Military scholarships with low MCAT?

[furtherDOjr]

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I have a 3.6 GPA but scored a 25 on my MCAT. Does anyone know how tough it is to be selected for a military scholarship without having a 3.5 and 29, the suggested scores?

 

[DD214_DOC]

It depends on the branch. If you have already been accepted, it makes your chances much, much better.

 

[JMC_MarineCorps]

I have a 3.6 GPA but scored a 25 on my MCAT. Does anyone know how tough it is to be selected for a military scholarship without having a 3.5 and 29, the suggested scores?

Just apply and you get it. Its that simple.

 

[cooldreams]

Just apply and you get it. Its that simple.

u cant join the marines as a doc though, have to do it by proxy through the navy 🙁

i mighta joined otherwise... but lack of interest i suppose...

 

[Old_Mil]

I have a 3.6 GPA but scored a 25 on my MCAT. Does anyone know how tough it is to be selected for a military scholarship without having a 3.5 and 29, the suggested scores?

You have the 3.5 (3.6)...the 25 is close enough to where that shouldn't keep you out of it. I'd go ahead and apply and see what happens. You might want to try Army or Navy though insead of Air Force (they seem to be the most picky - about everything).

 

[buomyta]

I have a 3.6 GPA but scored a 25 on my MCAT. Does anyone know how tough it is to be selected for a military scholarship without having a 3.5 and 29, the suggested scores?

I think you have a great shot!! I shadowed 2 military docs (DOs) this past year and they had: 22 and 24.

My friend said his wife (who graduated from DMU) received a Navy scholarship with a 21 MCAT.

I think you should be fine. I just had my interview the other day. My interviewer asked me a lot about my goals/objectives (present and future) and about my volunteer activities.

The physical for females consisted of: hearing/vision test, blood draws/urine test, a bunch of exercises in our bra and panties (no thongs), complete head to toe physical, and a breast exam.

Good luck!

 

[cooldreams]

out of curiosity, why are you guys gunning for these scholarships from the military? you are basically giving the government the ok to call you up whenever they want. did you hear they are calling up some officers from the vietnam war. it was crazy, this 50 yr old lady was barely able to make it out of a tank. as an officer in the military, you are forever at their call. to me this is all reason enough not to do it.

so i ask, what is your motivation?? do you enjoy the military that much? some ppl do, and i can easily see that. 😕

also is it really that hard to get it?? i thought they are at a huge deficiency of docs in the military, and just a general lack of nearly every position.

 

[furtherDOjr]

I'm meeting with the recruiter this afternoon to go over the scholarship with him. Im not sure if I will do it, but I think it's wise to get all the information I can to make the best decision of how I will finance my medical eduaction. So it's not as much a burning desire to go military as it is a way to explore what options I have.

 

[DD214_DOC]

so i ask, what is your motivation?? do you enjoy the military that much? some ppl do, and i can easily see that. 😕

Someone's gotta do it.

 

[furtherDOjr]

Just got back from meeting the recruiter. When you hear all the financial aid stuff at interviews you always hear that if they pay for 4 years of school you owe 4 years, end of story. What I hadn't heard being discussed was residency and what that counts for. I asked and he said it counts as time incurred for future payback. If you do 4 years school, plus 3 year residency, you owe 7 years active service. I just thought that should be clarified when looking into this scholarship.

 

[kendall]

Just got back from meeting the recruiter. When you hear all the financial aid stuff at interviews you always hear that if they pay for 4 years of school you owe 4 years, end of story. What I hadn't heard being discussed was residency and what that counts for. I asked and he said it counts as time incurred for future payback. If you do 4 years school, plus 3 year residency, you owe 7 years active service. I just thought that should be clarified when looking into this scholarship.

i met with a recruiter (army) yesterday. i believe that time in residency (military residency only) counts toward payback, but also incurs further AD obligation. so, 4 years of school plus 3 years of residency would equal 1 year. i think you can only do a minimum of 2 years though, so that situation would incur a 2 year obligation. likewise a 4 years of school follwed by a 5 year residency would incur 5 years of AD.

in response to cooldreams, there are as many reasons to join the military as there are reasons to become a physician. many of those reasons are likely much the same. and i guess you are refferring to the old lady they interviewed on 60 minutes last week. i agree, it is a sad state of affairs when we are calling up 55 year old women to go to war. but even though she said it was scary, don't you think she seemed pretty gung-ho still, and unlike some of the others, she was not trying to find a way out of it. (sorry, run on sentence) she said very simply that it was her duty.

to the OP, i believe JMC is correct. "almost" everyone who applies gets in. my recruiter felt sure that should i decide to go for it, i would get in (with lower GPA, higher MCAT than you).

 

[kaikai128]

Just got back from meeting the recruiter. When you hear all the financial aid stuff at interviews you always hear that if they pay for 4 years of school you owe 4 years, end of story. What I hadn't heard being discussed was residency and what that counts for. I asked and he said it counts as time incurred for future payback. If you do 4 years school, plus 3 year residency, you owe 7 years active service. I just thought that should be clarified when looking into this scholarship.

This is not exactly correct, you owe ONE year of payback for every year of school that they pay for. As long as you do a traditional length residency, it essentially does not count for anything. You are required to apply for a military residency, and if accepted you you will be residency educated thru them. If you do not get a military residency, you can do a civialian deferment. Regardless if you do a military residency or not, you "usually" owe EITHER the length of your residency OR the the number of years you got the scholarship.

 

[kaikai128]

i met with a recruiter (army) yesterday. i believe that time in residency (military residency only) counts toward payback, but also incurs further AD obligation. so, 4 years of school plus 3 years of residency would equal 1 year. i think you can only do a minimum of 2 years though, so that situation would incur a 2 year obligation. likewise a 4 years of school follwed by a 5 year residency would incur 5 years of AD.

to the OP, i believe JMC is correct. "almost" everyone who applies gets in. my recruiter felt sure that should i decide to go for it, i would get in (with lower GPA, higher MCAT than you).

I do not know about the Army or Navy, but the AF has a minimum of ADT as a physican set at 3 years. Therefore, if you get a 2 year or 1 year scholarship--you still owe them 3 years minimum. Once again, the easiest way I heard it phrased is "Either length of scholarship or length of residency (I think a Navy person told me this)."

As to the "almost" everyone who applies gets in, I have heard that this is much more true for the 3 year scholarships than it is for the 4 year scholarships. However, I applied with a MCAT score 1 point lower than their ideal--I will find out in about 2 weeks if I got it or not.

Final words of advice. 1. Don't join the military for the money, in the end it really isn't that great of a financial decision (it depends on your specialty choice). 2. Research it VERY EXTENSIVELY before making any decisions what so ever, know what you are getting into because this is going to consume 11+ years of your life. 3. Don't believe recruiters, many of them do not really know exactly what they are talking about, they sugar coat everything, and they HAVE NOT been thru the program. 4. Go to the Military Forum on here, there is great information on there that will give you an idea of what your future holds.

(Sorry for being long winded)...

 

[buomyta]

Well for me...I've always thought about returning to the military. After shadowing some military DOs, I knew it was the route for me. My father is retired military, my sister is active duty and my boyfriend is active duty. I want to serve regardless if I get the scholarship or not. Although, the scholarship makes it all that much sweeter. This is a lifestyle that I feel most comfortable with.

 

[Slugbutton]

Just got back from meeting the recruiter. When you hear all the financial aid stuff at interviews you always hear that if they pay for 4 years of school you owe 4 years, end of story. What I hadn't heard being discussed was residency and what that counts for. I asked and he said it counts as time incurred for future payback. If you do 4 years school, plus 3 year residency, you owe 7 years active service. I just thought that should be clarified when looking into this scholarship.

That's close. What I understood from my recruiter is that residency does not count for anything other that time in service if you do a military residency. Your payback time does not start until after. So let's say your res. is 4 yrs long and you do it through the military. During that time you would get your 0-3 pay and promotions, time in grade, BAH, retirement points, etc. But they want a fully trained doc working in their specialy so the actual time you owe back starts when you are done with your res. You would then owe them four years of active duty if you were on a four yr scholarship. You do have the option of doing a civilian res. but you will make more money in a military one and also during your payback time. Hope that helps. 🙂

 

[MagnumDR]

That's close. What I understood from my recruiter is that residency does not count for anything other that time in service if you do a military residency. Your payback time does not start until after. So let's say your res. is 4 yrs long and you do it through the military. During that time you would get your 0-3 pay and promotions, time in grade, BAH, retirement points, etc. But they want a fully trained doc working in their specialy so the actual time you owe back starts when you are done with your res. You would then owe them four years of active duty if you were on a four yr scholarship. You do have the option of doing a civilian res. but you will make more money in a military one and also during your payback time. Hope that helps. 🙂

It helps, but I want to be sure. It would seem to be worth it financially if in fact it is the way you say. My recruiter didn't know because he was new at recruiting doctors. He also made it sound like doctors paying back time didn't recieve any of the benefits like retirement points unless you ended up staying with the military after your payback period.

 

[T.A.M]

You can calculate roughly what you would make if you were to enter the service today by looking at a military pay chart. Go to the DFAS website (not certain the exact address, but it might be http://www.dfas.mil ) to download one. Your starting rank will be O-3 (Captain in army and air force, lieutenant in the navy) with less than 2 years service (unless you have prior service). The pay listed does not include BAH (basic allowance for housing) or BAS (basic allowance for sustenance) because these vary from station to station, and depending on if you have dependents or not. BAH in particular can be a significant amount of tax-exempt money in your account every month. The military also pays your licensing, testing and CME fees.

Once you complete residency and board certification, the military gives physicians a special bonus called "professional pay" that no other officers receive. Basically, it's a boost in your salary to lessen the gap between civilian and military physician pay. Even with professional pay, most docs still earn less cash than their civilian counterparts, but they earn far greater than other officers of equal rank and time in service. Professional pay differs between various specialties. The complete breakdown is included on the pay chart mentioned previously.

So basically, it comes down to this- you go through medical school with no financial debt, you make more money as an intern and resident (and you probably have less call time). After residency, you make less, but you pay no malpractice premiums.

And one final note- unless you become a GMO, the military does not deploy you during residency (despite rumors to the contrary).

 

[dr. deez]

I have a 3.6 GPA but scored a 25 on my MCAT. Does anyone know how tough it is to be selected for a military scholarship without having a 3.5 and 29, the suggested scores?

they are not very selective when it comes to the mcat. the tough part is getting into medical school. i know someone with a 23 who was offered the scholarship... all this person neede was an admissions letter.

 

[kaikai128]

they are not very selective when it comes to the mcat. the tough part is getting into medical school. i know someone with a 23 who was offered the scholarship... all this person neede was an admissions letter.

Which branch was this? I was told with the the AF that my chances were significantly decreased because I was 1 point below what they wanted.