Life After Nhsc In Med Shool

[roady]

---

Members don't see this ad.

HEY everybody who has posted: this is OUTSTANDING STUFF--has helped me more times and in more ways than I could say to think through things and to be "in the loop". Sincerely, thanks.

Now, I wanted to throw out 2 questions if anyone could help:

1)How much does the monthly stipend really come to per month after taxes? I heard a low number--something like below $800 of the $1100 after taxes..Anyone receiving please help!

2)Do you know what you can expect to make at your site BEFORE you choose, and is that match process competitive, or simply first come, first serve for securing a position? Again, heresay is you make 60K-100K at sites where you fulfill your obligation.

Thanks for helping my financial planning..I'll probably send a shot out to all the knowers on SDN when I look into buying a house later this summer.

THANX a TON AGAIN!!

 

[PACtoDOC]

Just so that you understand the tax thing. If the NHSC money is all you make all year, you are going to get most of it back anyway because of your standard deduction on your 1040. So don't sweat the tax part of it. Just claim as many exemptions as they will allow you, which for me is 4 due to wife and kids. I still work on top of that and my annual salary will be about 18K including NHSC. But with the kids and wife, I will still end up getting a huge refund above and beyond what I paid because of my earned income credit.

And to help you understand the pay better, I have called many a site recently to inquire what I would be making as an FP today if I were to apply. The range is between 105-125 for the places I have called. I have called Georgia, Chicago, Kentucky, Oregon, and others. You are entitled to average salary for FP's in that area. It is basically illegal for them to use the NHSC requirement against you and force you to work for less. Some places simply offer less because they are federal jobs, but the benefits there are the best anywhere. If you took a federal job, you would get lots of extra money for relocation, physician extra pay, and all the cafeteria style benefits the military gets to include all your health, malpractice, 5 weeks off, etc.... It all works out in the end. As a new FP, your salary is going to be standardized for the most part nationwide. Most start out at roughly 120k. Even at the payback sites, the object is to get you to stay when you are done, so you will be eligible to share the profits of what you are earning at some point. I know some sites that routinely keep their scholars, and many of the scholars go on to take part in the loan repayment for 3 years after they do their payback. So not only do they get the scholarship, but they use the subsequent years to stay there and pay off any loans they may have accrued. It is a great deal. If more people would look at it from the viewpoint of staying in some of these areas, the system would be much more successful.

And oh, by the way, I think it is really not appropriate for people to post their interview questions, because it is only going to give others the ability to prepare better. Why would you want to help someone prepare for something that they are competing against you for? You must be out of your mind or something.

 

[neurobiology]

PACtoDoc,

Thanks for all of the information that you have posted. It has been very helpful.

I wanted to address the last part of your post:

"And oh, by the way, I think it is really not appropriate for people to post their interview questions, because it is only going to give others the ability to prepare better. Why would you want to help someone prepare for something that they are competing against you for? You must be out of your mind or something."

When I was gettting ready for my interview for the NHSC, I did a search in the SDN website and found quite a few people that had been willing to share the questions that they had been asked during their interviews. It really helped me prepare quite a bit and I was more than willing to share those search results with everyone else because I believe that we need to look beyond ourselves and help those around us. What I have really hated is when people will hoard useful information from others because they are more concerned about helping themselves than they are in helping other people (including themselves).

PACtoDOC, I want you to know that I am not trying to "berate" you, I just wanted you to understand where I was coming from in listing questions that the NHSC asks. Do I always (from my perspective) do the "right thing"? NO. But I try to the best of my abilities with God's help.

Neurobiology

😀

 

[PACtoDOC]

Neuro,
When you have a friend who is taking a makeup exam, do you help them study and prepare or do you give them the questions as you remember them. There is a big difference. The NHSC is a governmental entity, and being such, they keep things pretty simple. This means that they inherently use the same questions all across the nation in a given year. So whoever reads the posts simply has to go back and prepare for those particular questions. Now who does that help? This isn't about not helping each other, it is in essence about not cheating. There are better ways to "look past" one's self than to merely give people the questions. Its simply unethical, and foolish besides.

 

[LukeWhite]

I'm not sure the analogy holds up so well. Test questions are generally built around answers that are demonstrably correct, while interview questions don't necessarily require a set answer. While the NHSC interviews are obviously looking for a certain type of answer, I'm not sure that the acceptable answers are so stock that sharing questions is like giving away the answer.

I'd say a better analogy is med school interviews, and EVERYONE knows more or less what type of questions will be asked, and which answers are preferred by the interviewers. It gives people time to prepare articulate positions on things they've already presumably thought about, and I can't imagine that anyone would frown too much on that.

 

[neurobiology]

PACtoDOC,

I concur with the analogy that Luckalfredwhite brought up. Test questions have a definite answer. On the other hand, the questions that the NHSC asks will be answered differently because everyone's experiences and background is different. My volunteer and work history, my leadership potential, and my motivations to serve the underserved, for example, are different than most of the other candidates.

When I was applying for med school, I really appreciated everyone's willingness to fill out the feedback form on the old Interviewfeedback.com (that is now becoming a part of the SDN website). To me, this was not "cheating" or "giving the answers" because, again, everyone's answers will be different for their strengths and weaknesses, etc.

PACtoDOC, I'm sorry that you and I disagree. I feel like you and I have a lot in common because I am also married and have kids, and I'm also interested in family medicine (which I think you are too). I hope that you understand my point of view on this matter. I respect your opinion. I hope that we can agree to disagree.

Respectfully,

Mark

 

[PACtoDOC]

I respect your opinion also Mark. I just think that if you give people the questions, you might give them time to literally fabricate a script that they would not have been able to fabricate had they had to answer the questions unexpectedly. I think it is okay to give general topics, but specific questions makes it too easy to make a script. If you knew your exact questions that you would be asked at a deposition, you would be able to prepare as to how to answer them. Thats why attorneys practice with their clients prior to going to court. It takes away from the credibility of the answer if you know the person had time to script an answer. Most of the questions in these interview are obvious, but others are less obvious.

 

[roady]

Hey PacToDoc and everybody,

Thanks for those phenomenal detailed answers. I was looking for just this sort of reply, PacToDoc! Outstanding!! I also guess since you are on your way to practicing at an underserved site as an NHSC scholar (congratulations!!!) and have obviously done some research on this, you might have some ideas for your future brewing. Any thoughts on where you would like to practice at this point?

I would really love to hear from any other recipients of NHSC scholarships out there to see how their experiences have panned out regarding my 2 questions:

1)How much does the monthly stipend really come to per month after taxes? I heard a low number--something like below $800 of the $1100 after taxes..Anyone receiving please help!

2)Do you know what you can expect to make at your site BEFORE you choose, and is that match process competitive, or simply first come, first serve for securing a position? Again, heresay is you make 60K-100K at sites where you fulfill your obligation.

THANX SO MUCH AGAIN!! 😎

 

[booshwa]

I have a question, which came to mind with the whole PACtoDoc debate...

Do you guys think that the scholarship is more of a competition between other applicants or more of a personal qualification thing?

With 1000 people interviewing, it seems hard to rank the top 300 or so who will recieve the scholarship, especially if the judges haven't conducted every interview. I tend to think of the interview as more of a process of determining whether or not a person is "worthy" of the scholarship. It seems as if the people interviewing are looking for certain qualifications that may become evident through the interview, or perhaps they are looking for things which they might find incompatible with their target scholarship recipient.