First off, I will tell you a little about myself. I am a pre-dental student applying to dental school this year. My GPA is 3.89 and my DAT is 21AA/20TS/19PAT. I am from a rural area in northwestern Wisconsin, an area that is underserved for dental care in almost all parts of it. I hope to attend Marquette next year for dental school and plan on coming out of school with $250k-$300k in debt. (including hefty undergrad loans) I have no idea how hard the NHSC is to get but do my stats make me competitive?
One thing that may turn some people off from the NHSC scholarship is having to live in an area that qualifies. I realize many of these are small, rural areas and being from a rural area myself, I would have no problem returning to one to practice. A family member of mine owns a practice in an area that I'm pretty sure qualifies as a HPSA. Would I be crazy not to try and get the NHSC scholarship and then try working at his practice? Even if I couldn't work at his practice, I would be fine returning to northwestern Wisconsin where there are many clinics that would fit the requirements.
Also, if I were to apply for a 4 year scholarship I would do that the summer before I start dental school correct?
Thanks for your time, if I have any more questions I'll be sure to post them.
DAT/GPA have NOTHING to do with receiving the scholarship. If you're accepted to dental school it helps if you...
1.) Come from a disadvantaged background - there are many factors that are qualifiers, look at the links below!
2.) Your parent's taxes reflect an "Exceptional Financial Need," (EFN) - your parents' income is below the poverty threshold (established by the federal government)
3.) Are of an ethnic group that's severely under-represented (i.e., African-American, American Indian)
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Ok, so this confuses a lot of people. They actually have two different programs from what I can tell:
A) NHSC Scholarship
B) NHSC Loan Repayment
I'll try to explain them both to the best of my ability-
NHSC Scholarship-
-you apply
BEFORE (or during) dental school (serve a year for a year)
-Application portal is closed already for the 2011-2012 school year (as of June 9th)
-you serve a year in a VERY high needs area for every year of expenses they cover
-it covers full tuition, living expenses (~$1,300/mo), clinical/lab fees, student health insurance, and everything you need basically
-the nice thing about this is that you incur no debt whatsoever whilst going through DS, they pay for everything
-most people that get accepted to this one serve in a prison, on an Indian reservation, etc..
-the only downfall of this is that you will not have as much "say so" in where you go to serve as the Loan Repayment recipients have (HPSA scores)
-Very hard/competitive to get - they only award about 20/year max for dentists - so if you're of a very underrepresented minority group (i.e. American Indian, African-American) you have a lot better chance. Also, the lower your parents' income...the better your chances.
-Sites must have to have HPSA score of 19+ for a scholar to qualify
-Chances are better if your parents have a low income on this one, and chances are also increased if you're of an ethnic minority group, i.e., African-American or American Indian
-There aren't very many of these, I think they awarded 10 to DDS/DMD nationwide last year, it's supposed to double this year...but still that isn't a lot.
NHSC Loan Repayment
-apply for this
AFTER dental school (or your last quarter), go on interviews to different HPSA "sites"
-30k/yr for the first two years, 40k/yr for 3rd and 4th years, 30k for 5th and 6th years, anything left after you do 6+ years (max of 200k balance) will be wiped out
-good things about this one
a) you get more of a say in where you go -you can go somewhere where the needs aren't so severe..i.e., it may get you closer to where you want to be
b) if you ever wanted to specialize, it doesn't tie you down before dental school like the "NHSC Scholarship" program does. If you sign up for the NHSC Scholarship and are accepted, you MUST go straight out of DS to serve. They will grant you deferment (but will not pay for it) for Pedo or GPR residencies.
-Sites for Loan Repayment recipients qualify with a HPSA score of 12+ (if it's still the same as last year)
-A little less competitive from what I can tell, for obvious reasons...but nonetheless, a GREAT deal. Gives you time to get your speed/quality of work up before pursuing private practice, or whatever your end goal may be.
-Chances aren't hindered if you're not a minority and your parents' income seems to have nothing to do with being admitted to the NHSC LR program.
-Need people as fast as they can get them, not nearly as competitive as the NHSC Scholarship program
You get paid a decent amount. The lowest I've ever seen them pay is 90k for a student 1st year out of school, which isn't bad AT ALL for having NO debt! Hope this helps, if you need anymore info...I can try to help you as best I can. I'm leaving you a website(s) to browse around on and look at, it explains everything much better than I have above.
http://nhsc.hrsa.gov/ - for info pertaining to NHSC Scholarship/Loan Repayment
http://nhscjobs.hrsa.gov/Search_HPOL.aspx - look at jobs that are currently available
http://nhsc.hrsa.gov/NHSCIHSfactsheet.pdf - look at the differences in NHSC programs and IHS (Indian Health Service) incentives
