As a program, I think HPSP is improving. All things considered, it is a good option for those who want to be in the military. Not so good for those who just want the money. My primary complaint is students don't enter the program with realistic expectations. (some do, many don't.) I believe full disclosure is important, but it is a complex system and there are very few who completely understand it.
About 75% of all docs in the Navy entered via HPSP.
ADMD - what is it about the match you don't like? Is it the lack of deferments? Is it the interuption in training? Just curious.
1) No one explains to you how it works. Every MD student in the country understands the regular match long before it matters.
2) You are forced to rank all the programs in your desired specialty.
3) The system is set up to favor the programs, not the applicants, unlike the regular match. i.e. the program directors get to pick their residents and just fight it out with the other ones for which ones go where.
4) Not enough choices of programs. Most services/specialties give you fewer than 4 choices, then the military brags about how most people get "one of their top 3." Come on, give me a break.
5) Too much emphasis on research and prior service. A mediocre returning GMO is somehow equated with an exceptional MSIV.
6) You can match into a program you never interviewed at.
7) Too many specialties are far more competitive in the military match than in the civilian match. There are a few less competitive (derm etc) but for those who want to do EM (94% civilian, <50% military, 0% some years for Navy med students) or similar, you can really get screwed over.
8) A delay in training is very unfair unless it is something the med student wants. First you're stuck practicing a specialty you're not interested in. Then, unless you want to take a huge pay cut at the same time your classmates are finally getting attending pay, you have to do a military residency, for which you will then owe MORE time. If the military wants to blow the 4 years you owe using you as a GMO then train you, then release you, fine. But to allow some people to pay their school commitment at the same time as their residency commitment, but make them additive for those they screw over....that's just wrong.
9) Quality of GME very poor for some specialties, especially those who do trauma/critical care, but also some things like derm. For instance, the SAUSHEC derm program has something like 7 residents a year (I don't know the exact numbers) so the good pathology is spread out among a lot of residents. Similar programs in the same town are much smaller, so the residents get to see all the weird stuff. Even the specialties that have decent GME, very few military residencies are considered "top ten" or "top 20" in their specialty. With faculty getting deployed, inexperienced faculty, a crazy focus on teaching to the test, and low acuity, it is tough to have a good residency.
10) Poor communication between the military and the students while they're in the program. Too much hassle getting paid and reimbursed. Too much hassle lining up ADTs. Nearly impossible to get questions about the program answered before or after signing on the bottom line. I had to come to SDN to get my questions answered about the program. That's just pathetic.
Nobody is denying HPSP is improving (although I suppose we could argue about that) but there is no doubt it could be MUCH, MUCH better. If the program was really that great, those who are in it would be the best (informal) recruiters. Yet in my experience, the only recruiters are enlisted guys who often haven't even worked in health care or been to college. Few of my colleagues would recommend the program even for prior service applicants.
