i recieved and accepted the navy 4 year scholarship. reasoning behind navy and not army is there are less places to be stationed, (Bremerton, WA- Norfolk VA - pearl harbor - puerto rico- iceland- okinawa-san diego) or ship duty. you cannot apply for a 4 year scholarship after school and hope the military will pay off your student debt. you can join up anytime during or after school, they will pay the remaining years on your doctorate tuition, but with a minimum 3 year commitment. they make it simple but difficult decision, decide sooner and save $$. a lot of students join up after their 1st year, and consequently incur 1 year debt, and the 1st year is the most expensive. the biggest reason i accepted is that when you add it all up, tuition, stipend during school, and officer pay during your 4 year commitment, it adds up to a little under 1/2 million if you attend a $200K school. If you're only looking at financial, just consider your schools tuition, some schools are waaay cheaper than others and military doesnt make much financial sense.
there are other factors to consider:
-you have 4 years of practice to get your speed up where no one can file malpractice suits, and you get to work with several specialists in house. most navy clinics have at least 1 endo and 1 OS.
-but the caveat is that you have to want to, and be able to tolorate, being in a military organization, that means inept people, inefficiency, being ordered to do amalgam crowns etc etc.
- you may get to kill wayward arabs
-they do own you and will send you where you're needed, I want to go to pearl harbor or puerto rico, maybe san diego, but i may end up in F#$%ing virginia
-wayward arabs may bomb your car and drag your corpse through their dirt streets since they can't afford asphalt because theyre so poor and stupid. praise be to allah, jihad, jihad
one way or the other you're gonna get the debt paid back, I just dont want to f$^& with it during or after school, i hate owing people $$
Tom