I am currently a senior in high school and I am considering doing ROTC but I am trying to figure out if that is the right fit for me. I want to be a military doctor and a neonatologist. I am just not sure there is much room for this in the military. I have heard that if I go the ROTC route I wouldn't be able to choose my medical specialty so the likelihood of being a neonatologist is very slim. I feel like I have to choose between these two dreams: become a military doctor, but not be a neonatologist OR be a neonatologist, but not in the military.
Am I right about this?
Are there options outside of ROTC that would guarantee I would earn my degree in neonatology but still allow me to be a military doctor?
I guess I am just sort of confused about it all and need some advice.
(Also, I'm new here so I apologize if I am doing something wrong.)
1) Do not joint ROTC if you want to be a physician (even a military physician). If you wish to be a military physician, complete college as a civilian and then join the military by taking a military scholarship to medical school, or by going to the military medical school, or by taking a military scholarship during residency, or by joining once you're a fully trained physician. ROTC is designed to produce war fighting officers. You may not be allowed to go to medical school. The time requirements of ROTC may hurt your grades and keep you from going to medical school. On the off chance you do go to medical school you will be forced to accept a length of commitment that is far, far to long for an organization you've never worked with (you'll be trapped until you're almost 40). And even if you get to go to medical school, have good enough grades to go, and enjoy your never ending commitment ROTC will STILL be a bad decision because the military will pay you less than the doctors who waited until later to join.
2) One step at a time. Right now you're a premed. To turn into a medical student you're going to need to keep a minimum of a 3.5 (ideally), take a lot of bio classes, shadow, volunteer, kill a painful standardized test called the MCAT, and do at least a couple of things to make yourself interesting as a person (on paper, anyway). That's jsut to apply to medical school. Then after 4 years of that you need to choose a residency: pediatrics, surgery, internal medicine, whatever. Then, if you choose Peds after 3 years of residency, you need another 3 years of fellowship to become a neonatologist. You're looking a LONG way down the road, which isn't always bad (especially when making life commitements like ROTC) but don't get so caught up in future problems you forget about the immediate premedical requirements.
3) Experiment: If you can manage it without screwing up your grades, college is supposed to be one of the best experiences of your life. And the trick to making it great without f-ing your grades is not to overcommit. Don't pile on boring, time sucking responsibilities. Also consider MANY careeers, and try out many of them. There may be a better fit for you. Military neonatology is a good dream (and is currently in my top 3 career choices as a military Pediatric resident) but at this point you don't have enough data to make an objective choice about the right career for you. You might be happier in finance, or law enforcement, or teaching, or engineering, or as a priest, or as a war fighting line officer. Be open to possibilities.
4) In case you still want it: If you get to medical school, and decide that you want to be in the military as a physician, and decide that Pediatrics was your favorite rotation, and decide that neonatology was your favorite rotation during residency, and aren't too burned out to apply after your residency and utilization tour, then yes: the military has a large and robust neonatology program. When you get that far you can read more about our residency selection process, but the major military hospitals all have large (30 bed) high acuity NICUs staffed by military neonatologists. Marines make many babies.
Don't join ROTC.
