Air Force Looking for advice concerning commitments

[invinciblewalnut]

I am currently a high school senior who is going to likely be offered an ROTC scholarship to help pay for my undergrad tuition. I also want to become a Radiologist, and I have been looking into one of the medical programs the air force has to offer, but what I've found is that any service commitments stack rather than combine. It's not that I want to get my education paid for and then get out of service ASAP, I love my country and would serve her regardless of my career goals, but that I have a strong desire to also start a family younger. Seeing that if I get my undergrad at 22, go through medical school (~4yrs) + residency (2-4yrs) + ROTC commitment (min 4yrs) + whatever medical commitment (8yrs) it'll be 18-20 years before I'm officially out, and I don't particularly want to have to wait until I'm at least 40 to start a family... Any advice on what I should do/pursue?

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[deleted480308]

Don't take rotc money if you want to be a doctor

 

[SirGecko]

I am currently a high school senior who is going to likely be offered an ROTC scholarship to help pay for my undergrad tuition. I also want to become a Radiologist, and I have been looking into one of the medical programs the air force has to offer, but what I've found is that any service commitments stack rather than combine. It's not that I want to get my education paid for and then get out of service ASAP, I love my country and would serve her regardless of my career goals, but that I have a strong desire to also start a family younger. Seeing that if I get my undergrad at 22, go through medical school (~4yrs) + residency (2-4yrs) + ROTC commitment (min 4yrs) + whatever medical commitment (8yrs) it'll be 18-20 years before I'm officially out, and I don't particularly want to have to wait until I'm at least 40 to start a family... Any advice on what I should do/pursue?

If you already know that your goal is 100% to be a radiologist do not do ROTC. There are other options to get money for school for undergrad. Don't do ROTC with the goal of medical corps. People do ROTC and get into the medical corps from it (I did) but this is not the normal path and there are many many potential roadblocks in your way. If you want to do medical corps find some other way to pay for undergrad and then consider HPSP or USUHS when the time comes to apply to medical school.

Edit: Btw people start families in medical school and residency. You don't need to wait till you are an attending to start a family if that is a priority for you. That doesn't change my advice about doing ROTC if you are not OK with being a line officer. ROTC is not a program that is set up to produce medical corps officers.

 

[colbgw02]

Reiterated for emphasis: do not do ROTC if your goal is to be a physician.

If it fits your personality and is available (in-state), attend a cheap, public university where you can pay for it relatively easily with scholarships, loans, work-study, parents, etc. Concentrate on doing everthing you need to get into medical school.

Also, try to educate yourself during that time on what it means to be a physician in the military. If possible, reach out to recently separated or current active duty military physicians to hear what they have to say. Avoid going through recruiters to get this information. Read this board extensively.

 

[SirGecko]

One other point: it is tempting sometimes for prospective students to look at ROTC or HPSP as "free money". Always remember that any of these scholarships is really just another way of taking out a loan. Instead of paying for the loan with actual money you pay for it with the loss of a degree of freedom and often the opertunity cost of some amount of future earnings. Depending on your personal situation you may come out financially ahead of where you would have been or behind, I can't really say. So many things could change between now and when you would theoretically be a radiologist that it is hard to make predictions on that. The real thing you are trading though is freedom and you need to make sure you understand that before trying to go down this road. At some point most people in the military have to compromise on something big due to their commitment to the military. That could be the timing of when to start a family, whether you are living with your family for potentially years at a time, if you even go to medical school, what specialty you go in to and how you structure your practice, etc. If your answer to what would I do if I don't go to medical school is not "military officer" do not join ROTC.