Military Medicine

[PhillyRA]

I am trying to decide between USUHS and an expensive private medical school. My main concern with USUHS is that I will be limiting my prospective residencies and career opportunities by entering military medicine. I am currently working as a research assistant for a oncologic surgeon and I want to become either a surgeon or Rad Oncologist. Any insight into the availability of residencies in the military would be appreciated.

Thanks.

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[RRGirl]

I am trying to decide between USUHS and an expensive private medical school. My main concern with USUHS is that I will be limiting my prospective residencies and career opportunities by entering military medicine. I am currently working as a research assistant for a oncologic surgeon and I want to become either a surgeon or Rad Oncologist. Any insight into the availability of residencies in the military would be appreciated.

Thanks.

I wanted to go to the Navy program and it took me a long time to get the truth out of them but I finally did. And chances for you to get into ANY residency after med school is about 10-20%. They just don't let people to go to residency even if you get matched there. And although there is Rad residency in the armed forces they will not let you to match in it right after school either. Instead you MUST apply into their internship and after that they more or less force you to do GMO duty. They do it so they can extend your time served with them. In addition I can bet they did not tell you that after you serve your 4 years with them you still owe them 4 more years as a reserve officer. My advise - go to the military medicine AFTER residency. This way you can get them to pay off your student loans and you will not delay or lose your chance to get into residency. PM me for any Qs.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Go to the private school. You'll save yourself a lot of frustration.

 

[beefballs]

I am trying to decide between USUHS and an expensive private medical school. My main concern with USUHS is that I will be limiting my prospective residencies and career opportunities by entering military medicine. I am currently working as a research assistant for a oncologic surgeon and I want to become either a surgeon or Rad Oncologist. Any insight into the availability of residencies in the military would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Hey after a lot of consideration I decided against USUHS for a variety of reasons ( I am pior enlisted) but the main one was that I want to be self determining with regards to my future career. If your heart is set on doing something specific you may get the opportunity or you may not depending on the needs of the military. Go to military medicine forum and check with those currently practicing in the service. I would get their advice, students of USUHS are still in the learning phase of things with regards to life in the service so take what they may say with a grain of salt.

Also the money side of things can be scary but we are talking about what you will be doing for thirty years, I don't think the cost of tuition should be the paramount reason to join/attend the military/schools

 

[deuist]

I wanted to go to the Navy program and it took me a long time to get the truth out of them but I finally did. And chances for you to get into ANY residency after med school is about 10-20%. They just don't let people to go to residency even if you get matched there. And although there is Rad residency in the armed forces they will not let you to match in it right after school either. Instead you MUST apply into their internship and after that they more or less force you to do GMO duty. They do it so they can extend your time served with them. In addition I can bet they did not tell you that after you serve your 4 years with them you still owe them 4 more years as a reserve officer. My advise - go to the military medicine AFTER residency. This way you can get them to pay off your student loans and you will not delay or lose your chance to get into residency. PM me for any Qs.

The Navy is notorious for using GMO's over other physicians. The Air Force, while still using some GMO's, is better about letting people specialize. Second, students who go to USUHS are guaranteed a military residency. Only the students under HPSP are the ones who have to apply to both the civilian and military match. If you have any additional questions, direct them to the military medicine board. You'll find several of previous and current physicians who are willing to share their insights.

 

[RRGirl]

The Navy is notorious for using GMO's over other physicians. The Air Force, while still using some GMO's, is better about letting people specialize. Second, students who go to USUHS are guaranteed a military residency. Only the students under HPSP are the ones who have to apply to both the civilian and military match. If you have any additional questions, direct them to the military medicine board. You'll find several of previous and current physicians who are willing to share their insights.

True, I was talking about HPSP, but even USUHS are not guaranteed a spot in residency w/o GMO first. All programs are competitive. The only difference b/w HPSP and USUHS is that USUHS do not incur additional active duty obligation if they go to the military residency. As far as match concerned you HAVE to apply into the military GME program and they match in DEcenber. If you are accepted you HAVE to go to their program even if it was not your first choice.

 

[quideam]

I was accepted at USUHS, and ultimately decided not to go. The primary reason was that i'm about 99% certain that I want to go into EM, and BOTH of my interviewers told me that the military is very restrictive in what they let you do, so I may not get a chance to do an EM residency at all. That just wasn't acceptable to me. I'd say go for the private school, do residency in what you like, and then do military if you're still interested.

 

[pgg]

Second, students who go to USUHS are guaranteed a military residency.

This is incorrect. USUHS grads are in fact guaranteed a slot as a military intern (PGY-1).

They are not guaranteed a slot as a resident - they need to apply along with all of the other interns for the residency (PGY-2+) that they want. If they are not selected, they are assigned duty as a GMO. At this point, they can either apply for residency training again, or serve our their obligation as a GMO and go for the civilian match.

I'm a USUHS grad (class of 2002), did a transitional internship 2002-2003, applied for but did not get anesthesia and ended up serving as a GMO with the Marines from 2003-2006. I applied again in 2005 for anesthesia and was selected, so I'll start my PGY-2 year this July.

The majority of Navy interns do not continue straight through from internship to residency; it's more common to do so in the Army or Air Force but not a sure thing by any stretch.

I saw several of my USUHS classmates on this year's Navy GME2+ seletion board result who were alternates. Going to USUHS does not guarantee you a residency position - the military can't force you into a specialty you don't want, but it can choose to employ you as a GMO if it fills its residency openings with people who are better qualified than you.

This is not to say that time spent as a GMO is all bad - I've enjoyed my tour with the Marines - just that anyone considering USUHS or HPSP should go in with their eyes wide open, understanding that there may be a break in their training that involves a trip to Iraq (or wherever).

 

[RRGirl]

This is incorrect. USUHS grads are in fact guaranteed a slot as a military intern (PGY-1).

They are not guaranteed a slot as a resident - they need to apply along with all of the other interns for the residency (PGY-2+) that they want. If they are not selected, they are assigned duty as a GMO. At this point, they can either apply for residency training again, or serve our their obligation as a GMO and go for the civilian match.

I'm a USUHS grad (class of 2002), did a transitional internship 2002-2003, applied for but did not get anesthesia and ended up serving as a GMO with the Marines from 2003-2006. I applied again in 2005 for anesthesia and was selected, so I'll start my PGY-2 year this July.

The majority of Navy interns do not continue straight through from internship to residency; it's more common to do so in the Army or Air Force but not a sure thing by any stretch.

I saw several of my USUHS classmates on this year's Navy GME2+ seletion board result who were alternates. Going to USUHS does not guarantee you a residency position - the military can't force you into a specialty you don't want, but it can choose to employ you as a GMO if it fills its residency openings with people who are better qualified than you.

This is not to say that time spent as a GMO is all bad - I've enjoyed my tour with the Marines - just that anyone considering USUHS or HPSP should go in with their eyes wide open, understanding that there may be a break in their training that involves a trip to Iraq (or wherever).

Yeah, and good luck finding civilian residency that will be willing to accept you 4 years after you finished medical school. So you more or less have no other choice but to go to military residency after GMO at which point you will get more active duty obligation. They do it just to get as much time out of their medical students as they can.

 

[usnavdoc]

Yeah, and good luck finding civilian residency that will be willing to accept you 4 years after you finished medical school. So you more or less have no other choice but to go to military residency after GMO at which point you will get more active duty obligation. They do it just to get as much time out of their medical students as they can.

I went HPSP at an allopathic school and had no problems getting into several(the eras/match rules dont apply to us) top anesthesiology programs starting in July 06. I have had several friends that got out after serving their commitment and ended up in programs of their choice. Including derm, rad, anesthesiology, ENT and a few other specialties.

I think the distinction is made when you apply to something like IM or gen surg more than when you apply to something that requires a transitional/prelim year. While I still don’t think there will be as much difficulty as you think, the programs may require you to repeat some or all of your internship. And rightly so in my opinion. After 4 years serving with the Marines treating illnesses better left to a PA, I would in no way be able to start as a PGY2 in the ICU.

That being said I would steer the op to the private school. Its better to have your choices not made for you. If at a later date you want to serve then do so as a specialist.

 

[swampthing]

Yeah, and good luck finding civilian residency that will be willing to accept you 4 years after you finished medical school. So you more or less have no other choice but to go to military residency after GMO at which point you will get more active duty obligation. They do it just to get as much time out of their medical students as they can.

I disagree. I graduated med school in 2002 and did a Navy internship and 3 year flight surgeon tour (aka flying GMO). Last year I applied to civilian Dermatology residency programs. I ended up with 14 INTERVIEWS (2 from Ivy League Schools), which is a lot of interviews in the competitive world of dermatology. Yes, I was a great student in med school, but people with similar stats got fewer interviews than me. I think my Navy experience got me a lot of these interviews. I was unique and this set me apart from the competition. During my interviews, many interviewers found my Navy experience fascinating and just wanted to talk about my "sea stories" and how it felt to fly in jets.

Conclusion: My Navy experience made me a stronger applicant for my civilian dermatology residency application.

 

[MoosePilot]

Be sure to check out the military medicine forum.