joining the service out of high school

[Baylor91Bound]

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I graduate from high school this May, and my parents have recently talked to me about joining the Air Force as a way to pay for my education and "see the world". As I stand, this sounds like a good thing to do; however, I'm very ignorant as to what joining any service to become a Doc would entail. One thing I want to be sure of is that I will be able to go to a four year university then on to med school then a residency without any complications of being shipped away before being qualified to practice. Is that an unrealistic thought for the service?

I really need helpful advice. I'm going to talk to a recruiter sometime this week, but I know they'll only feed me pros and maybe give me false hope for what I want.

 

[dwb8p]

I graduate from high school this May, and my parents have recently talked to me about joining the Air Force as a way to pay for my education and "see the world". As I stand, this sounds like a good thing to do; however, I'm very ignorant as to what joining any service to become a Doc would entail. One thing I want to be sure of is that I will be able to go to a four year university then on to med school then a residency without any complications of being shipped away before being qualified to practice. Is that an unrealistic thought for the service?

I really need helpful advice. I'm going to talk to a recruiter sometime this week, but I know they'll only feed me pros and maybe give me false hope for what I want.

I assume you're talking about doing Air Force ROTC to pay for college before attending medical school. There have been several threads exploring this topic; do a search.

In short, most people would agree that doing ROTC is an unwise decision. Although it may be a strong extracurricular activity, the negatives outweigh the positives: 1) It will take up much of your time; 2) It won't help you very significantly to get into medical school; 3) You are not guaranteed to get an education-delay to attend medical school after you graduate college; 4) It will lock you into military medicine far before you are ready to consciously make that choice; 5) It is not financially worth it in the long run.

FYI: I am in Army ROTC and will be attending medical school next year.

 

[del Sol DOHC]

I really need helpful advice. I'm going to talk to a recruiter sometime this week, but I know they'll only feed me pros and maybe give me false hope for what I want.

If you enlist into the Air Force straight out of high school, you will be working full time (often with strange hours) with very little time to take college classes. Though your recruiter will probably tell you otherwise, you definitely will not have time to be a full time student, and it is very unlikely that you will even have time to take 2 classes/semester. At that rate, you will never graduate college in four years unless you do your degree online, and you can kiss your medical school dreams goodbye if you have an online degree. In addition, you will have nothing protecting you from deployment, putting you further behind in your studies.

How do I know all this? I joined the Air Force straight out of high school with the same dreams of becoming a doctor. 4 years later, all my friends had their bachelors, and I was just starting on mine. It kinda sucked, but I would probably do the same thing if I had a chance to do it all over. I do love the military, and it was the best decision I ever made, but it is not for everyone.

If you don't mind putting your education on the backburner for awhile, join and get some money for college. There are other options, such as ROTC, which would pay for your college and allow you to be a full time student protected from deployment. However, you are not guaranteed that you will be allowed to go to medical school before having to pay back your ROTC obligation.

You could also wait until medical school to join and have them pay for that, but I would not want to be an active duty physician. Military medicine is just too ****ed up right now. Look into the National Guard/Reserve forces. I love part-time service way more than active duty because it is just a better balance of military and non-military life.

 

[Perrotfish]

I graduate from high school this May, and my parents have recently talked to me about joining the Air Force as a way to pay for my education and "see the world". As I stand, this sounds like a good thing to do; however, I'm very ignorant as to what joining any service to become a Doc would entail. One thing I want to be sure of is that I will be able to go to a four year university then on to med school then a residency without any complications of being shipped away before being qualified to practice. Is that an unrealistic thought for the service?

I really need helpful advice. I'm going to talk to a recruiter sometime this week, but I know they'll only feed me pros and maybe give me false hope for what I want.

This was disscused in THIS thread, read it through.

Your options at this point:

1) Join the military by enlisting right now. This option involves 4 years of active duty service (or active reserve service, which ammounts to the same thing these days). During that time you won't be going to college, though you might be able to knock out a year or two worth of classes by doing prereqs online. At the end of your service you'll have the full GI bill to pay your way through either college or medical school as you choose. Some people that do this see it as a positive experience, some not so much. \

2) Go to school on an ROTC scholarship. This will pay for your college education and they won't be able to deploy you until you're at least done with college. This is a TERRIBLE IDEA if your goal is to go to medical school. Basically you will be giving 4 years of a very valuble commitment for virtually no money. More info on that option in that thread I linked.

3) Wait until you have a medical school acceptance in hand. Join using the HPSP scholarship. This is, financially, the best way for someone aspiring to be a doc to join the military. The pros and cons of that decision are all over this forum

 

[pokerslut]

I graduate from high school this May, and my parents have recently talked to me about joining the Air Force as a way to pay for my education and "see the world". As I stand, this sounds like a good thing to do; however, I'm very ignorant as to what joining any service to become a Doc would entail. One thing I want to be sure of is that I will be able to go to a four year university then on to med school then a residency without any complications of being shipped away before being qualified to practice. Is that an unrealistic thought for the service?

I really need helpful advice. I'm going to talk to a recruiter sometime this week, but I know they'll only feed me pros and maybe give me false hope for what I want.

Just wanted to put my 2 cents in. Can't write too much right now, but here are some random thoughts from someone who joined the Army at 17 y/o right out of high school in May 1995-- and currently studying for STEP I, attending a Carribean medical school.

Definetly get a medical job

Study for the ASVAB to increase your chances of qualifying for a medical job

The New GI Bill is a great deal and will allow you not to work during college which will allow you to do well to get into medical school.

Try and do at least 3 years enlisted to qualify for the new GI Bill

It really will separate you from the others when applying to college and medical school.

The three years in the military will go by SOOO fast

Try and do one years worth of classes online using Tuition Assistance. classes like english, philosphy, etc. Don't do you science classes online; not sure if that is possible but wanted to put that out there.

Some good jobs are 91 Delta = operating room technician ( i think about 10 weeks + 10 weeks clinical hospital.)

91 Kili is medical laboratory technician-- but the training is over a year long.


drop a line if you have any questions whatsoever.