever portion of the army? Will they not be considered as in the military since they are officers? And if so wouldn't they be able to receive the same " benefits" soldiers receive?
 
Toastayy said:
Im sorry but ice reread these statements a couple So I'm still a little confused. If one receives the HPSP scholarship, do they not begin med school as an officer in whatever portion of the army? Will they not be considered as in the military since they are officers? And if so wouldn't they be able to receive the same " benefits" soldiers receive?
Click to expand...

Yes, you are in the military as an officer. You will receive some of the benefits that other people in the military receive such as the ability to shop in the commissary. However, other perks such as the post-9/11 G.I. Bill and adding time toward the retirement clock are not available to you. Those two comments that you just referenced are talking about working for the VA hospital system which does not employ active-duty physicians. You have to keep in mind that the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs are two completely different government bureaucracies and have little to do with one another.
 
Okay so the millitary does not allow single parents to enlist. So that being said would it be pointless for a single parent med student to apply to the HPSP program? Or since you are not totally enlisted that rule would not apply?
 
i had question regarding the illicit drug use policy for HPSP.

i am going to be 100% truthful on the application and will list all my previous drug experiences.

my concern is that i dont want to complete the application and be denied the scholarship for prior drug use.

from my understanding of the process, you list all your prior experiences and then an officer reviews it and determines whether you get a wavier or not. is this correct?

if this is correct, what might be the basis for rejection. obviously people have been accepted that have used drugs, but I want to know if there is a threshold and once you pass it the committee rejects your application? or is your acceptance/rejection based upon your entire application and drug use is not a sole determining factor?

any information regarding the drug use review process would be helpful. i cant seem to get a definite response from my recruiter or previous threads i read.

thank you
 
Crack is whack.

No absolute standards but more than weed will cause some painful scrutiny despite a recent news story about a certain VP product of procreation.
 
Anyone have any luck with getting a waiver for low MCAT score? My fiancé was in hospice care when I was studying for/took my MCAT and ultimately got a 23 on it. I have good GPA, outstanding physical fitness and great military and civilian recommendations and have been accepted to a few medical schools already this cycle. I am very interested in becoming an Army officer and the HPSP but after filling out the info online that went straight to Fort Knox I can't get any traction with getting ahold of a recruiter because my MCAT isn't at least a 24. They seemed to say I could fill out a waiver for it and still apply, but calling recruiters in GA I couldn't get anyone to answer any questions about it. Anyone here happen to have any intel, advice or experience? It would be greatly appreciated.
 
ScallyKat said:
Anyone have any luck with getting a waiver for low MCAT score? My fiancé was in hospice care when I was studying for/took my MCAT and ultimately got a 23 on it. I have good GPA, outstanding physical fitness and great military and civilian recommendations and have been accepted to a few medical schools already this cycle. I am very interested in becoming an Army officer and the HPSP but after filling out the info online that went straight to Fort Knox I can't get any traction with getting ahold of a recruiter because my MCAT isn't at least a 24. They seemed to say I could fill out a waiver for it and still apply, but calling recruiters in GA I couldn't get anyone to answer any questions about it. Anyone here happen to have any intel, advice or experience? It would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

You don't need a waiver for your MCAT score. You have a medical school admission, and that's the golden ticket. I don't know why recruiters are dragging their heels in contacting you, because they are usually pretty prompt in getting on top of that. While SGT Signawayyourcareer is waiting to call, why not take a look at some of the stickies on this forum and think long and hard (huh huh huh) about the decision to sign up with .mil and HPSP. Signing up will require sacrifices and compromises that you are not yet in a position to understand. Loans are scary but so is delaying your medical training in order to shuffle paperwork for two years.

Sorry about your fiancee.
 
WernikeDO, I appreciate the advice and did double back to reread some of the initial posts and stickies.

I have always wanted to be military officer and actually went to USMC OCS in college before dislocating my shoulder with about two weeks until graduation....big time bummer. By my two brothers were infantry Marines in both Iraq and Afghanistan, one of which had his life saved by the military physicians overseas which was not only the catalyst for my career change to pursue medical school, but also me wanting to become a medical officer. So I do have a good drive for it beyond the financial aspect.

I'm working with two recruiters OOS where I did my post-bac education since they were the only ones to get back to my and my in state guys in GA have not. They had be write a motivation statement as to why I wanted to be an Army doctor saying that I would need that in order to apply for the waiver due to my MCAT score. *sigh*. Haven't heard back from them all week but I'm hoping it's just lag time due to the pending holidays. I understand the hurry up and wait of the military coming from a military family, but I would imagine with this there are a limited amount of waivers they hand out so the earlier I board and apply for one the better. If anyone has any intel or advice on waivers or recruiters in or around the GA area I'd love to hear, or experience with a lower MCAT score and push back from that I'd def. appreciate some help.

V/R
 
Someone may have answered this somewhere, but I can't find it haha. I was recently accepted to medical school and have sent in an application to the Navy HPSP. My recruiter looked through my application one last time and noted that my first few semesters of undergrad were not too good, resulting in a few courses that I had to retake. He asked me to write a short statement addressing this which I have done. I was just wondering how big of a concern this should be? If I have already received an acceptance letter, are you pretty much guaranteed an acceptance into HPSP?


Thanks for ya'lls help!
 
wakeforestkid12 said:
Someone may have answered this somewhere, but I can't find it haha. I was recently accepted to medical school and have sent in an application to the Navy HPSP. My recruiter looked through my application one last time and noted that my first few semesters of undergrad were not too good, resulting in a few courses that I had to retake. He asked me to write a short statement addressing this which I have done. I was just wondering how big of a concern this should be? If I have already received an acceptance letter, are you pretty much guaranteed an acceptance into HPSP?


Thanks for ya'lls help!
Click to expand...

If the rest of your package is good it shouldn't be too much of an issue. If the rest of the package is weak it may be another thing that goes against you.
 
I see all these pre-meds and their questions, and I flash back to my naive decision to join. I've learned so much since then, but they just won't listen to our advice...
 
If you don't match after your FYGME year you are automatically deffered, the military will not make you train in a field you don't want to.
Click to expand...

Are you 100% sure of that? I want to go USUHS or HPSP, but this is a concern for me, and I've heard of people's programs getting canned or the like and thus having to do a different residency. For example, from the Usuhs forum, from a Usuhs Navy grad:
When I applied for PMR, I got selected. However, the Navy in its infinite wisdom decided to stop training PMR residents, and sent me back to the fleet.

So now I"m finishing my obligated service as a flight surgeon, and saving a lot of my salary for the distant future when I become a poorly paid resident.
Click to expand...

Now I want to go neuro, not PMR; is the difference that the Navy truly canned PMR, whereas neuro is pretty unlikely to be canned, or am I missing the point?
 
neuroguy91 said:
Are you 100% sure of that? I want to go USUHS or HPSP, but this is a concern for me, and I've heard of people's programs getting canned or the like and thus having to do a different residency. For example, from the Usuhs forum, from a Usuhs Navy grad:


Now I want to go neuro, not PMR; is the difference that the Navy truly canned PMR, whereas neuro is pretty unlikely to be canned, or am I missing the point?
Click to expand...

Navy has 3 PM&R Billets. Currently there are 8 PM&R attendings/residents. You do the math...it is the most overmanned specialty in the Navy. There are plenty of highly competitive GMOs/FSs who have been gunning for PM&R for YEARS. Good luck getting a PM&R seat.

If you want a military career...go Neurology...no question. If you want a PM&R career...get out.
 
j4pac said:
Navy has 3 PM&R Billets. Currently there are 8 PM&R attendings/residents. You do the math...it is the most overmanned specialty in the Navy. There are plenty of highly competitive GMOs/FSs who have been gunning for PM&R for YEARS. Good luck getting a PM&R seat.

If you want a military career...go Neurology...no question. If you want a PM&R career...get out.
Click to expand...

So is neurology not horribly competitive in the military? Specifically AF (if you have any knowledge thereof)?
 
neuroguy91 said:
So is neurology not horribly competitive in the military? Specifically AF (if you have any knowledge thereof)?
Click to expand...
Neurology is not horribly competitive in civilian sector either.

The challenge with the military match is that since its relatively small, an uptick in interest that would have little impact civilian side could have a big one I. The military.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
BigNavyPedsGuy said:
I see all these pre-meds and their questions, and I flash back to my naive decision to join. I've learned so much since then, but they just won't listen to our advice...
Click to expand...
Hey dude, could I hit you up for some advice? I'm prior military, so I understand how sh*tty it can be. However, I'm in my early 30's with 6 years prior service. I'm starting medical school in August. I'd like to start a family sometime during medical school or residency, so the financial incentives of HPSP are attractive. Do you think it would potentially be worth it for someone in my situation, or do you still say no?
 
Aloft085 said:
Hey dude, could I hit you up for some advice? I'm prior military, so I understand how sh*tty it can be. However, I'm in my early 30's with 6 years prior service. I'm starting medical school in August. I'd like to start a family sometime during medical school or residency, so the financial incentives of HPSP are attractive. Do you think it would potentially be worth it for someone in my situation, or do you still say no?
Click to expand...

I know that 6 years, makes it sound good, but you still only be at 13years once you finished your payback. You'd basically be stuck in for 7 more years. The ways it would work out for you financially is if you were going to a really expensive school (a lot DO schools are ridiculously expensive). If you end up doing primary care, then the pay gap will be not so bad. If you go to a state school, and end up choosing a higher paying specialty you'll miss out on hundreds of thousands of dollars.

If it were me, I would take the loans. That family you want to start - do you want to make the kids change schools multiple times? Be deployed for birthdays and Christmas?
 
Aloft085 said:

Hey dude, could I hit you up for some advice? I'm prior military, so I understand how sh*tty it can be. However, I'm in my early 30's with 6 years prior service. I'm starting medical school in August. I'd like to start a family sometime during medical school or residency, so the financial incentives of HPSP are attractive. Do you think it would potentially be worth it for someone in my situation, or do you still say no?
Click to expand...
If you are just trying to clock retirement years, doesn't the navy have a program tht makes you an e-6/e-7 while in school and then promotes you at graduation but all the years count for retirement? I think it was hscp? With that, you'd be at 13 total by the end of even a short residency and almost 20 by payback
 
Aloft085 said:
Hey dude, could I hit you up for some advice? I'm prior military, so I understand how sh*tty it can be. However, I'm in my early 30's with 6 years prior service. I'm starting medical school in August. I'd like to start a family sometime during medical school or residency, so the financial incentives of HPSP are attractive. Do you think it would potentially be worth it for someone in my situation, or do you still say no?
Click to expand...

Only if you either A) really want to be back in the military or B) get into a state school and use the Navy HSCP. Of course option C) is to go to USUHS - even nicer for a prior with extra pay, no loans, but a longer commitment.
 
BigNavyPedsGuy said:
If it were me, I would take the loans. That family you want to start - do you want to make the kids change schools multiple times? Be deployed for birthdays and Christmas?
Click to expand...
While this is absolutely something to consider, I have a different overall take on it.

I went to USUHS and had 3 kids during that period. The paycheck and health benefits made it a relatively comfortable experience. As a civilian I would've had to borrow a huge amount of money to cover school costs + bigger house costs + kid costs + not-working mom costs.

I've PCS'd four times with a family, most recently just a few months ago with kids 16, 15, and 13 at the time. Oldest moved between junior and senior years of high school. Not easy for them, but life is full of hard things, and they all coped just fine. In fact, like all hard things in life, I think there's some benefit to doing them.

Deployments sucked, I'll grant you that, but no worse than for any other servicemember with a family who's deployed in the last 200 years. Probably better because of the easy comm these days.


But, prior service people looking at the military to fund medical school, who are committing to a 20-year career, ought to enter via USUHS rather than HPSP. For lifers USUHS is a far better financial deal in the long run, particularly for prior service people who can keep their current pay during school.
 
pgg said:
I've PCS'd four times with a family, most recently just a few months ago with kids 16, 15, and 13 at the time. Oldest moved between junior and senior years of high school. Not easy for them, but life is full of hard things, and they all coped just fine. In fact, like all hard things in life, I think there's some benefit to them.
Click to expand...
There have been some pretty good studies done on the effects of frequent moves on children's health and found that (after controlling for socioeconomic a and other confounders) the more frequent the moves, the higher the rates of anxiety and depression disorders (tighter and more proportional for the former).

I'm not disputing your personal experience (and frankly share the feelings that kids, if anything, are overly coddled these days), but I'd caution against dismissing the fact that the moves do come at a cost to children's health.
 
I find it almost impossible to believe that they can really control for other factors in those studies. The conclusion is no surprise. That said, my service was tougher on my wife more than my kids but neither were sad about my departure.
 
notdeadyet said:
There have been some pretty good studies done on the effects of frequent moves on children's health and found that (after controlling for socioeconomic a and other confounders) the more frequent the moves, the higher the rates of anxiety and depression disorders (tighter and more proportional for the former).

I'm not disputing your personal experience (and frankly share the feelings that kids, if anything, are overly coddled these days), but I'd caution against dismissing the fact that the moves do come at a cost to children's health.
Click to expand...

Fair enough, I'm sure there's a lot of variability.

But the snarky side of me can't help but think that if 80% of studies published in hard sciences are wrong, and it's probably at least that bad, most everything in a sociology journal is probably wrong. 🙂
 
pgg said:
But the snarky side of me can't help but think that if 80% of studies published in hard sciences are wrong, and it's probably at least that bad, most everything in a sociology journal is probably wrong. 🙂
Click to expand...
Psychiatry, but your point's still valid.

That said, reluctance to believe that frequent moves at random times to places not of the families choosing predisposes children to anxiety is interesting, given what we know about child development. Sweet lemons, as they say...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Why? Why isn't the thesis that it creates resilient children with a wider world-view who are more likely to succeed in an ever more complex world? I bet I could design a survey that reached that answer too. I'm not at all sure why he shouldn't be skeptical. I was one of those frequent move kids and grew up around plenty more. My personal experience fits pggs bias. It may be wrong but some population based psychiatry studies (you'll have to explain to me how that isn't sociology) about a small increase in relative risk of anxiety while ignoring other potential benefits just isn't going to move me.

Now you want to talk about the damage to my wife's now nonexistent career, that one doesn't need a study either.
 
I have a quick question about application timing, hope someone has insight on this. I've been working on my Navy HPSP application since before October 2014. Starting med school in 2015. However, I have had a lot of delays getting physically qualified. Does anyone know at what point the scholarship spots start to fill? Is there a preset cap?
I'm just starting to feel like now that we're into the spring my chances are really crappy.
I saw in a post from 2009 that the last boards usually meet in April. Is that still the case?
Any help is appreciated! Thanks 🙂
 
tweety14 said:
I have a quick question about application timing, hope someone has insight on this. I've been working on my Navy HPSP application since before October 2014. Starting med school in 2015. However, I have had a lot of delays getting physically qualified. Does anyone know at what point the scholarship spots start to fill? Is there a preset cap?
I'm just starting to feel like now that we're into the spring my chances are really crappy.
I saw in a post from 2009 that the last boards usually meet in April. Is that still the case?
Any help is appreciated! Thanks 🙂
Click to expand...

The sooner you get your application to the board the better. There is a set number of scholarships and once that number is reached it doesn't matter how good you are you won't get a scholarship. That also means that as the number of scholarships available declines the more competitive it gets.
 
My wife is from South Korea, and we planned on doing HPSP largely because we believed we would be able to get stationed there eventually. Obviously the money and being debt free is appealing, but i don't see any other way to live in her country as a practicing doctor unless i am in the military. Is there a better way to meet our goal?
 
TheWhiteSpark said:
My wife is from South Korea, and we planned on doing HPSP largely because we believed we would be able to get stationed there eventually. Obviously the money and being debt free is appealing, but i don't see any other way to live in her country as a practicing doctor unless i am in the military. Is there a better way to meet our goal?
Click to expand...

Why would you want to live in South Korea when you could live in the United States?

I remember when I wanted to go in the military partly because I loved Japanese women and Japanese sports cars. Come to find out...I was an idiot.
 
j4pac said:
Why would you want to live in South Korea when you could live in the United States?

I remember when I wanted to go in the military partly because I loved Japanese women and Japanese sports cars. Come to find out...I was an idiot.
Click to expand...

Lets just assume we know we want to live there for a period of time. Do you have an answer to my question?
 
TheWhiteSpark said:
My wife is from South Korea, and we planned on doing HPSP largely because we believed we would be able to get stationed there eventually. Obviously the money and being debt free is appealing, but i don't see any other way to live in her country as a practicing doctor unless i am in the military. Is there a better way to meet our goal?
Click to expand...
South korea doesn't accept US medical licenses?
 
j4pac said:
I remember when I wanted to go in the military partly because I loved Japanese women and Japanese sports cars. Come to find out...I was an idiot.
Click to expand...

Dr. j4pac and the Yellow Fever! 🙂 Not gonna lie, but impressing the Oriental ladies is also a significant reason that pushed me to join...

So...the idiocy part...was it because it turned out you didn't love the cars/women of Japanese make or was it because the cars/ladies didn't love a man in uniform? Because if it is the latter I think I'm going to grab the $2000 worth of uniforms I bought and wash them with my salty salty tears, approximately 15 years worth of it.
 
TheWhiteSpark said:
Lets just assume we know we want to live there for a period of time. Do you have an answer to my question?
Click to expand...

Joining the military with the outside chance of being stationed in South Korea is a bad plan. Stay civilian...become a physician...and use all the extra money to go to vacation in South Korea or retire early and move there.
 
Red Lobster Actual said:
Dr. j4pac and the Yellow Fever! 🙂 Not gonna lie, but impressing the Oriental ladies is also a significant reason that pushed me to join...

So...the idiocy part...was it because it turned out you didn't love the cars/women of Japanese make or was it because the cars/ladies didn't love a man in uniform? Because if it is the latter I think I'm going to grab the $2000 worth of uniforms I bought and wash them with my salty salty tears, approximately 15 years worth of it.
Click to expand...

I went to high school in Japan and dreamed of nothing more than a return. It was the 22 year old immature, idiot me trying to screw it up for the current, more refined version of me. I found a fantastic, gorgious round eyed girl and my love for the Tesla P85d has superseded that of the Nissan Skyline R34. Japanese women and Skylines are still works of art...but I found excellent alternatives.

The OP needs to find a good alternative to forcing himself into the military for his wife's homecoming. They're out there.
 
I know the dept of the army hires some civilian doctors to work on bases here in the states. It's basically like VA but your paystub says dept of army. Does anyone know if the base in south korea is on the list for that? (OP can try searching The usjobs.gov site)
 
Hey all, I got my June MCAT percentiles back and it is looking like I got a 124Biology/Biochem, 126P/C, 127 Psych/Soc, and 129-132 CARS. Which, assuming I got a 129 on CARS, is a 506. This translates roughly to a 29 on the old MCAT, with the biology section being equivalent to a 7. Would this score screen me out of the scholarship?
 
Link0358 said:
Hey all, I got my June MCAT percentiles back and it is looking like I got a 124Biology/Biochem, 126P/C, 127 Psych/Soc, and 129-132 CARS. Which, assuming I got a 129 on CARS, is a 506. This translates roughly to a 29 on the old MCAT, with the biology section being equivalent to a 7. Would this score screen me out of the scholarship?
Click to expand...

Just go for it but get that bio section up. Unlike medical school admissions that love to lighten up your wallet applying for HPSP will not cost you anything except for some time. Your primary focus should be getting into medical school.

Btw, those numbers you gave us are not percentiles but scores from the MCAT itself. To old timers like me those numbers are meaningless haha. However if you said something along the lines of "I am in the 70th percentile overall and 45th percentile for biology" then everyone will understand exactly where you stand.
 
Red Lobster Actual said:
Just go for it but get that bio section up. Unlike medical school admissions that love to lighten up your wallet applying for HPSP will not cost you anything except for some time. Your primary focus should be getting into medical school.

Btw, those numbers you gave us are not percentiles but scores from the MCAT itself. To old timers like me those numbers are meaningless haha. However if you said something along the lines of "I am in the 70th percentile overall and 45th percentile for biology" then everyone will understand exactly where you stand.
Click to expand...

Thanks Red Lobster Actual. Would you suggest I retake it or go with the score I have? I am fairly confident I will be able to get into a DO school, but my main concern would be getting into a medical school while not getting the scholarship. I have a 3.73 sci/3.72 overall if that helps.
 
Link0358 said:
Thanks Red Lobster Actual. Would you suggest I retake it or go with the score I have? I am fairly confident I will be able to get into a DO school, but my main concern would be getting into a medical school while not getting the scholarship. I have a 3.73 sci/3.72 overall if that helps.
Click to expand...

Hmm...at this point talk with a recruiter and see what their cut offs are exactly and go from there. Good luck dude.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
HPSP Surgical Specialties
Replies
0
Views
859
s432000
S
I
Question regarding Navy HPSP
Replies
2
Views
706
sergeant_usarmy_medical
sergeant_usarmy_medical
sergeant_usarmy_medical
Any Major Differences in Army, Navy, AF HPSP?
Replies
6
Views
776
MDMechEngr
MDMechEngr
T
  • Question Question
All Branch Topic (ABT) HPSP security clearance (Adverse Credit)
Replies
7
Views
2K
afteranesthesia
A
manojoblanco!
HPSP Preliminary accreditation
Replies
1
Views
2K
comp1
C
Top Bottom