HPSP or USUHS

[DrPsychiatry]

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why?
What are the pros and cons of each? Thank you for your inputs

 

[DiveMD]

Do a search in this forum...

 

[R-Me-Doc]

Why?

HPSP: Because you want to be in the military

USUHS: Because you want to be in the military for longer.

Any other reason, fuhgeddaboutit!

X-RMD

 

[The White Coat Investor]

Do a search in this forum...

Screw the search. Go here:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=277317

Start at thread #1, read it. Proceed to thread #2, read it. Proceed to thread #3, read it. If, having done that, you still don't have an answer to your question, come back here and I'll answer your question personally with as much typing as it takes.

 

[sethco]

Why?

HPSP: Because you want to be in the military

USUHS: Because you want to be in the military for longer.

Any other reason, fuhgeddaboutit!

X-RMD

Yeah, that about sums it up.

 

[FizbanZymogen]

Why?

HPSP: Because you want to be in the military

USUHS: Because you want to be in the military for longer.

Any other reason, fuhgeddaboutit!

X-RMD

I will add......

HPSP: want to be in the military and save a little on med school debt. (owe 4 years after residency) and get to wear civilians during med school.

USUHS: Want to be in the military and get paid to earn an M.D. (owe 7 after residency) USUHS can also give a small advantage when you apply for residency in the military GME program as you will have rotated through many of your services programs as opposed to the HPSP people. Have to wear uniforms to med school.

 

[Trajan]

HPSP: Intern year + 4 years GMO/FS/DMO -> freedom in 5 years and hopefully some good life and medical experiences

USUHS: Intern year + 2-3 years GMO/FS/DMO + 2-4 years Residency + 4-5 years payback = ~12 years (more if you get suckered into fellowhip). You really can't/shouldn't be a GMO for 7 years.

USUHS is a huge commitment. Unless you have been in the Navy and understand what you are getting into, avoid it. If you honestly want a career in the military, meaning you have prior service (not you talked to a recruiter), it's a fine choice.

 

[IgD]

USUHS can also give a small advantage when you apply for residency in the military GME program as you will have rotated through many of your services programs as opposed to the HPSP people. Have to wear uniforms to med school.

That's a popular myth among USUHS students and unfortunately not true.

Have you seen the selection board scoring sheet?

 

[FizbanZymogen]

That's a popular myth among USUHS students and unfortunately not true.

Have you seen the selection board scoring sheet?

Not true. The myth is that simply being a USUHS student gives you an edge (because it's the "Military" med school). The reality that I have been told by a few program directors at Madigan is "showing" your face to a program by doing a rotation there and performing well during that rotation goes a LONG way. The Rads director at Ft. Sam told me if you don't rotate there they won't even consider you. This is the edge that I am talking about.

 

[Gastrapathy]

Not true. The myth is that simply being a USUHS student gives you an edge (because it's the "Military" med school). The reality that I have been told by a few program directors at Madigan is "showing" your face to a program by doing a rotation there and performing well during that rotation goes a LONG way. The Rads director at Ft. Sam told me if you don't rotate there they won't even consider you. This is the edge that I am talking about.

I do think the exposure factor plays a role. USU studs can spend big parts of both 3rd and 4th year auditioning for the programs they like.

USU studs have to match somewhere in something. Guess this is kinda an advantage too.

 

[Med_Leviathan]

But HPSP people can do military rotations in Year 4, can't they?

 

[NavyFP]

But HPSP people can do military rotations in Year 4, can't they?

Absolutely, and you are encouraged to do so. Just get it done prior to early November.

 

[dikoerastenie]

HPSP: Intern year + 4 years GMO/FS/DMO -> freedom in 5 years and hopefully some good life and medical experiences

USUHS: Intern year + 2-3 years GMO/FS/DMO + 2-4 years Residency + 4-5 years payback = ~12 years (more if you get suckered into fellowhip). You really can't/shouldn't be a GMO for 7 years.

USUHS is a huge commitment. Unless you have been in the Navy and understand what you are getting into, avoid it. If you honestly want a career in the military, meaning you have prior service (not you talked to a recruiter), it's a fine choice.

How realistic is it to do 1+4 years FS in the navy and then match civilian ortho as pgy-1? I know that as a civilian just having good board scores is not enough, you also need some connections/research/etc. Would being a GMO make up for those soft factors, could you just chill those 5yrs and enjoy the military, or would you have to get that research or schmoozing as your 2nd job??

How about if you do match ortho after those 5yrs, would it be normal to go back to making $40k/yr and being so old or do most people see it as a great 10yrs before becoming an attending and settling down?

And also what about those 4th year rotations? I found that usuhs students can do rotations in spain(family medicine) and germany(dermatology and general surgery) and they can even do an 8wk tropical medicine elective in south america and they can get 4weeks of skiing in california "cold weather training" and also diving. I understand some of those are "unfunded". But how many electives in the military can hpsp students get even if unfunded? Like could you spend several months of your 4th year in military hospitals if your civilian school allows you? How hard is it to get those cold weather training and diving courses in california?

And another question i have is about money. HPSP is 25k/yr and usuhs is 50k/yr. I know 50k/yr makes you middle class. But I want to know if you could live like a middle class person on 25k/yr or you eat noodle soup?? Could I potentially spend 2weeks every year on a luxury vacation or just cant afford it on 25k/yr?

 

[former military]

I used to help make decisions on accepting residents to our program and for our specific military residency specialty being USHUS meant absolutely nothing good or bad. These are the things that mattered
1) Good grades
2) Good board scores
3) Good recommendations/letters
4) Coming to our program and rotating
5) coming to our program and not making people hate you
6) coming to our program and being eager and diligent about our specialty
specifically appearing hard working, trustworthy, likeable, and convinced you wanted to go into our specialty.
7) doing research
8) letting the chairman and staff know that you wanted to come to our program as your preferred specialty, your second choice would be to train civilian in our specialty and not saying you would do another military residency just to be in the military or make more money as a residency
9) time in the field as a GMO or flight surgeon helped somewhat but couldn't take the place of the other 8 and we didn't want to take anyone they never met. Even coming for a week helped getting to know you.
10) we didn't take people from ushus just because the AF was going to own them for a longer time... though I realize that may be a factor for some programs.

5,6, and 8 were the most important.

Our smartest guy was ushus and this is what he told me about the school.
"all medical schools have very smart, gifted students at the top, and idiots at the bottom that people wondered how they got in. The top tier at ushus is as good as any school's top tier and the bottom of any med school class isn't going to be competitive at selective residency slots anywhere. USHUS doesn't have as good of a middle population". I don't know if this is true and is not meant to be offensive but I believed it.

I wasn't the most stellar applicant in terms of GPA or class rank but I rotated for 2 months, did research with the military staff, hung out with the residents, read my a** off about the specialty before I came. I was enthusiastic about wanting to go there. There were only two slots available in the AF and I got one of them based on what I described.

My take.