Is mil med still for me?

[mybluedog]

Sometime ago I was considering HPSP, but bc of the possibility of specialty limitation+other reasons, I decided HPSP was out of the question for me.

I recently learned about the National Guard MDSSP and was hoping to ask fellow friends on here for advice.
-I've been reading a lot of the threads on here and I'm confused by the various advice. If I were to do 4 yrs of MDSSP, I will need to do drill for 8 years (2:1 payback ratio). (does that mean the 4 years of drill in medical school counts? so I'd be doing 4 yrs of drill during residency? OR I have to do 8 yrs of drill in addition to the 4 yrs of med school drill?) **I just contacted a local recruiter, so I can probably just get basic info like this from them**

-About deployments, I understand I am not deployable (basically useless) during med school and residency. Post-residency, what is deployment going to look like for me? Front-line doc? practice in a clinic/hospital overseas? What was your experience being deployed as a doc? (obvi this would vary by specialty)

-I did a navy military program in high school and we had "drills", so I might have an idea on what that is. What does that mean for me as a medical student when I am doing drills 1/month and 2wks/yr? What will be my responsibilities, what does an average day (8hrs?) look like? An online recruiter told I'd just do first aid in case anything happens during drill for other soldiers. That seems too good to be true lol. Do you feel COs are generally forgiving about your med school schedule? I'm afraid it might be too much commitment for me once I enter med school.

-Do I need to go through BCT? or any additional training?

-The NG MDSSP does not limit my specialty and location of practice, correct?

-Is this type of program only available through the National Guard? Is there anything similar with other branches?

-Besides the military experience, which I value, is there much of a difference between the NG MDSSP and going through a loan payment plan through a private institution (Kaiser, etc.)?

Thank you! hooyah

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[deleted480308]

Sometime ago I was considering HPSP, but bc of the possibility of specialty limitation+other reasons, I decided HPSP was out of the question for me.

I recently learned about the National Guard MDSSP and was hoping to ask fellow friends on here for advice.
-I've been reading a lot of the threads on here and I'm confused by the various advice. If I were to do 4 yrs of MDSSP, I will need to do drill for 8 years (2:1 payback ratio). (does that mean the 4 years of drill in medical school counts? so I'd be doing 4 yrs of drill during residency? OR I have to do 8 yrs of drill in addition to the 4 yrs of med school drill?) **I just contacted a local recruiter, so I can probably just get basic info like this from them**

-About deployments, I understand I am not deployable (basically useless) during med school and residency. Post-residency, what is deployment going to look like for me? Front-line doc? practice in a clinic/hospital overseas? What was your experience being deployed as a doc? (obvi this would vary by specialty)

-I did a navy military program in high school and we had "drills", so I might have an idea on what that is. What does that mean for me as a medical student when I am doing drills 1/month and 2wks/yr? What will be my responsibilities, what does an average day (8hrs?) look like? An online recruiter told I'd just do first aid in case anything happens during drill for other soldiers. That seems too good to be true lol. Do you feel COs are generally forgiving about your med school schedule? I'm afraid it might be too much commitment for me once I enter med school.

-Do I need to go through BCT? or any additional training?

-The NG MDSSP does not limit my specialty and location of practice, correct?

-Is this type of program only available through the National Guard? Is there anything similar with other branches?

-Besides the military experience, which I value, is there much of a difference between the NG MDSSP and going through a loan payment plan through a private institution (Kaiser, etc.)?

Thank you! hooyah

Mdssp exists in army and reserves. Both are allowed to have you “flex drill” or not show up every single month. Some commands let you turn in paperwork saying you studied instead of drill, some say show up or don’t get paid.

Your years of payback don’t start till after residency. So if you commission in august as mdssp, it will be at least 11yrs until you are out if you don’t take any incentive money during residency and you do a short residency.

No idea on deployment locations, you go where they say

The difference between the army and kaiser is that kaiser can’t put you in a cell for not showing and kaiser can’t send you to places that can get you killed as easily

You will be going to dcc and bolc, and they currently want you to do them during med school

No, they don’t interfere with your specialty selection